SPEAKER: John A. Chapman, P.Eng

TITLE: The importance of mineral exploration and mining to humans in their space development activities

DATE: Thursday February 21st, 2013

TIME: 4:30pm

LOCATION: Room 451, 409 Granville Street (UK Building at Granville and Hastings)

ABSTRACT: There is presently a surge of government and commercial space initiatives that harkens the beginnings of a new age – that of space development beyond Earth orbit. Dot-com billionaires along with well educated and experienced space scientists, engineers and technologists have begun forming companies focused upon advancing human civilization toward utilization and occupation of the moon, mars and asteroids.

 The wealth from mines, from the dawn of recorded human history, is the epic march of mankind along the path of progress. It was the mines that made ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece and Rome great and in more recent times have created immense wealth to the benefit of the people of Europe, North America, Australia and now China, India, Brazil and Russia.

 Today, we are part of the “space generation”, crawling off the surface of the earth into the “oceans of space” – mining will continue to provide the capability for humankind to advance to the moon, mars and on to the stars.

  http://www.aiaa-sf.org/techtalks/2012/0208.html

 http://www.jmeech.mining.ubc.ca/MINE290/minerals%20-%20space%20development.pdf

Where: Chairman Room – Westin Bayshore Hotel, 1601 Bayshore Drive Vancouver

When: 7:30 am – Tuesday, January 29th, 2013.

Registration: Sold out

Speaker: James Siddorn
                 Practice Leader (Structural Geology) for SRK Consulting, Toronto

Topic/Abstract: “Advanced Geological Interpretation of Aeromagnetic Data: Applied Indirect Exploration Targeting”

Aeromagnetic surveys are a widely recognized exploration technique in mineral exploration especially in covered terranes. They are often not used to their full potential, with direct anomaly targeting and lineament analyses conducted but little else. The real value in aeromagnetic data can be unlocked integrating multiple datasets into the interpretation of the data with the aim to produce a coherent geological map which outlines the structural and geological history.

Geological models are a primary component of the interpretation process; in order to present an interpretation of the geology of the region there needs to be a coherent framework of stratigraphic and structural principles that form the basis of the interpretation. Individual rock unit and structural elements identified on the aeromagnetic images can then be related to components of the geological models. Individual structures can be interpreted in both a time and space context, with an outline of when and how faults moved. In turn, the spatial distribution of mineral deposits in relation to structures becomes evident and can be related to the geological evolution of the region, not just the geometry.

Advanced aeromagnetic interpretations should produce structural/geological maps showing the relative timing of structural events with a focus on commodity specific exploration targeting. This talk will outline an interpretation method with examples of final products for a series of geological terranes.

SPEAKER: Justin Granek (MSc)

TITLE: Computing Geologically Consistent Models from Geophysical Data

DATE: Wednesday, November 28th 2012

TIME: 4:30pm

LOCATION: Room 451, 409 Granville (UK Building at Granville and Hastings)

ABSTRACT: The difficulty of finding economically viable mineral deposits has motivated the development of new exploration methodologies. This has led to greater efforts from the geophysical community to incorporate available sources of geological and geophysical information. Since the suite of available data types is diverse, the synthesis of multiple sources of information into a single coherent model can present many difficulties. In particular, the incorporation of geological constraints in the inversion of geophysical data has been investigated by various researchers.

While valuable information can be gleaned from geological data, a challenge remains due to the disconnect between geological units and geophysical property values. Though descriptive, a distinct geological unit is not always able to uniquely characterize the physical properties of a volume of earth, and vice versa. Interpretation and translation to and from geological and geophysical units can introduce bias based on the expert’s experience.

Current methodologies which exist to incorporate geological and geophysical information into inversion typically suffer from at least one of the following issues: either they require the user to interpret physical property values from geological information, or else they require the user to define some range of influence for each measurement in the model. Imposing constraints on a model which are biased in one of these ways can lead to recovered models unsupported by the data.

The introduced methodology differs from previous attempts at incorporation of a priori information since it applies statistical classification of in situ physical property measurements (as opposed to physical property values inferred from geology) as the basis for constraints. Statistical classification, combined with the iterative nature of the scheme, act to propagate the information from the downhole physical property logs through-out the model with minimum user input required. This automated approach reduces the potential for bias from unsupported constraints, while maximizing the integration of the classification results.

The BCGS is excited to kick off the fall season with its first technical talk at this month. Hope to see you there.

SPEAKER: Dr. Ron Clowes

TITLE: High-Resolution Seismic Reflection Imaging of a Thin, Diamondiferous Kimberlite Dyke – A unique experiment

DATE: Tuesday, September 25th 2012

TIME: 4:30pm

LOCATION: Room 451, 409 Granville (UK Building at Granville and Hastings)

ABSTRACT: Seismic reflection techniques, for the first time, have imaged a thin, diamondiferous, kimberlite dyke. Standard exploration techniques for vertical kimberlite pipes fail to reveal subhorizontal or shallow-dipping intrusions whereas seismic reflection may be a suitable tool. A feasibility study and subsequent seismic survey were undertaken on the diamondiferous Snap Lake dyke (Northwest Territories, Canada). A drilling program mapped the dyke as a gently dipping sheet about 2–3 m thick. The feasibility study involved lab measurements of Vp and ρ on core samples and computer modeling to determine necessary acquisition parameters. Two 2-D lines that provide comparative datasets for different sources (explosive and vibroseis) and ground types (land and lake ice) were acquired. The explosive-source profile recorded on land yielded a superb image of the dyke from depths of 60 m to more than 1500 m over a lateral distance of 5700 m, an image that correlates well with adjacent drillhole data. On land the vibroseis source also imaged the dyke, but on ice no image was obtained due to reverberation and attenuation effects. The frequency response and unusually strong reflection amplitudes from the dyke indicate the importance of tuning effects and multiples. Finite-difference modeling confirms the variability observed on the seismic section. Apparent correlations between reflection amplitudes and dyke structure (e.g., thickness, feathering, 3-D geometry) suggest that seismic reflection data may be valuable for guiding drilling programs. Results demonstrate that high-resolution seismic methods have potential for use in kimberlite exploration, subsurface mapping and detailed imaging for mine development purposes.