EXPLORATION AND SAMPLING n Is designed with specifically angled waterways n Works best in broken ground and clay
“ The large number of choices can also be overwhelming, making it hard to know which configuration to pick. The recently published Fundamental Guide to Core Bit Configurations addresses additional variables including the type of discharge options, the number of waterways as well as the width between the waterways. All of these will impact the amount of diamonds in the matrix.
“ And finally, no discussion on improving drilling performance would be complete without a word on the use of drilling fluid additives. Drilling fluid additives are great products that can help resolve a lot of issues that are a result of difficult ground conditions often found in mineral exploration drilling. They are often a better alternative to bentonite because they do not have the abrasive qualities of bentonite. Products such as DD-2000, can help with flushing cuttings so that coring is faster and wear on the drill bit is reduced. Torqueless is also an excellent product that reduces torque, protects against wear and extends bit life. Several guides have been published on how to best use drilling fluid additives in certain ground conditions and how to avoid common mistakes when mixing.”
Decision making
IGS Xplore is innovative automated mineral targeting system, designed for de-risking early stage decision making in mineral exploration and was developed by International Geoscience Services( IGS), a spin off from the British Geological Survey. The company says the system offers distinct advantages over conventional GIS, Neural Network or Fuzzy Logic type approaches due to its intelligent nature.“ Utilising semantic analysis, it can be said to understand geology in a similar way to a human and is currently trained
Graph type database used by IGS Xplore compared with GIS tabular data above on 50 mineral deposit models / systems. Semantics allows the direct application of academic knowledge to large datasets and keeps the process completely transparent process allowing users to trace results back to the geological rules. Semantic analysis is also very flexible allowing integration and analysis of many disparate databases simultaneously such as geology, geochemistry( soil, rock and stream sediments) and interpreted geophysics to quickly and cost effectively identify potential exploration targets at any scale.”
IGS says it understands the enormous value but also the risk associated with early-stage mineral exploration data, which is often patchy, disjointed and of varying quality.“ It is, however, this data which is vital in strategic and investment planning. This geodata is also often difficult to obtain, is typically in multiple formats and traditional methods of collating and analysing data is a time-consuming and labourintensive process by geologists. These problems are adding to the rising costs of mineral prospect discovery worldwide, inhibiting early-stage exploration activities and investment in the exploration sector. The IGS Xplore system offers streamlined approach, dramatically shortening the delivery time and reducing the high costs associated with early-stage exploration data analysis by automating the lion-share of the prospectivity analysis process.”
In IGS Xplore datasets brought in and are tested against a set of well-established, nonstatistical but empirically-based geological rules from peer reviewed publications governing up to 50 known mineralisation models, generating a portfolio of customised, high-quality prospectivity maps for a region / country and on a commodity basis. IGS says the availability of its customised value-added early-stage prospectivity data is“ of vital strategic importance to mineral explorers and senior decision-makers guiding them to make well-informed decisions regarding the selection of commodities to be explored for, the identification of potential concession areas for exploration as well as influencing the crucial decision-making process to raise appropriate levels of investment.”
IGS adds:“ Currently for an IGS Xplore project, a dedicated IGS Xplore team works with a client’ s data to ensure the efficient capture and integration of proprietary data into the IGS Xplore system, alongside the management, supervision and delivery of prospectivity data tailored to the client’ s specific requirements, however, we are working on a system which will allow stakeholders to process, enrich and analyse their data themselves, which will be available shortly.” IM
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FEBRUARY 2017 | International Mining 25