Mudex

We threw a rapid-fire question at John about Geo Bond 2.0.

Here's what he said.

John has worked across a few different companies and used a lot of products over his time in the drilling industry.

His take on Geo Bond 2.0?

"It's one of the best all-in-one sort of products I've ever used."

What actually makes it stand out is the microparticles and micro polymers inside it.

They form a latticework, not just around the core like a lot of competing products claim to do, but around the borehole wall itself as well.

That means you're getting viscosity AND hole stabilisation from a single product.

Other products out there will tick one of those boxes.

Geo Bond 2.0 ticks both. And it also helps manage lost circulation on top of that.

It's not marketed as an all-in-one.

But out in the field, that's exactly what it acts like.

If you're carrying multiple products to do what one could handle, it might be worth a conversation.

Reach out to the Mudex team and ask about Geo Bond 2.0. 👇

If your mud stinks, That's bacteria. And it's eating your mud.

Here's what's actually happening.

PAC aka polyanionic cellulose..... is a polysaccharide. Essentially a sugar-based polymer. And bacteria love a bit of sugar.

So the more PAC you're running, the more food you're handing to any bacterial contamination in your system.

The two classic signs to watch for:

1. The mud smells off. That rotten, swampy odour is a red flag.
2. Your viscosity starts dropping for no obvious reason. That's the bacteria consuming your polymer chain.

And here's where it gets tricky.

It's not just sitting in your pit. Bacterial contamination gets into the borehole, into fractures, into zones downhole that are very hard to flush out once it takes hold.

Some people reach for chlorine. It will kill the bacteria — but it'll also burn out every polymer in your system at the same time. Not a trade-off worth making.

Biocide is the better call. Targeted, effective, and won't wreck everything else you've built into the mud.

so this is a little snippet grabbed out of a much wider chat but you get the gist!

Hit us up if you want to talk it through. 🎓

Final day underway until we wrap on Africa Down Under 2026.

We caught up with Mark on the final day to get his honest take on how the week went.

Short answer: busy. Really busy.

More conversations than previous years. More reconnecting with clients. More of the kind of catch-ups that actually mean something when you're working across a region as dynamic as Africa.

But beyond the handshakes and the familiar faces, what stood out most was the learning.

There are some genuinely exciting initiatives happening across the African region right now and understanding where Mudex can play a role in supporting those is exactly why we show up to events like this.

All in all, a positive week. The kind that reminds you why face-to-face still matters in this industry.

See you next time. 🤝

Day one at Africa Down Under. Booth 74 is live.

For Theuns, this is his first ADU — and his third time in Australia. Safe to say he is settling in just fine.

If you are walking the floor today, come find us.

We are here to talk muds, drilling, and whatever else under the sun. That is the part of these events we genuinely enjoy, the real chats.

One thing worth stopping by for if you have not seen it yet.

We have our Enviro Pack packaging on display. It is how we are delivering drilling fluids with 90% less plastic than traditional drilling packaging. Less waste on site. Less environmental impact. Same product quality you would expect from Mudex.

It is a shift the industry needs and we are glad to be showing it here in Perth this week.

Booth 74. Come say g'day to Theunis, Dave and Mark 🤝

Less plastic on site. Same performance.

Our Eco Drum and Eco Bucket from Enviropack cuts plastic use by over 90% compared to traditional drilling fluid packaging.

Here is a quick breakdown of how it works and some features of our packaging.

For powder products:
The box uses a double-layer heat shrink wrap. Water stays out. Product stays dry. To open, use the small knife supplied and cut the top section only. Leave the bottom sealed. Scoop what you need, then reseal it the same way you opened it. Simple.

For liquid products:
Same double-layer protection. A sealable lid sits on top of an internal bladder. Do not pull the bladder out of the box. Open from the top, pour what you need, close the cap and move on. Finish one before you open the next.

Why does this matter?

On site, packaging that gets damaged, contaminated or misused means wasted product and more waste heading to landfill.

This system is built to be durable, resealable and easy to manage. Less mess. Less waste. Less hassle.

If you want to see exactly how it is done, check out the full tutorial from Dempsey in the video.

Any questions on the Enviropack, reach out to your Mudex rep or drop a comment below.

SO Dave flew out to a remote site to deliver a Mud School to some of the younger crew who had experience on the tools, so no matter what stage you are at with drilling to understand your muds better is always going to be beneficial. No matter where you are, we will get out there and deliver.

Most drillers know annular velocity matters.

Fewer understand what actually happens inside an HDD bore.

On an HDD rig, the drill rods don't sit in the middle of the hole. They sit on the bottom.

That means the fluid velocity is not even across the annulus.

At the top of the hole, above the drill pipe, you've got maximum flow.

Down by the drill pipe, right where it's sitting on the bottom, you've got the lowest annular velocity.

And that's exactly where cuttings want to build up.

That's the problem. Slow-moving fluid at the bottom of the annulus means cuttings bed up around the pipe and don't get out.

This is why coupling rotation matters so much for hole cleaning in HDD. It's not just about moving fluid. It's about disturbing that low-velocity zone so cuttings don't settle.

And HDD gets more complex from there.

Unlike a vertical well, your fluid can actually be travelling in two different directions depending on where you are in the bore profile. Pushing in versus pulling back through a high-angle or flat section, the flow behaves completely differently. Dune transport becomes a real factor.

This is a snippet from one of our full Mud Schools.

On-site. Wherever you are, we come to you.

If your crew could use more of this, reach out. 👇