How to Extend the Life of Your Drilling Consumables: A Practical Field Guide

In the high-stakes world of mining, few things impact your bottom line as directly and as quietly as the condition of your drilling consumables. Whether you're using DTH hammers, rotary bits, or drill rods, the wear and tear these tools endure is enormous. But here’s the often-overlooked truth: a significant portion of consumable degradation is preventable.

At Avalon, we work closely with mining operations across diverse geological conditions. We’ve seen firsthand how smarter handling, better training, and simple preventive measures can add hundreds of meters to the service life of consumables.

This resource is designed to bring those insights to you and your team.

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1. It Starts Before You Drill: Proper Storage and Handling

One of the most common sources of early wear is improper handling long before the tool even hits the ground.

Storing consumables in damp, dirty, or unprotected areas can lead to corrosion, pitting, or microfractures which become failure points under high-pressure operation.
Likewise, rough handling during transport can damage threads or hard metal edges.

Recommendations:

• Store hammers and bits in dry, covered areas on wooden or rubber mats.
• Use protective thread caps and apply thread compound if not used within a week.
• Always inspect for signs of rust or impact damage before deployment.

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2. Match the Tool to the Rock—Not the Other Way Around

A common mistake in mining operations is using the same consumables across variable geology. This often leads to tools wearing faster than they should.

For instance, using a soft formation bit in highly abrasive quartzite will cause rapid erosion. On the other hand, a hard rock bit in clay-heavy soils can clog quickly, reducing penetration and efficiency.

Key tip:
Consult with your supplier: Avalon’s technical team, for example to ensure your bit design, face style, and gauge type are optimized for your drilling conditions.

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3. Watch the Parameters: Pressure, RPM, and Feed Rate Matter

Operators under time pressure often push machines beyond optimal ranges. While this might yield short-term progress, it’s usually at the expense of consumable life.

Too much air pressure or excessive rotation speed can overheat or crack bits. An aggressive feed rate can cause premature wear or even catastrophic breakage.

Best practice:
Use OEM-recommended settings and track consumption patterns over time. Unexpected wear often correlates directly with parameter misalignment.

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4. Clean, Grease, Repeat: Maintenance as a Daily Ritual

Routine cleaning and greasing of threads and couplings can prevent metal-on-metal abrasion, galling, and seizure all common reasons for consumable failure in the field.

When tools are changed, ensure threads are properly cleaned of debris and re-lubricated. And don't forget to inspect for small cracks, which can quickly escalate under pressure.

Quick checklist for each shift:

• Clean and grease all threaded connections
• Inspect all wear parts visually
• Confirm shank fit and alignment
• Log any anomalies for tracking

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5. Train Your Team and Make Maintenance a Culture

Even the best consumables can’t outperform a poorly trained crew. Operator education is often the fastest, most cost-effective way to reduce wear and downtime.

A good operator understands not just how to run the rig, but how their actions affect the tooling, the rig, and the hole quality.

At Avalon, we encourage clients to hold regular training sessions, particularly after site changes or crew rotations. Many failures occur not from negligence, but from inconsistency.

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6. Monitor Performance Over Time

Too often, consumables are viewed as expendables instead of strategic assets. But a well-run mining operation tracks cost per meter, records wear trends, and analyzes tool longevity.

If one shift is consistently destroying bits while another isn't, the data will reveal it. Likewise, if certain formations are eating through hammers faster than predicted, you can adapt—before the losses accumulate.

Use data to drive decisions. Avalon offers performance tracking tools for clients to improve procurement and usage over time.

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Conclusion: Durability Isn’t Just About the Tool It’s About the System

In mining, nothing exists in isolation. The durability of your consumables is directly linked to how you manage your equipment, your people, and your process. With some attention and discipline, what seems like small changes—better storage, consistent greasing, smarter parameter control—can yield significant operational savings.

At Avalon, we supply high-performance DTH and rotary consumables built to last. But we also believe in giving you the knowledge to make them last even longer.

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