The company posted a net profit after tax of $18 million for the first half of 2022, a 147% improvement on the same time last year when it posted a US$38 million loss.

However, there had been signs that things were starting to turn for the drilling services, products and technology provider when it posted a $19 million profit in the first quarter of 2022.

The first half profit came on the back of $528 million revenue, up 18% year on year. It is the company's strongest first half revenue performance since 2013.

Boart Longyear posted earnings before interest tax of $52 million for the half year.

Net debt for the half fell 81% year on year to $176 million, a benefit of the recapitalisation the company completed last year.

So what is driving the turnaround?

Part of it is Boart Longyear's push to boost its technology division. The other is the general increase in demand for its products, services and technologies.

Drilling Services enjoyed price and volume increases during the period on the back of vigorous customer demand, mainly in the US, Canada and Latin America.

Global Products, which includes the company's technology arm Geological Data Services, also enjoyed solid price and volume growth, particularly with performance tooling and capital equipment.

However, those businesses are getting hit by higher labour, input and distribution costs.

Boart Longyear chief financial officer Miguel Desdin said he broke the inflationary pressures into two categories: input costs and labour costs.

"The price of steel is the biggest driver of higher costs for our Products business," he said.

To get around that Boart Longyear moved manufacturing of drill rods from two facilities in Canada to its Eiterfeld facility in Germany to capitalise on cheaper European steel. After all, 70% of the cost of a drill rod is the steel.

Some percussive rod manufacturing has been moved to Wuxi, China to make use of the manufacturing capacity there.

"We're working on lowering production costs by sourcing materials from lower cost suppliers," Desdin said.

That means looking for cheaper steel and looking at the manufacturing process to see where lower price inputs can be used.

Boart Longyear CEO Jeff Olsen believes technology is the way forward for the company.

During the half Geological Data Services rolled out its latest product the TruGyro.

"TruGyro finds north faster than any competing product," Olsen said.

"The other part is TruScan. It can reduce the time to log core by more than 60%. It reduces the time from drilling core to assay results from one month to less than one day. It can reduce the carbon emissions from core transport by 90%.

"The team's TruScan business development efforts are gaining traction with several new sites starting in Q322 and some clients requesting multiple units.

"Our new customers are confirming how their exploration and development programs are benefiting from TruScan's cutting-edge technology.

"We remain focused on positioning the business for future growth by investing $28 million in our operations during the first half."

Part of that is trying to ride the exploration wave that is starting to build.

It is no secret miners have underinvested in exploration and that is set to change.
There are already signs of increased exploration investment.

Olsen said over the long-term gold accounted for about 40-50% of global exploration activities with copper making up about 20-30% of the remaining base metal commodities.

"We've concentrated on those because they have the most concentrated drilling programs," he said.

Shares in thinly traded Boart were unchanged at A$2.20.