Method of Drilling Vertical and Horizontal Pathways to Mine for Solid Natural Resources

摘要

A method of drilling vertical and horizontal pathways to mine for solid natural resources involves a drill bit, at least one reamer, a first plugging material, and a second plugging material; drilling a testing wellbore to a specific vertical depth with the drill bit and identifying at least one desired mining section wherein the desired mining section is associated with a corresponding vertical depth; creating a new bottom end for the testing wellbore by filling the testing wellbore up to an offset distance with the first plugging material; drilling a horizontal access hole from the new bottom end into the desired mining section with the drill bit and enlarging it with a reamer; excavating cuttings from the desired mining section through the horizontal access hole; filling the horizontal access hole with the second plugging material; and repeating the drilling, enlarging, and filling process to create a plurality of lateral holes.