The Sunday Mail
LOCAL firm Nemodat Drilling Consulting is courting investors for a US$2 million diamond drilling school.
The Gweru-based company plans to partner the Zimbabwe School of Mines in establishing the school that will become one of a few in Africa.
Resource-endowed countries such as Tanzania and South Africa have similar schools.
Nemodat MD Mr Jonathan Chapoto, a drilling engineer, said in a recent interview the firm was in talks with the School of Mines and would also approach central Government.
“We are looking for investors or funds to establish a drilling school in Zimbabwe, and possibly a drilling company. Nemodat is seeking a grant of US$2 million to establish this school.
“We have a vast amount of drilling experience within our organisation and we are able to leverage on that knowledge to help the drilling contractors to reach their goals,” said Mr Chapoto.
A diamond drilling school was set up at the Zimbabwe School of Mines in 1997 with assistance from the Haileybury Mining School of Canada but the project was stillborn.
There are plans to take advantage of the abandoned drill rig.
In earlier communications, Canadian Driller Training Limited president Mr Ed Mac Veigh, who was a consultant for the Haileybury Mining School, expressed interest in the project.
Drilling is the primary tool for extracting petroleum from rocks in the subsurface and for extracting geothermal energy.
Presently, geothermal energy is more expensive than fossil fuels owing in part to the high cost of drilling.
However, the reduction in drilling costs through introduction of improved technologies will allow more of this cleaner domestic energy source to be harnessed.
The Zimbabwe Drilling Association closed in 1996 and there are current efforts to revive it.
