Wellsite Coring

What are the key considerations in wellsite core handling?

Core handling at the wellsite involves critical procedures to ensure the integrity and usability of the core samples. The process includes labeling, minimizing damage, and carefully transporting cores for analysis. It’s crucial to prepare all necessary equipment before the core is retrieved and to make efforts to prevent the core from weathering or changing its fluid contents. The handling varies between hard rock and soft sediment cores, emphasizing speed for hard rock to avoid alteration and patience for soft cores to prevent mechanical damage​.

How are cores handled at the wellsite to minimize alteration?

Handling cores at the wellsite to minimize alteration involves ensuring that the right equipment is prepared in advance, based on the preservation method chosen. The core must be handled delicately to prevent physical damage and immediately labeled with depth and orientation markers to preserve geological context. Additionally, the core is typically sectioned into 1-meter or 3-foot slices, and this sawing process requires precise and adapted equipment to prevent any alteration from occurring during this stage.

How are cores labeled and transported?

In mineral exploration, the integrity of core samples from retrieval to analysis is paramount. At the wellsite, cores are precisely extracted using specialized cutting tools, with immediate, meticulous labeling to record depth, orientation, and geological context. These labels, durable against environmental and handling stress, are mirrored on the core boxes for consistency in tracking. The transportation process is carefully controlled, employing core boxes or core container that protect the samples against damage and environmental changes, ensuring the core’s condition remains unaltered. Core box labeling not only facilitates physical management but is also integrated with digital tracking systems, providing real-time updates and comprehensive management of the subsurface samples through their journey from the wellsite to the lab. This meticulous process is the backbone of subsurface sample management, safeguarding the geological narrative held within each core.