Drilling

 
There are two types of drilling in mining:-

The first is exploration drilling on a deposit to provide a detailed two-dimensional (2D) and then a three-dimensional (3D) image of an ore body below the ground and to evaluate where the concentration levels
of the ore body are located.

This is done by a diamond-tooth hollow tube type of drill bit which can remove a core sample at different depths in the ground for geological analysis.  Drilling is an expensive process as it is time-consuming
and because of the logistics of transporting the drilling equipment over rough terrain combined with the
constant supply of consumables needed to keep the drill working.  The term 'scout drilling' is sometimes used in exploration.

The second type uses a drill bit to make a (blast) hole into the rock in which to place explosives in order to blast/break up the rock into more manageable pieces.