Drone Geophysics in African Natural Resources Exploration
Laurent Ameglio
Managing Director of EXIGE Pty Ltd (South Africa & Australia)
Laurent Ameglio has a PhD in geophysics and geology (France). After a brief academic career (South Africa), he joined the natural resources exploration industry specialising in airborne geophysics. Over the past 20+ years he has been involved in various capacities in over 9-million-line km of airborne surveys over 30+ countries across 4 continents. The last decade and a half he pioneered light aviation airborne geophysics with gyrocopters and light sport aircraft. Laurent is presently the Managing Director of EXIGE Pty Ltd (South Africa & Australia) which does: (i) consulting work involving airborne surveys management and also interpretation of geophysical datasets and minerals targeting; and (ii) development of new technologies and innovative solutions for mining, natural resources exploration and agricultural soil and crop mapping. EXIGE is the nest of the ‘Colibri’ drone magnetics platform.
Stephanie Enslin
Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand
Stephanie Enslin has a PhD in geophysics (Wits). She has a broad range of research focuses ranging from mineral and petroleum exploration, geotechnical and ground water, using a range of methods include potential fields (ground, airborne and satellite), seismics, GPR and InSAR.
Edgar Stettller
Honorary Professor of Geophysics at the University of the Witwatersrand
Edgar Stettler holds MSc and PhD degrees (Geophysics) from Pretoria University, was a part time lecturer since 1980 and Extraordinary Professor of Geophysics at that University between 2000 and 2009. He has been lecturing on Electromagnetics at the University of the Witwatersrand since 2007, where he holds the position of Honorary Professor in Geophysics. E. Stettler is a past president (1994) and Meritorious Geophysical Service Award holder of the SA Geophysical Association (2009), a recipient of the prestigious Dr. Rudolf Krahmann Gold Medal award (2013) and an active member of the International Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Tulsa, USA since 1976. He represented the SA earth science community on SACNASP (1994-2004) and represented SA at the Geophysics and Seismology Working Group at the SADC Mining Co-ordination Unit. He is also a Fellow of the Geological Society of SA. Edgar joined the Geological Survey Geophysics Unit in 1975 as a student and was the Divisional Manager for Geophysics, Seismology and Geohydrology between 1994 and 2004. He then joined the Thani Group in Dubai (2005-2010) as a geophysical consultant in gold, base metal and oil exploration. Between 2010 and 2018 he was a director of the Hamburg Alternative listed Swiss company, Afrika Gold AG with assets in Ghana and South Africa. He has an extensive refereed publication list dealing mostly with tectonics as revealed by geophysical data. GEONICS of Canada referenced his theoretical work on borehole electromagnetics in a patent. With Prof’s F. Kamenetsky (University of Muenchen) and G. Trigubovich (Novosibirsk State Technical University) he co-authored the textbook ‘Transient Geo-electromagnetics’, published in 2010. Edgar specializes in base metal, diamond and groundwater exploration with geophysical techniques and his current interest’s cover drone based geophysical surveying where he is involved in magnetic, TEM, MMR and NIR surveying.
Dan Eremenco
Managing Director of Gap Geophysics Australia
Dan Eremenco is currently the Managing Director of Gap Geophysics Australia, a geophysical technology developer based in Australia. Dan’s experience is mostly in electrical geophysics and magnetometry with a 15 year career and global experience. Dan has an MBA from the Australian Institute of Management, and a BSc in Exploration Geophysics from the University of Queensland. Dan is based in Brisbane, Australia.
Ron Bell
Senior Geophysicist and geoDRONEologist for Drone Geoscience, LLC
Ronald S. Bell is the Senior Geophysicist and geoDRONEologist for Drone Geoscience, LLC, a geophysical consulting and services company headquartered in Denver, Colorado with an office in Houston, Texas. After more than four (3) decades of experience applying geophysical methods mineral, geothermal, groundwater, and hydrocarbon exploration as well as subsurface characterization for environmental and engineering projects, Ron began using UAVs to map the Earth’s magnetic field in 2016 using a prototype of the MagArrow UAV magnetometer from Geometrics, Inc. In 2021, he focused on deploying drone-enabled EM61 Lite electromagnetic (EM) system made by Geonics Ltd for pipeline discrimination. Soon after, he began working with the GEM-2 system from Geophex, Ltd for drone enabled soil conductivity mapping.
Marshall MacNabb
President of MWH Geo-Surveys International
Marshall MacNabb is President of MWH Geo-Surveys International, where he leads geophysical survey operations and technology development. With a long history at MWH spanning field data acquisition, processing, and project management, he brings a practical, end-to-end perspective on geophysical survey execution. His experience includes gravity, UAV magnetics, and UAV radiometrics, with a focus on data quality and survey design in remote environments. He played a leading role in pioneering the commercial deployments of UAV-based gamma-ray spectrometry for mineral exploration.
