Fluid Management

Fluid management and technology can account for up to 60% of a successful drill shot and is more important than the size of the drill.

Our company has five various sized mud mixing units with our mud engineers regularly attending fluid management schools both here in New Zealand and Overseas. We design each individual drill shot using specialist engineers from the States and Australia.

Hadlee and Brunton own the only American Auger Mud Recycling Unit in New Zealand. The machine holds over 22,000 litres of drilling fluid and can pump up to 2,270 litres of mud through the drill per minute.

By using the reclaiming unit it can reduce our clients fluid supply costs by over half not to mention the additional savings in cartage and dumping costs.

Other rigs consisting of a series of 20 foot containers, separate pumps and gen sets will take up to 7 days to set up then a further 7 days to disestablish whereas Hadlee and Brunton’s plant can be established and ready to go within a matter of hours.

MPR6000 Reclaiming Unit Specifications

• 2,271 L/min Tri Plex Drill Pump
• 7,750 L Screen Tank
• 15,140 L Fluid Mixing / Clean Tank
• 475 HP 336 kW Cat Engine
• Eaton 10 Speed Transmission
• 60 Hz 114 kW Gen Set
• Two Derrick Hyperpool four-panel shale shakers complete with pyramid screen technology
• Hydro-Cyclones Desilters
• 1,135 L/min 1st Cut Shaker Cleaning Capacity
• 2,725 L/min Desilting System Cleaning Capacity
• 50 Hz Electrical Operating System (With Remote Control)
• Full On Board Wash Down System.

Derrick Hyperpool Shale Shakers

To improve our mud recycling capabilities we have recently installed two 2015 Derrick Hyperpool Shakers. These have increased our mud handling capacity significantly which in turn reduces delays with screen blinding during high flows.

Hyperpool Capacity Comparative Video                                            Hyperpool Field Video

Filtered spoil which is loaded into trucks & can be dumped or spread as clean fill.

To reduce mess on site Hadlee and Brunton have fabricated a custom built stainless steel auger unit which transfers the spoil from the recycling unit straight onto dump trucks to be carted away.

Ditchwitch FM50 Mud Mixing Unit

Sterling Curtain Sider                                               FM50 Mud Mixing Unit

The Dichwitch FM50 unit is a high-volume, high-efficiency unit with each of the FM50’s two 1000-gallon (3785 L) mixing tanks having its own pump, making it easy to deliver drilling fluid to the drills. The FM50 has an isolated gen set which is quiet enough (only 100 dbA) to work in noise-sensitive areas. The mixing system yields up to 16 bags/2000 gal (7570 L) in less than 8 minutes. This unit is set up in a curtain sider that transports all our muds and polymers keeping the whole operation under cover meaning we can work in any weather.

Truck Mounted Ditchwitch FM13 Mud Mixing Units

Mercedes transporter

Mobile workshop                                                          FM13V mud mixing rig

This rig transports our three smaller drills and has two 500 gallon mixing tanks powered by the FM13V mixing unit. It also has a mobile workshop.

Nissan Mud Mixing Units

These trucks are also powered by FM13V mixing units and have three mixing tanks on board capable of holding 1500 gallons of fluid.

Testing Equipment

All drill fluids and recycled muds are constantly monitored and adjusted by our mud engineers throughout our projects using Fann Instrument Testing Equipment from Houston, Texas.

Fann Instrument Testing Equipment                Andrew Brunton at the MiSwaco Training Facility, Bangkok, Thailand