Directional Drilling for Mining Patents: Who Leads, Trends 2026
- Five companies hold 68.6% of the field. The top five assignees combine for 799 of 1,165 records in scope, with a steep drop from the leader's 286 to the fifth-place holder's 87 filings.
- Filing kept climbing through the last complete year. Filings rose from 40 in 2021 to 46 in 2024, a 15% increase over that span, even after the 2017 peak of 68.
- Claims cluster hard on wellbore mechanics, not on surface software. 85.2% of records sit in E21B (earth and rock drilling) versus 3.9% in G06F (digital data processing), leaving planning and data layers comparatively open.
Filing growth compares 2021 (40 records) with 2024 (46) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 1,165 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This dataset tracks 1,165 published patent records filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine directional or in-seam core drilling techniques with survey and steering instrumentation — dogleg severity control, downhole motors, wedge deflection, target intersection and position uncertainty. The search string was built to isolate the intersection of drilling method and steering/measurement, which is the technical core of directional drilling as applied to mining and related subsurface work rather than drilling in general.
Because publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, the last one to two years in any trend understate real filing activity; 2024 is treated here as the most recent complete year for growth comparisons.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 1,165 records: how filing activity has moved year over year, and which technical classes those filings sit in.
Filings rose again after a mid-decade dip
Annual filings peaked at 68 in 2017, cooled, then climbed from 40 in 2021 to 46 in 2024 — a 15% rise over that three-year window. Figures for 2025 and 2026 are still incomplete because of publication lag and should not be read as a decline.
Drilling mechanics dominate; digital layers are thin
E21B (earth and rock drilling) appears in 85.2% of the 1,165 records and G01V (geophysics and gravity surveying) in 24.2%, confirming this is fundamentally a downhole-hardware field. Control systems (G05B, 4.9%), digital data processing (G06F, 3.9%) and navigation/gyroscopes (G01C, 3.4%) each cover a small minority of records, since a single record can carry more than one class.
Shares are the percentage of the 1,165 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Directional Drilling for Mining with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about directional drilling for mining and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaRepresentative filing and most-cited prior art
Directional core drilling system
A directional core drilling includes an outer barrel assembly with a guide sleeve that defines a tilt angle for orientating a drill bit within a hole and a drive barrel rotationally supported within the outer barrel assembly. An inner drive assembly is receivable within the outer barrel assembly and includes a torque latch assembly and an anti-rotation bearing assembly. The torque latch assembly includes latch arms configured to releasably couple a rotational drive input to the drive barrel. A core barrel is coupled to the anti-rotation bearing assembly and is rotationally fixed relative to the drive barrel.Filed by International Directional Services LLC, published 2023-10-05 as US20230313626A1.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6296066B1 | Well system | 345 |
| 2 | US5467832A | Method for directionally drilling a borehole | 313 |
| 3 | US5448227A | Method of and apparatus for making near-bit measurements while drilling | 275 |
| 4 | US5230387A | Downhole combination tool | 258 |
| 5 | US7172038B2 | Well system | 228 |
| 6 | US5410303A | System for drilling deivated boreholes | 222 |
| 7 | US5163521A | System for drilling deviated boreholes | 204 |
| 8 | US6581699B1 | Steerable drilling system and method | 192 |
| 9 | US6923273B2 | Well system | 176 |
| 10 | US5738178A | Method and apparatus for navigational drilling with a downhole motor employing independent drill string and b… | 156 |
Citation counts accumulate over time, so older records such as the 1990s-era well-system and directional-drilling patents lead the table; treat this as a measure of influence on later filings, not of current commercial relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Three patterns stand out once the records are grouped by year, class and assignee.
The field is an oilfield-services field, not a mining-equipment field
The leading assignees are oilfield services and drilling-technology companies rather than mining-equipment specialists, and the top five alone account for 799 of the 1,165 records in scope. A newcomer filing here is not entering a fragmented space; it is filing next to a small group of parties with deep, overlapping portfolios.
Activity is holding, not fading
After the 2017 peak of 68 filings, annual counts settled lower but then grew from 40 in 2021 to 46 in 2024. Because 2025-2026 figures are still incomplete due to publication lag, that growth trend — not the apparent recent drop — is the reliable read.
Downhole hardware is crowded; the data layer is not
Earth and rock drilling claims (E21B) cover 85.2% of the 1,165 records, while digital data processing (G06F) covers only 3.9%. Planning software, trajectory-uncertainty modelling and data-processing claims built around the same drilling scenarios sit on comparatively thin prior art.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to directional drilling for mining, with the prior art for and against each one.
