Ghana Is Drilling for More Gold. CED Wants to Help Drill It.
Friday Global Expansion | Ghana | West Africa
Ghana does not need an introduction to gold.
It needs holes.
Lots of them.
Across one of Africa’s most established gold-mining jurisdictions, exploration companies are still drilling new targets, extending existing deposits, testing deeper mineralisation and trying to turn promising geology into the next generation of resources.
And in 2026, the drills are very much still turning.
That makes Ghana exactly the sort of market Cylinder Exploration Drilling (CED) wants to be in.
Not watching from the sidelines.
Not simply talking about Africa as some enormous single market.
Actually supplying the rigs, compressors, consumables, spares, people and drilling support required to put metres in the ground.
Welcome to the second stop in CED Global Expansion.
This week: Ghana.
Ghana Is Already Drilling — Hard
You don't have to look very far to see the level of exploration activity.
At the Asanko Gold Mine, Galiano Gold expanded its 2026 Esaase drilling programme to 33,400 metres, with five rigs active, while its Abore programme planned approximately 30,000 metres of drilling.
Newcore Gold is carrying out an 80,000-metre drill programme at the Enchi Gold Project, combining diamond drilling with continued resource development.
Pelangio Exploration has also been advancing multiple Ghana exploration programmes, including diamond drilling and geophysical targeting at Manfo, Obuasi and Dankran.
And at the Akoko Gold Project, RC drilling has continued testing shallow oxide mineralisation and deeper sulphide potential.
Different projects.
Different depths.
Different stages of exploration.
Same unavoidable requirement:
Drilling.
And that's where CED becomes interested.
CED Wants More Boots — and More Rigs — on the Ground in Ghana
CED's Global Expansion series isn't about telling you Ghana has gold.
You already know that.
We're interested in the practical question:
What does an exploration company actually need to drill it?
A rig is obviously a good start.
But anyone who has actually managed a drilling programme knows the rig is only one piece of the puzzle.
You need drill rods.
Bits.
Core barrels.
Casing.
Muds.
Pumps.
Compressors.
Hoses.
Critical spares.
Support equipment.
People who know how to operate everything.
And preferably a supplier who doesn't disappear immediately after the container doors close.
That is the market CED is building for.
Diamond Drilling in Ghana
Gold exploration and diamond core drilling go together rather nicely.
Once geological targets need to be properly understood at depth, explorers need quality core, reliable recovery and equipment capable of keeping holes moving through changing ground conditions.
CED manufactures a broad range of diamond core drilling rigs, from lightweight shallow-hole systems through to larger machines designed for substantially deeper exploration programmes.
That gives us options.
Because a 150-metre exploration programme in difficult-access terrain does not need the same solution as a 1,000-metre deep diamond campaign.
Sounds obvious.
Yet the exploration industry has an impressive ability to make simple things unnecessarily complicated.
At CED, we would rather start with:
What are you drilling?
How deep?
What diameter?
What is the terrain like?
How many metres are planned?
Then we select the equipment.
Not the other way around.
Ghana Is Also a Serious RC Market
Diamond drilling isn't the only game in town.
Recent Ghana programmes demonstrate continued use of reverse circulation drilling for relatively rapid and cost-effective testing of exploration targets.
That plays directly into another part of CED's equipment range.
CED manufactures dedicated RC exploration rigs and can package them with the high-pressure air compressors, drill strings, hammers, bits, cyclones, hoses, spares and supporting equipment required for the programme.
This matters.
An RC rig without the correct compressor isn't much of an RC drilling package.
It's an expensive piece of equipment waiting for somebody to finish the shopping list.
CED would rather supply the system properly from day one.
Then There Is the Ground You Can't Easily Reach
This is where Ghana becomes particularly interesting for us.
Exploration does not politely restrict itself to beautiful flat drill pads beside highways.
Targets can sit in bush.
On poor access tracks.
Across soft seasonal ground.
Inside early-stage licences where building substantial access infrastructure before you've even proven the target makes little commercial sense.
That's why CED has continued developing compact, man-portable, mobile and modular exploration drilling systems.
Sometimes the smartest exploration rig isn't the biggest.
It's the one you can actually get to the target.
Meet the CED200
For difficult-access diamond exploration, the CED200 man-portable diamond drilling rig gives exploration teams another option.
Rather than mobilising a large conventional rig and building access around the machine, compact equipment can allow the drilling strategy to work around the terrain.
For suitable programmes, the CED200 can be configured around PQ, HQ and NQ diamond drilling requirements, together with mud pumps, drill strings, tooling, consumables and spare parts.
That makes it particularly interesting for early-stage gold exploration where access, mobilisation and environmental footprint matter.
