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 In 1882, company founder, Mahlon Layne, combined hard work and ingenuity to devise better ways of drilling to coax water out of the arid lands of a community known as Old Swan Lake, near what is now Hurley, S.D. Mahlon’s neighbors quickly took notice and shortly thereafter, a company was born.  

 Boart Longyear has a long track record in mineral exploration, and diamond core drilling knowledge and equipment form the basis of the company’s success in that area. We turned to the company for this feature on diamond coring, and Bob Buto, territory manager for the United States and Canada, was kind enough to answer our questions. Here is an edited version of our conversation. 

Originally a pile driving company, Hub Foundation Company of Harvard, Mass., first added wide-diameter bore drilling to its operations 23 years ago. Most of the region’s ground conditions generally call for augers. Greg Maxwell, grandson of company founder Frank Maxwell, said Hub has always persevered through each hard rock socket, but they have continually sought easier, faster ways to drill out hard rock.