Boart Longyear wireline core retrieval system, an innovation that revolutionized the diamond drilling industry by increasing productivity on the worksite and making tripping core from the bottom of the hole safer for the drilling assistant. Later named the Q Wireline System, the new core retrieval method introduced a level of productivity never before seen in the exploration drilling industry. In 1964 Longyear sold 25 percent of its family-owned stock to FACTS, a Luxembourg-based holding company owned jointly by Boart International and Christensen Diamond Products Company. Three years later FACTS exercised its option to purchase another 25 percent of Longyear's family stock. The
Boart Longyear Boart Longyear Boart Longyear is a global mineral exploration company founded in 1890. It is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Regional offices and operations are located in the Asia-Pacific region, North and South America, Europe, and Africa. The company provides mineral exploration services and drilling products for the global mining industry and also has a presence in drilling water exploration, environmental sampling, energy, and oil sands exploration. As of 2018, it employed more than 5,000 people. In 1888, Edmund J. Longyear, a mining engineer from the first graduating class at the Michigan Mining School, drilled the first