I’m still talking about a #mineralfindertechnology (MFT) that has the potential to accelerate the speed of the exploration phase of mining, reduce costs, and increase the success rates. People ask “What is the process?” There are three phases.
The first thing that is important in Phase 1 (Satellite Spectrography) is the scale – the distance between each point of control (i.e. where we have information). We usually start Phase 1 with sample points at between 10 m and 200 m apart, and sample areas ranging from 5 sq km to 100 sq km, depending upon the material. As we move through Phase 2 and 3 the spacing between measurement points or scale becomes less and less with accompanying increases in accuracy.
Sometimes we are asked to examine large areas in Phase 1, for example 200,000 sq km. The goal is to identify areas worthy of more detailed analysis.
Usually, in Phase 1 the client has already done some exploration work and has a ‘qualified’ smaller area to explore. For example, if the area examined in Phase 1 was 5 sq km (5million sq ms) and resolution (measurement point spacing) was 10 m (i.e. one per 100 sq m) then the spectroscopy data will have 50,000 sample points.
We analyse the spectrographic data to produce a matrix of the sub-surface orebodies. Then we run that data through software that produces isolines (joins the points with the same electromagnetic resonance frequency of the resonant responses of the material we are studying).
Normally at this phase the report doesn’t give you the precise depth, shape, nor multiple layers of the mineralisation. It will tell you if the mineral is there, whether it is 300 m or 3km below the surface, and if it is in concentrations that make it worthy of further analysis.
This example image is the case of a brownfield copper orebody in Chile. What you are seeing is the result of the Phase 1 first pass map of the subsoil areas where we detect the frequency of resonance, of the ore of interest.
There are 6 different types of copper here and MFT found types 1, 3 and 6 in concentration the tailings, and this represented significant value that was being overlooked in the processing.
In my upcoming posts we’ll have a look in a little more detail at how it works in the Phase 2 field work, and then the laboratory AI data analysis.