Senegal Is Putting Serious Metres in the Ground. CED Wants In.
Friday Global Expansion | Senegal | West Africa
Ghana.
Then Côte d’Ivoire.
Now we're carrying on west.
🇸🇳 Senegal.
And this one has landed at exactly the right time.
Because Senegal isn't talking about exploration in theory.
There are rigs turning right now.
Diamond rigs.
RC rigs.
Auger programmes.
Tens of thousands of metres.
New targets.
Resource expansion.
Projects moving toward development.
For CED, that's the bit that matters.
Because geological potential is interesting.
Drilling demand is commercial.
And Senegal is giving us plenty to look at.
Six Rigs. 51,000 Metres. One Exploration Programme.
Let's start with something very current.
At the Bambadji Gold Project, Fortuna Mining reported this week that five diamond drill rigs and one RC rig are operating as part of a US$8 million, 51,000-metre exploration programme for the remainder of 2026.
Read that again.
Five diamond rigs.
One RC rig.
51,000 metres.
On one programme.
That's exactly why Senegal belongs on CED's expansion map.
And Bambadji isn't the only drilling story in the country.
Senegal's Exploration Pipeline Is Bigger Than One Project
Thor Explorations has also been drilling aggressively at its Douta Gold Project.
During Q2 2026, more than 15,000 metres of RC drilling was completed across its Senegal projects as part of a wider 40,000-metre drilling programme.
The programme has been testing existing resources, extensions and additional oxide targets across Douta, Douta West and Bousankhoba.
Meanwhile, the Senala project has planned 3,000 metres of diamond drilling alongside 10,000 metres of auger drilling.
Different projects.
Different stages.
Different drilling methods.
But the same conclusion:
Senegal needs drilling capability.
This Is Exactly the Exploration Mix CED Likes
There's something important happening here.
Senegal isn't simply a "diamond drilling market."
It isn't simply an "RC market" either.
The exploration pipeline requires different methods at different stages.
You might start with:
Auger.
Then move into shallow reconnaissance drilling.
Then:
RC.
And once the geology demands more information:
Diamond.
That's a much more interesting market for CED.
Because we don't manufacture one rig and try to make every exploration programme fit around it.
We build different drilling systems for different holes.
Start Cheap. Cover Ground. Find the Target.
Not every anomaly deserves a 600-metre diamond hole.
Sometimes exploration teams need coverage.
Lots of it.
Quickly.
That's where methods such as auger and Air Core can become extremely useful.
Test the regolith.
Understand the geology beneath transported cover.
Follow geochemical anomalies.
Tighten the target.
Then decide where the expensive metres belong.
CED's SFM7300 has been developed specifically around this sort of mobile exploration philosophy.
Air Core.
Shallow RC.
Auger.
One highly mobile exploration platform built around a 6×6 vehicle.
For large exploration licences where targets are spread across serious distances, mobility matters.
A lot.
Then RC Starts Earning Its Keep
Once you've found something worth chasing, RC can become a metre-producing machine.
And Senegal is already demonstrating serious demand for it.
Thor's current Douta programme has involved substantial RC drilling to upgrade resources and test additional oxide opportunities.
Fortuna has an RC rig working alongside diamond rigs at Bambadji.
That isn't theoretical demand.
Those are compressors running and rods going down holes.
CED manufactures dedicated RC systems including the CEDRC100, CEDRC200 and CEDRC450.
But we'll repeat something we've said before:
Buying an RC rig does not mean you've bought an RC drilling system.
The compressor matters.
Pressure matters.
CFM matters.
Hole diameter matters.
Depth matters.
The hammer matters.
The rods matter.
The cyclone matters.
The hoses matter.
The spares definitely matter.
And when one tiny component fails 300 kilometres from where you can buy another one...
Suddenly everybody remembers why the spare-parts package mattered.
CED Builds the Package Around the Hole
This is where we want to do things differently.
Don't ask CED:
"How much is an RC rig?"
Tell us:
What are you drilling?
How deep?
What diameter?
What ground conditions?
How many metres?
Single shift?
Double shift?
How remote is the programme?
What equipment do you already have?
Then we'll work backwards.
Maybe you need one compressor.
Maybe you need two.
Maybe you need a tracked rod carrier.
Maybe you need additional drill string.
Maybe the spare package needs to be considerably larger because the operation is remote.
The hole decides the equipment.
Not the brochure.
And Then There Is Diamond Drilling
This week’s Bambadji update makes the diamond drilling opportunity impossible to miss.
Five diamond rigs currently operating.
That tells you something about the scale of exploration happening in Senegal.
Diamond drilling becomes essential when exploration teams need geological information that chips simply cannot provide.
Structure.
Orientation.
Contacts.
