Visualizing complex objects in three dimensions isn’t easy, although geologists are better at this than most. Two dimensional objects are an order of magnitude easier to comprehend. Where the object under study is complex we can gain an understanding by viewing it on two dimensional slices or […]
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 →Ore bodies are created, not found There is a widespread belief amongst people outside our profession that all ore bodies that have yet to be found already exist. They are imagined as out there, ready-made by nature, waiting for some lucky prospector or mining company to stumble […]
Read more →
Is there a sense in which a geological map can be described as a representation of fact? Can a map define “ground truth?” A map is a virtual reality representation of the world in two dimensions. A geological map is a human artefact constructed according to […]
Read more →
The most fundamental feature of any map is its scale. The scale of a map is the ratio of a length of a unit line on the map to the length that that line represents in the real world. The ratio is expressed as a fraction that […]
Read more →
Here’s a geological mystery. The impossible diamond drill hole - a drill hole drilled where no hole could possibly be drilled. I can offer no really satisfactory explanation, although there must of course be one. Perhaps readers can think of one for themselves. A few years ago I was […]
Read more →
The metals mining industry offers geologists two distinct career paths – the exploration geologist and the mining geologist. Between these roles there is an overlap of required knowledge and skills, but the job requirements are different and the personality which makes a good exploration geologist seldom makes […]
Read more →
Air photographs (along with other similar remote sensed products such as satellite and radar imagery) provide both a mapping base on which to record field observations and an integrated view of landscape on which map-scale patterns of lithology and structure can be directly observed or interpreted. Where […]
Read more →
The concept of the anomaly is one of the most basic ideas in exploration geology. It is understood in these terms - it is a truism to say that significant metal ore bodies are unusual: another word for unusual is anomalous.: therefore, if mineral explorers (explorationists) identify anomalous […]
Read more →Explorers for minerals work with maps. The scale of the map controls the detail of the information that can be shown. With geological, geophysical or geochemical information, State Surveys , typically, present their data at regional scales ranging from 1:250,000 down to 1:50,000 : these aim to […]
Read more →