Is there such a thing as a geological “fact map”? Can we justify the widely used term “ground truth” to describe such a map, or indeed any direct geological field observation? This is not just a question of semantics. Surface indications of ore are usually subtle, and […]
Read more →
We live in an era where the threat of Catastrophic Anthropogenic (man-made) Global Warming (CAGW) is widely promoted and believed. Many, perhaps even the majority, of qualified scientists have strong reservations as to whether we are actually facing any imminent catastrophe, but only a brave few are […]
Read more →
In my previous post I described my encounter in 1984 with claim salting (or at least, alleged salting). These were early days, the late 20th Century gold boom was still young, and claim salting considered a rather amusing but small-scale misdemeanour practised by dishonest small-time prospectors – […]
Read more →
Looking through a box of my old field notebooks the other day I came across one which contained a cartoon sketch I had made of an old Queensland prospector and remembered the story behind it. In 1984, as an employee of a multinational mining company, I was […]
Read more →
TARGETING DRILL HOLES It is a truism that ore bodies are rare and hard to locate. If this were not so, they would hardly be worth finding. Explorers search for them by drilling holes into the ground. A single drill hole produces a very small sample […]
Read more →
The Three Point Problem In the previous post I described how quantitative orientation data can be collected from non-oriented core from a single drill hole. In this post, techniques for collecting orientation data on planes are described when more than one non-oriented hole is available from a […]
Read more →
The Specific Gravity (SG) of a substance is a measure of its density. It is expressed as the ratio of the weight of a given volume of the substance compared to the weight of an equal volume of a reference substance – usually water [1] . An […]
Read more →
Measurement of planar structure such as a bedding plane a vein or a cleavage in oriented diamond drill core can be done in two ways. The simplest way is to set up the core in its original orientation by means of a core frame and then measure […]
Read more →
MAKING SENSE OF 2D DATA – PART 2: FOLDS This post is the second of three parts and describes the different appearances which folds can have depending on the orientation of the surface on which they are exposed. Visualising complex objects in three dimensions isn’t easy, although […]
Read more →
Diamond drilling of a prospect typically goes through two phases. The required geological inputs for the two phases are different. The first phase comprises initial exploration drilling ‑ the target generation and target drilling exploration stages. In these stages drilling is aimed primarily at a geological understanding […]
Read more →