Exploration drilling is a critical component of mineral and hydrocarbon exploration, providing direct information about the subsurface geology and the presence of target resources. It involves drilling boreholes to extract rock samples (cores) for detailed geological and geochemical analysis. Hundreds of drill holes may be required to define the boundaries and evaluate the quality of an orebody. Decreasing the number of drill holes, increasing the drilling rate, or reducing the energy requirements for drilling would have a substantial impact on exploration costs.