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. This technology been a game-changer for mining exploration for a decade, but is still not widely known.
Today we discuss Phase 2, the field work, which involves two steps. First the FSPEF (Forming Short Pulse Electromagnetic Fields) for more accurate mapping of the location of mineralisation and second VERS (Vertical Electro-Resonance Sounding) for accurate depth mapping of the orebody and geological features.
In Phase 2 Step 1, the FSPEF or top view step, we know, from Phase 1, the ore body anomalies are there and where they are. So, we limit and focus our further investigation to the subset of anomalies of most interest to improve resolution. The selection of which to investigate is made in conjunction with our client.
In Phase 2 Step 1 of MFT, we criss-cross the anomalies with GPS and small proprietary portable FSPEF units (they weight less than 6 kg). Our equipment issues a short impulse at the frequency of resonance of the material in the anomaly. The pulse interacts with the anomaly (if the material of interest is there) and it generates a response which we capture and process.
In this step the resolution is increased (or if you prefer the scale is decreased) by an order of magnitude. So, if spectroscopy points were 100 m apart, the FSPEF measurements will be 10 m apart; or if spectroscopy resolution was 10 m it will be an FSPEF measurement each 1 m.
Remember, from my earlier example, the spectroscopy data could have 50,000 data points. If the anomalies of interest made up 20% of that area, and 10,000 data points of interest, then after FSPEF we’d be processing and meshing 10,000 spectroscopy and 100,000 FSPEF data points.
The example image is gold, and the country is Mexico. The Phase 1 spectroscopy map (the purple boundary lines) are overlaid on the yellow and orange of the more detailed FSPEF results.
What is worth noting in this example is the top right of the image where you see three areas of mineralisation Oro 11, Oro 12 and Oro 14 identified by spectroscopy but FSPEF showed most of the areas had low concentration and were not economic to mine. But highest concentration areas, worth mining, were 150 metres are outside the areas identified by spectroscopy. Only using spectroscopy would have led to drilling in the wrong place, and exploration may not have discovered the profitable areas of the deposit. The same applies for Oro 10 in the top left.
The mode of transport for Phase 2 can be air, horse, car, foot or boat and the criss-cross can be in any direction.
In my next post we’ll have a look the next steps.