Introduction of the new (COPROD) Drilling Method and it's Comparison with other Conventional Production Drilling in Surface Mines, with the Investigation of its Applicability in Iran Mines.

Drilling is considered to be an inseparable part of the mine extraction operations, and so far a more appropriate method has not been substituted for these operations. There are different drilling methods which can be used in surface mining such as Rotary, Top hammer, Down the hole, and Coprod. The new drilling method that is used nowadays in surface mining in the developed countries is the Coprod. This method has been designed for drilling under hard geological conditions in surface mines, and innovation of this drilling is to overcome the drilling difficulties under the special geological conditions. In this article, by introducing the new Coprod drilling method and evaluation of its advantages and disadvantages from the technical and economical point of view compared to other conventional drilling methods, the possibility of its application in the dichotomized surface mines of the country has been investigated. In addition, selection method of the appropriate mining machineries with consideration of their application in the surface mines of the country has been thoroughly studied.