Government of New Brunswick

Exploration drilling is a costly technique that retrieves solid cores or chip samples of rock from beneath the earth’s surface. The cores or chips represent a permanent record of the subsurface geology and yield valuable data for those involved in mineral and hydrocarbon exploration. Among other features, drill cores or chip samples are used to: estimate the size and grade of mineral deposits or hydrocarbon resources at a given site; provide rock material for metallurgical and petrophysical studies; and obtain information about the type and orientation of subsurface bedrock.

The Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development is responsible for the government’s Drill Core and Cuttings Storage Program. The program’s key objective is to encourage mineral and hydrocarbon exploration in New Brunswick. Under the Drill Core and Cuttings Storage Program, the GSB:

  • operates core storage facilities at Sussex, Fredericton, and Madran; and
  • maintains a database of core, bore hole cuttings, and related samples obtained from New Brunswick exploration and mining activities.

The use of the three storage facilities is free of charge and equipment is available upon request. Users of the facilities are required to familiarize themselves with safety requirements as given in attachment B of the drill core and materials storage facility policy.
     

Core Storage Database
The department maintains a collection of drill core submitted in accordance with the Mining Act. The collection is stored as follows:

  • Madran – approximately 500,000 metres of core from deposits in northern New Brunswick, above Latitude 46°30'
  • Fredericton – in excess of 34,000 metres of core, from the Maritimes and Fundy basins (since 1908)
  • Sussex – approximately 140,000 metres of core from deposits in southern New Brunswick, below Latitude 46°30'

Please check the Core Storage Database (see link on right) if you wish to access available information on diamond drill holes in New Brunswick.
    

Borehole Database
The Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development maintains a collection of all cores and samples taken from wells drilled under the Oil and Gas Act for the purpose of oil and natural gas exploration, bituminous shale exploration, and underground storage exploration or development in New Brunswick. Currently, in excess of 34,000 metres of core and cuttings representing 240,000 metres are stored at the facility in Fredericton. Please check the Policy for submission procedures and storage guidelines, and for viewing and sampling requirements. All submissions must be done using the Drill Core and Well Cuttings submission form.