Alteration.
Veining.
Core recovery.
Geotechnical information.
And eventually:
What exactly have we hit?
CED's diamond range runs from compact and portable exploration systems through to larger rigs for deeper programmes.
That means we can look at the actual programme first rather than forcing the programme around one machine.
Remote Exploration Changes the Equation
Senegal isn't one giant flat drill pad conveniently positioned beside a warehouse full of spare parts.
Exploration means logistics.
Heat.
Dust.
Rain.
Distance.
Fuel.
Water.
Road conditions.
Consumables.
Mechanical support.
Crew movements.
And targets that stubbornly refuse to appear beside the nearest paved road.
That changes how equipment should be selected.
Sometimes bigger isn't better.
Sometimes lighter, simpler and more mobile wins.
That's Why CED Keeps Developing Mobile Exploration Systems
The CED SFM Series isn't being developed because 6×6 Land Cruisers look good in photographs.
Although, admittedly, they do.
It's being developed because remote exploration has a mobility problem.
Our concept is a complete mobile exploration fleet:
SFM7200 — Surface Diamond.
SFM7300 — RC / Air Core / Auger.
SFM7600 — Exploration support vehicle.
SFMTS — Modular exploration trailers.
Move the rig.
Move the rods.
Move the fuel.
Move the water.
Move the tools.
Move the consumables.
Keep exploration moving.
For countries with large licences and remote targets, that becomes extremely interesting.
Senegal included.
Consumables Are Not an Afterthought
There's no point shipping a drilling rig into West Africa and then discovering the consumables supply chain was an afterthought.
CED can supply complete drilling consumable packages for:
Diamond drilling
RC drilling
Air Core
Along with pumps, compressors, tooling, drill strings, drilling fluids and critical spares.
And we can size the initial inventory around expected metreage.
Planning 5,000 metres?
Tell us.
Planning 20,000?
Tell us.
Planning 50,000+?
Definitely tell us.
Because consumable planning should happen before the first hole starts, not when the last bit is already underground.
And Sometimes the Missing Component Isn't Equipment
It's people.
A beautiful rig with nobody competent to operate it is an extremely expensive piece of scenery.
CED can provide experienced:
Drillers.
Supervisors.
Mechanical fitters.
We can provide commissioning.
Training.
Operational support.
And where appropriate, CED can discuss managed drilling programmes and contract drilling.
That matters as we expand internationally.
We're not building CED purely as an equipment manufacturer.
We're building a drilling company that also manufactures drilling equipment.
There is a difference.
Senegal Is Becoming a Serious Gold Development Story
Exploration success is also moving projects toward development.
Thor's Douta Gold Project now contains approximately 1.97 million ounces of gold resources, with reserves of approximately 1.2 million ounces, following its 2026 pre-feasibility work.
Fortuna's Diamba Sud has also progressed through feasibility while exploration continues around the wider project portfolio.
This matters because successful drilling creates more drilling.
Discovery holes become definition programmes.
Definition becomes infill.
Infill becomes geotechnical work.
New targets appear around existing deposits.
Resources expand.
Mines get built.
And the exploration machine keeps moving.
That's the ecosystem CED wants to enter.
Why Senegal? Why Now?
Because the metres are real.
Because companies are deploying multiple rigs.
Because RC and diamond drilling are both active.
Because auger programmes are advancing earlier-stage targets.
Because projects are moving toward development.
And because Senegal sits inside a wider West African exploration market that CED is actively targeting.
Three Fridays.
Three countries.
🇬🇭 Ghana.
🇨🇮 Côte d’Ivoire.
🇸🇳 Senegal.
We're not randomly picking countries off a map.
We're following the drilling.
And right now, a lot of drilling is happening in West Africa.
Planning Exploration Drilling in Senegal?
Talk to CED.
But give us more than:
"We need a drill rig."
Tell us:
Commodity.
Drilling method.
Target depth.
Hole diameter.
Expected metres.
Ground conditions.
Access.
Single or double shift.
Existing equipment.
Consumable requirements.
Personnel requirements.
Then we can actually build something useful around the programme.
Rig.
Compressor.
Drill string.
Consumables.
Spares.
Support equipment.
People.
Training.
Operations.
Give us the target. Give us the depths. Give us the metres.
We'll work backwards from the hole.
Senegal Is Putting Serious Metres in the Ground.
CED wants in.
Cylinder Exploration Drilling
Rigs. Compressors. Consumables. Personnel. Complete exploration packages.
Built for exploration. Ready for West Africa.
The Question
For exploration companies and drilling contractors already working in Senegal:
What's currently the biggest obstacle to putting more metres in the ground — rig availability, compressors, consumables, experienced crews, logistics or remote-site support?
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