His work also includes contributions to advancing UAV gamma-ray spectrometry through applied research, including field comparisons between UAV and helicopter-borne systems and co-authorship on research integrating radiometric and magnetic data with spatially aware machine learning for lithological mapping.
Han Limburg
Principal Scientist and founder of Medusa-Radiometrics
Han Limburg studied physics at the University of Groningen and finished a PhD (cum laude) at the atomic physics group of the nuclear physics lab of the University of Groningen. After this PhD, Limburg worked at the nuclear physics lab on the commercialization of an underwater gamma-ray spectrometer. Together with Ronald Koomans, Han Limburg founded Medusa Explorations in 2000, a company that has now evolved into 3 different activities. Han nowadays is mostly active in Medusa Radiometrics – the spin-off that produces gamma-ray survey systems and software tailored for drone-use. In Radiometrics, Han focusses on the technical development by creating gamma-ray survey systems for geophysical applications by applying new detector materials and novel data analysis methods to make detectors smaller, more robust and user friendly.
DATE:
16 October 2026
PARTICIPANTS:
Minimum: 15 | Maximum: 40
FEE:
Workshop Only Delegate: R4260
Workshop Conference Delegate: R3260
Student: R1150
TARGET AUDIENCE:
Geophysicists, and geologists
DURATION:
The session is a 1 Day Course
CPD POINTS:
CPD points awarded = 1
About This Event
The short course will showcase how drone geophysics is used for greenfield and brownfield natural resources exploration mapping, and targeting. Firstly, general aspects of drone surveying (history, aviation, logistics, operations, economics, etc) and a review of available drone-borne geophysical technologies (magnetics, electromagnetics, gamma-ray spectrometry, gravity, GPR, etc) will be provided. Secondly, case studies will be presented with results, best practices, new ideas and insights of applications of drone-based geophysics for natural resources exploration, especially with regards to the African context (and a few examples elsewhere in the world). The short course will be a joint effort by international experts from EXIGE, Wits University, AeroPhysx, Gap Geophysics, Geophex, Drone Geoscience, Omserv, MWH Geo Surveys International, Medusa, and one or two extra experts still to be confirmed. The short course will consist of a series of hybrid face-to-face and digitally pre-recorded presentations. The presentations will be as informal and fluid as possible to maximise the engagement of the participants. Open question and discussion throughout the presentation sessions will be an integral part of the event.
Programme: (subject to change)
1. General aspects
- Welcome & Introduction (chair & co-chair) [In-person]
- A brief history of drone geophysics development – By Laurent Ameglio (EXIGE Pty Ltd, South Africa & Australia) [In-person]
- Drone operational and economics considerations – By Laurent Ameglio (EXIGE Pty Ltd, South Africa & Australia) [In-person]
2. Technologies and Case Studies
- EM │ Semi-airborne drone TDEM (experiences in Southern Africa) – By Edgar Stettler (Wits University and AeroPhysx, South Africa) [In-person]
- Mag │ Plug and play Automatic drone magnetics platform – Colibri – By Laurent Ameglio (EXIGE Pty Ltd, South Africa & Australia) [In-person]
- EM │ Drone-borne Sub-Audio Magnetics (SAM) for mineral exploration. An overview of the technology and mineral exploration case histories from Australia and Canada – By Dan Eremenco (Gap Geophysics, Australia) [Pre-recorded – tbc]
- EM │ GEM2 UAV: Drone Enabled EMI Conductivity Mapping – By Ron Bell (Drone Geoscience, Canada) – [In-person]
- GPR │ Drone-Borne GPR for Mining & Minerals: Best Practices, Capabilities, and 3D Subsurface Mapping – By Lemuel Toloza (Omserv, Chile) [Pre-recorded]
- Gamma │ Drone gamma-ray spectro with D230A – By Marshall MacNabb (MWH Geo Surveys, Canada) [In presence]
- Gamma │ When every count counts – Maximising Data Quality in Drone-Borne Gamma-Ray Surveys – By Han Limburg (Medusa, The Netherlands) [In-person]
- Grav │ To be confirmed [In-person]
- Mag │ To be confirmed [In-person]
3. Perspectives and future of drone geophysics
- MAG Assegai drone magnetics collaborative research program (South Africa) – By Stephanie Enslin (Wits University, South Africa) [In-person]
- A glimpse at the future of drone geophysics – By Laurent Ameglio (EXIGE Pty Ltd, South Africa & Australia) [In-person]
What I Will Learn
The take-aways of the short course will be:
- Understanding of pros and cons of planning and running a drone geophysical survey
- An overview of present day and future drone-borne geophysical toolbox
- Limitations and advantages of each drone-borne geophysical technology and their application for natural resource exploration
Prerequisites Required
Basic principles of geophysics, and natural resource exploration.
What Should I Bring
Participants are not required to bring anything. Digital copies of the presentations will be provided.