And Ghana has plenty of ground where those considerations become very real, very quickly.
Or Put Exploration on Six Wheels
Then there is the other side of CED's mobility strategy.
The CED SFM Series.
Our approach is simple:
Take serious exploration equipment and put it onto a highly mobile 6×6 platform designed to get into difficult terrain.
The SFM7200 is our dedicated surface diamond platform.
The SFM7300 is designed around shallow RC, Air Core and auger exploration.
Add the SFM7600 support vehicle and specialised SFMTS exploration trailers, and suddenly we're not thinking about a single drilling rig anymore.
We're thinking about a mobile exploration fleet.
Rig.
Water.
Fuel.
Compressor.
Rods.
Consumables.
Support equipment.
All moving together.
For large exploration licences and programmes requiring frequent mobilisation between targets, that becomes very interesting.
Ghana's Rainy Season Doesn't Care About Your Drilling Schedule
Here's another reality of exploration in West Africa.
Weather wins arguments.
Heavy seasonal rainfall can turn perfectly acceptable access into something completely different.
In July 2026, drilling at Ghana's Akoko South prospect was paused after heavy rains made access to remaining drill locations increasingly difficult.
That's not a criticism of the programme.
That's exploration.
And it demonstrates why equipment selection cannot be separated from logistics.
Ground pressure.
Vehicle weight.
Access construction.
Recovery equipment.
Water management.
Consumable storage.
Fuel.
Rig moves.
These things aren't glamorous.
But neither is watching an exploration rig sit idle because nobody thought about them properly.
CED thinks about them.
The Rig Is Only the Beginning
This is probably the biggest difference between how CED wants to approach Ghana and how conventional equipment sales can work.
We aren't particularly interested in saying:
Here's a drill rig. Good luck.
CED can build complete exploration packages around the programme.
That can include:
Diamond drilling rigs. RC rigs. Air Core rigs. Compressors. Mud pumps. Drill rods. Core barrels. Bits. Muds and drilling fluids. Critical spares. Support vehicles. Consumable trailers. Commissioning. Training. Supervisors. Drillers. Fitters.
And where required, CED can discuss managed drilling operations and contract drilling support as well.
One supplier.
One equipment strategy.
One conversation about getting the programme drilling.
That's much more interesting to us than simply selling another machine.
Consumables Matter More Than People Think
A drilling rig can be beautifully engineered.
It can have a fantastic engine.
Excellent hydraulics.
Plenty of pullback.
And a very impressive brochure.
If you've run out of the bit you need, you're still not drilling.
For international exploration programmes, consumable planning needs to happen before equipment reaches site.
CED supplies diamond and RC drilling consumables and can develop initial stock packages around expected metreage, drilling method, hole diameter and anticipated ground conditions.
We also recommend appropriate critical spare holdings.
Because Ghana is considerably further away from our manufacturing facilities than the workshop down the road.
Planning matters.
And CED Can Supply the People
Equipment doesn't drill itself.
Not yet, anyway.
CED can provide experienced international drilling supervisors, drillers and mechanical fitters to support client programmes.
That can be particularly valuable during commissioning, the introduction of new equipment, crew training or the early stages of a larger exploration campaign.
Clients can buy equipment and operate independently.
They can buy equipment and have CED help establish the programme.
Or we can discuss a broader managed drilling solution.
We're flexible because exploration programmes are different.
Why Ghana Matters to CED
Because Ghana is already an established mining jurisdiction.
Because exploration is active.
Because both RC and diamond drilling are being used.
Because deeper targets continue to be tested.
Because new resources still have to be defined.
And because West Africa is exactly the sort of region where CED's combination of equipment manufacturing + consumables + field personnel + operational support makes sense.
We're not trying to reinvent drilling.
We're trying to make buying and operating exploration equipment considerably less painful.
Planning Exploration Drilling in Ghana?
Then talk to us before you decide what equipment you need.
Tell CED:
What commodity are you exploring for?
Diamond, RC, Air Core or a combination?
What depths?
What hole sizes?
How many metres?
What terrain?
What access?
Single shift or double shift?
What equipment is already available locally?
What consumables will the programme require?
And how much operational support do you actually want?
From there, we can start building something useful.
A rig.
A complete equipment package.
A mobile exploration fleet.
Or potentially the people required to operate it.
Ghana already knows how to find gold.
CED wants to help drill the next discovery.
Cylinder Exploration Drilling
Exploration rigs. Consumables. Compressors. People. Complete drilling packages.
Built for exploration. Ready for West Africa.
The Question
For exploration teams and drilling contractors operating in Ghana:
What's currently the biggest headache — equipment availability, access, consumables, experienced crews or keeping rigs turning in remote areas?
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