On July 3, the Hunan Provincial Department of Science and Technology issued the "Notice on the Approval of 2024 Hunan Provincial Key R&D Program Projects," and Sunward's project "Technological Innovation and Utilization of Large-Diameter Deep-Hole Drilling-and-Casing Integrated Concentric Casing-While-Drilling" was approved as a 2024 Hunan Provincial Key Field R&D Program project.

The application work for the 2024 Provincial Key R&D Program projects is intended to fully implement the beautiful blueprint of the "Three Highlands and Four New Missions," further strengthen research on cutting-edge, leading, and key generic technologies as well as major public-interest research related to people's livelihood, accelerate the development of new quality productive forces, and promote high-quality development. Through multiple procedures including application and recommendation, formal review, expert evaluation, meeting deliberation, and project approval publicity, and through layer-by-layer selection, Sunward's project "Technological Innovation and Utilization of Large-Diameter Deep-Hole Drilling-and-Casing Integrated Concentric Casing-While-Drilling" stood out from numerous strong competitors and was successfully approved.

Since the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the state has continuously increased investment in mining and clean energy extraction. Mines, especially metal mines, are gradually moving toward deep mining, while coalbed methane exploration and development has not yet entered the deep field above 2000 m, which is regarded as a forbidden zone. Large-diameter deep-hole mining of more than 450 mm for mines and coalbed methane remains a gap both at home and abroad. To meet the needs of national energy security, there is an urgent need to develop drilling rigs that satisfy the drilling-and-casing integrated concentric casing-while-drilling technology, so as to achieve rapid drilling through all strata in large-diameter deep holes.

This project plans to develop a large-diameter deep-hole drilling-and-casing integrated concentric casing-while-drilling rig that "drills fast, drills accurately, and drills stably," and to form multiple key technologies in deep mining and coalbed methane exploration, including a surface large-diameter deep-hole drilling-and-casing integrated concentric casing-while-drilling rig and the energy recovery technology of a synchronous self-balancing mast, as well as a surface drilling technology system with independent intellectual property rights. The project products can comprehensively enhance China's deep mining and coalbed methane exploration capabilities and safeguard China's resource and energy security.