Who holds the claim space
A handful of assignees dominate the ranked list, and the co-filing pairs among them point to shared corporate lineage rather than open collaboration.
One assignee holds more than triple the fifth-place count
The leading assignee's 286 records dwarf the fifth-place holder's 87, and the gap between first and tenth (37) is even wider. That spread signals a portfolio built over years of continuation filings across multiple jurisdictions, not a single burst of activity.
The strongest pairs trace back to one corporate group
The ten identified co-assignee pairs, including one pair sharing 67 records and others sharing 44 and 39, largely link entities that are regional or historical arms of the same corporate family. This is internal portfolio structuring, not cross-company collaboration.
Leaders' latest-year counts are down, but read this with caution
The leading assignees each show single-digit filing counts in the latest year with year-over-year declines in the -60% to -75% range. Given the 18-month publication lag, this looks more like an incomplete final year than a genuine pullback from the field.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Schlumberger Technology Corp | 6 | -73% |
| Schlumberger | 2 | -67% |
| Schlumberger Canada Ltd | 2 | -67% |
| Geoquest Systems BV | 1 | -67% |
| Halliburton Energy Services Inc | 0 | — |
| Baker Hughes Co | 0 | — |
| Landmark Graphics Corp | 0 | — |
| HELMERICH & PAYNE TECH LLC | 0 | -100% |
Where to take this analysis
The landscape points to a hardware-dense core with lighter claim density in adjacent digital and control layers.
Map freedom-to-operate against the top holders
With 68.6% of records held by five assignees, any new downhole-hardware filing should be checked against those specific portfolios before drafting claims, not just against the field broadly.
Explore assignee portfolios in EurekaTest claim language in the under-claimed branches
Position-uncertainty software, trajectory digital twins and sensor-fusion control sit on thinner prior art than the drilling-mechanics core and may offer more room to claim broadly.
Run a claim-scope check in EurekaWatch for the 2025-2026 data to fill in
Because publication lag understates the most recent two years, re-check filing momentum for the leading assignees once later-year records post.
Set up monitoring in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
The ranked list is dominated by oilfield-services and drilling-technology companies rather than mining-equipment specialists, reflecting the fact that directional drilling techniques originated in and are still driven by oil and gas well drilling. The top five assignees together hold 799 of the 1,165 records in scope, or 68.6%, with a steep drop-off from the leader's 286 records to the fifth-place holder's 87. Several of the top ten are related corporate entities across different jurisdictions, so the effective concentration in a single corporate family is higher than the individual company names suggest.
Filings peaked at 68 in 2017, declined afterward, and then grew again from 40 in 2021 to 46 in 2024, a 15% increase over that three-year span. The apparent drop shown for 2025 and 2026 is an artefact of publication lag, which typically runs about 18 months between filing and publication, rather than a real slowdown. The 2021-2024 window is the most reliable recent read on momentum in this dataset.
The dense prior art sits in E21B (earth and rock drilling), covering 85.2% of the 1,165 records, and G01V (geophysics and gravity surveying) at 24.2%. Digital and control-layer classes are comparatively thin: G05B (control and regulating systems) at 4.9%, G06F (digital data processing) at 3.9% and G01C (navigation and gyroscopes) at 3.4%. That gap suggests planning software, trajectory-uncertainty modelling and sensor-fusion control logic built around directional drilling scenarios carry less claim density than the downhole hardware itself.
US20230313626A1, filed by International Directional Services LLC and published 2023-10-05, describes a directional core drilling system built around an outer barrel assembly with a tilt-defining guide sleeve, a drive barrel, and an inner drive assembly with a torque latch and anti-rotation bearing. It is a specific mechanical architecture for orienting a drill bit and transmitting rotational drive to a core barrel, not a claim over directional core drilling generally. Designs that steer or drive the core barrel through different mechanical means, such as alternative latch or bearing arrangements, would need a separate freedom-to-operate check but are not automatically blocked by this filing.
This field shows high concentration: the top five assignees hold 68.6% of the 1,165 records in scope and the top ten hold 90.4%. That leaves a genuinely long tail below the tenth-ranked holder, which sits at 37 records versus the leader's 286. For a company evaluating entry, the practical implication is that most of the claim space of record is controlled by a small number of firms, even though the ranked list itself covers 100 companies.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.