It has entered into a secondary option period, which will run from March to December, to buy New Zealand companies Flexidrill and Flexidrill Construction and their patent protected technologies the Corevibe and Maghammer.

Corevibe trials at Imdex's New Zealand test site and validated by certification specialist SGS concluded a productivity gain of 33% over conventional coring.
The secondary option period will let Imdex conduct further product development and testing while setting up its supply chain and manufacturing requirements.

The company expects to trial commercial prototypes of Corevibe by the end of the 2018-19 financial year and follow those with Maghammer commercial prototypes in the first half of 2019-20.

It will cost Imdex NZ$3 (A$2.85) million in Imdex shares.

Should Imdex choose to exercise its option to buy Flexidrill in December, the Corevibe and Maghammer are expected to provide additional global revenue and earnings during FY20 and be earnings accretive within 12 months of the exercise date.

Imdex managing director Bernie Ridgeway said the unique Corevibe and Maghammer technologies had the potential to deliver substantial economic and productivity benefits to tits clients globally.

He said that was becoming increasingly important because the next crop of discoveries were likely to be made under ground cover at greater depth, which would require more drilling.

"It is widely recognised within the industry that drilling costs represent approximately half of global mineral exploration expenditure," Ridgeway said.

"Reducing these costs has been a major challenge, which is likely to intensify, given increasing safety standards, environmental restrictions and greater average hole depths."