Method of Drilling Pathways to Mine for Solid Natural Resources from an Elevated Terrain

Abstract

A system and a method are provided for drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain. The system includes a drill bit, at least one reamer, and a diverter. The drill bit allows for drilling into a seam of natural resource that is found within a mountain. The at least one reamer enlarges a transversal access hole that is drilled to access the seam of natural resource. The diverter separates cuttings from any waste material as the cuttings are excavated from the seam of natural resource. There are two methods that can be used to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain. The typical auger method drills transversal access holes directly into the seam of natural resource. The directional engineering auger method drills the transversal access hole from a diagonal wellbore into the seam of natural resource.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, wherein the method comprising steps of:
 (A) providing a drill bit, at least one reamer, and at least one diverter;   (B) providing at least one seam of natural resource within a mountain;   (C) drilling at least one transversal access hole into the seam of natural resource with the drill bit;   (D) enlarging the transversal access hole with the reamer; and   (E) excavating cuttings from the seam of natural resource through the transversal access hole during step (C) and/or (D) through the diverter.   
     
     
         2 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, wherein the method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising steps of:
 surveying the mountain in order to identify at least one external access point for the seam of natural resource before step (C); and 
 initiating the transversal access hole at the external access point with the drill bit during step (C). 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, wherein the method as claimed in  claim 2  comprising steps of:
 providing a conductor with the drill bit; 
 setting the conductor within the transversal access hole during step (C); and 
 operatively mounting the diverter to the conductor after step (C), external to the transversal access hole. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, wherein the method as claimed in  claim 1  comprising steps of:
 (F) providing a first plugging material; 
 (G) flattening a desired area of the mountain into a drilling pad; 
 (H) drilling a diagonal wellbore from the drilling pad with the drill bit; 
 (I) surveying the mountain in order to identify at least one internal access point for the seam of natural resource during step (H); 
 (J) creating a new bottom end for the diagonal wellbore by filling the diagonal wellbore up to the internal access point with the first plugging material; and 
 (K) drilling from the internal access point into the transversal access hole with the drill bit during step (C). 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, wherein the method as claimed in  claim 4  comprising steps of:
 providing a conductor with the drill bit; 
 setting the conductor within the diagonal wellbore during step (H); and 
 operatively mounting the diverter to the conductor after step (H), external to the diagonal wellbore. 
 
     
     
         6 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, wherein the method as claimed in  claim 4  comprising steps of:
 providing the at least one transversal access hole as a plurality of transversal access holes; and 
 drilling the plurality of transversal access holes in a branching pattern from the internal access point with the drill bit during step (K). 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, wherein the method as claimed in  claim 4  comprising steps of:
 providing a casing; and 
 reinforcing the diagonal wellbore with the casing after step (H). 
 
     
     
         8 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 4  comprises the steps of:
 providing the at least one seam of natural resource as a series of seams of natural resource, wherein a vertically-lowest seam is ordered first in the series of seams of natural resource, and wherein a vertically-highest seam is ordered last in the series of seams of natural resource; and 
 executing a plurality of iterations for steps (J) through (K) for the series of desired mining sections, wherein the plurality of iterations begins with the vertically-lowest seam and ends with the vertically-highest seam. 
 
     
     
         9 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 4  comprises the steps of:
 providing a measurement device; 
 mapping a compositional makeup of surrounding lateral area for the diagonal wellbore by probing the diagonal wellbore at a series of depths with the measurement device during step (I); and 
 identifying the internal access point within the compositional makeup of the surrounding lateral area, wherein the internal access point is one depth within the series of depths. 
 
     
     
         10 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 9  comprises the steps of:
 providing an electromagnetic (EM) scanning device and a computing device as the measurement device; 
 activating the EM scanning device at each depth; 
 receiving sensing data with the EM scanning device at each depth; and 
 compiling the sensing data at each diagonal depth into the compositional makeup of the surrounding lateral area with the computing device. 
 
     
     
         11 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the seam of natural resource is composed of a material selected from the group consisting of: bituminous coal, sub-bituminous coal, anthracite, gold, platinum, silver, uranium, lithium, gemstones or diamonds, and a rare-earth mineral. 
     
     
         12 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 1  comprises the steps of:
 providing a second plugging material, wherein a quantity of waste material is integrated into the second plugging material; and 
 filling the transversal access hole with the second plugging material after step (E). 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein the quantity of waste material is selected from a group consisting of: coal ash, carbon dioxide or solids from exhaust, municipal waste, medical waste, salt water, oil-base mud solids, fracturing water, coal refuse, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         14 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 1  comprises the steps of:
 providing the at least one reamer as a plurality of reamers, wherein each reamer is configured with a successively larger boring diameter; and 
 repeating step (D) with the successively larger boring diameter of each reamer in order to incrementally enlarge the transversal access hole. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 1  comprises the steps of:
 providing a drilling mud used in steps (C) and (D); 
 compositionally configuring the drilling mud to accommodate for excavating the cuttings from the seam of natural resource during step (E); 
 mixing the cuttings from the seam of natural resource into the drilling mud during step (C) and (D); and 
 extracting the cuttings from the seam of natural resource from the drilling mud during step (E) as the drilling mud is recirculated above ground. 
 
     
     
         16 . The method of drilling pathways to mine for solid natural resources from an elevated terrain, the method as claimed in  claim 1  comprises the steps of:
 providing the reamer configured with a physical extractor; and 
 collecting the cuttings from the seam of natural resource out of the transversal access hole with the physical extractor as the reamer is pulled out of the transversal access hole during step (E).