In the time between deciding that my marriage wouldn't take my being in the field 80% of the year much longer and going back to grad school I ran operations for a drill company.

The big lags in drilling programs relates to getting a camp ready, moving in fuel, locating a drill and crew,  getting it through customs on an international job, mobilizing the crew etc.      Diamond drills are not complex machines and ship as a base, engine, head/chuck, and tower.  To get the drill up and running once it is on site fairly easy.

Given that everything was in place when they arrived, drilling by both drills would be up and running  in a couple of days.   If the CPQ sat on the drill and was paying standby rates they would be forking out a couple of hundred dollars an hour which adds up quickly.

.... Been There