Mineral Exploration is the official publication of the Association of Mineral Exploration British Columbia.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/370216
24 F A L L 2 0 1 4 laterite and saprolite. "Some of the lay- ers contain the critical information that is needed to pick up on the signature of an ore deposit at depth; other parts of the regolith are leached by the groundwater and will be barren if sampled accidentally." Voormeij would like to be able to punch through the regolith with a high- tech, lightweight, durable and perhaps even battery-powered hand auger. "It should be able to reach depths of up to 10 or 25 metres quickly, so that we can reach and sample specific layers of the regolith." Voormeij is also hoping someone will develop an application of gravity survey- ing technology to locate ore deposits in the tropics. "For example, at IAMGOLD's Rosebel Gold Mine in Dutch Guyana, the regolith is 150 metres thick before reaching hard bedrock," says Voormeij. "With improved elevation precision in global positioning systems, gravity sur- veying can be used to identify thicker regolith cells along a trend." Voormeij says one of the biggest chal- lenges facing contemporary explorers is how to report to head office from the field in real time. To solve this problem, she has come up with a futuristic cre- ation that she has dubbed the Mineral Exploration Mobile Unit ( MEMU). "Like in Michael Crichton's fictional Jurassic Park and Lost World stories, what I'm thinking of is a set of mobile trail- ers, complete with office, lab (with a built-in X-ray fluorescence analyzer and a small sample-processing facility), mess, shower/washroom and sleeping quar- ters, communications software and an on-board cook/medic," says Voormeij. "The MEMU would be used in grass- roots mineral exploration to collect and analyze field soil and rock and water samples, and apply the results instantly, to make decisions for the next move. And management can observe all this in real time from head office back home." The last word on scientific research and technology in mineral exploration goes to John Thompson, former vice- president of technology and develop- ment with Teck Resources Limited, and now a consultant and Cornell University professor. He says that for explorers to find new, high-quality ore bodies, they need good technological products and techniques. "Technology can facilitate better real-time decision-making in the field," he says. "When used effectively, it can improve field skills, and thereby maximize a project's value. But technol- ogy by itself can't do it all." •