Page 65 - pd301-Feb22-mag-web_Neat

Old hands become new

face of Bostech

t a time when the exploration industry is management, they will still have the support for other drilling techniques,” Nelson added.
Astriving to find a balance between reli- of Boswell’s engineering prowess. “And our support equipment enables us to
ability and speed, Bostech Drilling may have Having both started as offsiders before keep rig availability up anywhere in WA and
landed on the perfect mix. rising through the ranks, Nelson and Hru- Australia wide.”
With nearly 30 years’ experience in the bos are well aware of the clients’ need for The approach to engineering and mainte-
Australian exploration sector in the locker, reliable performance and rapid response. nance standards is repeated in personnel,
Bostech offers the best elements of estab- “We lead from the top and have no inten- where Nelson and Hrubos pride themselves
lished exploration drilling services. Howev- tion to stop getting out in the field,” Nelson on a positive, trusted working environment.
er, with a new ownership team in place, the said. “If a rig breaks down, one of us will “We have a very strong company culture,”
company is ready to show industry it has the pack a bag and grab a toolbox straight away Nelson said. “We trust our workforce. If you
capability to also take on new challenges. if needed.” don’t trust your workforce, you don’t have a
“We have a traditional approach, but Equipment downtime is an inevitabil- company, you have a half-arsed outfit. The
you’ve got to move with the times,” newly ity when it comes to the harsh environ- advantage of being a small company is we
appointed managing director Justin Hrubos ment and tough conditions associated with know all of our employees and their fami-
told Paydirt. “We have very strong relation- Aircore drilling in Western Australia, but lies. We are happy to invest in that working
ships with our clients, but we want to move Bostech has been able to consistently keep environment to improve performance and
into other avenues with them. We are con- rig availability above 96%. well-being, even if it means losing a bit of
tinually upgrading our systems and our fleet; “Reputation, reliability and responsibility margin.”
improving connectivity and diversifying into is what it is all about for us,” Hrubos said. There is a similar pride in Bostech’s health
other services.” “We have a big workshop, with full rebuild and safety record.
Hrubos has teamed up with Ben Nel- capability and everything goes back into the “Our approach to health and safety is
son to acquire Bostech from founder Peter rigs. We have got more rigs, but we don’t crucial,” Hrubos said. “We are fairly strict on
Boswell. Between them, Hrubos and Nel- want to be running them all, all the time. We employees and have solid systems in place.
son have more than 30 years of on-ground want a back-up.” Importantly, if anything does go wrong, we
and management experience with the com- “Our rigs are capable of drilling a range don’t bury our heads in the sand, we tackle
pany. of unconsolidated, sandy and heavy clay it head on. It is how you react, learn and fix
To bolster the strength of the new Bostech horizons which have proven a challenge mistakes that sets you up.
“You also need to be ahead of the curve
when it comes to workplace safety. We have
Covid protocols already in place and have
ordered rapid antigen test kits for when the
WA hard border comes down.”
Aircore drilling can be a competitive field
but Hrubos and Nelson need only point to
Bostech’s returned customer list as evi-
dence of the company’s standing among
exploration teams.
“We have several long-term clients such
as AngloGold Ashanti [Ltd], Sandfire Re-
sources [Ltd] and Silverlake Resources [Ltd]
who we have worked with well for a number
of years,” Nelson explained. “As senior ge-
ologists from those clients move onto other
companies, they return to us because they
are confident in our capability.”
One of those clients is De Grey Mining Ltd
which is currently using Bostech Drilling in
its rapid delineation of more than 6 moz gold
in less than two years at its Hemi project in
the Pilbara.
“De Grey is an example of that return
work,” Hrubos said. “We knew several
members of the team, and Allan Kneeshaw
in particular, from AngloGold Ashanti and
they were keen to get us on board. Since
then, we have let our results speak for them-
selves and we have proven what we are
capable of.”

Ben Newport and Justin Hrubos are the new management team at Bostech Drilling

a aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT FeBRUaRY 2022 Page 65USTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT FeBRUaRY 2022 Page 65