Integrated interpretation of Geology and Geophysics

John McGaughey

PhD, PRESIDENT, MIRA GEOSCIENCE

John obtained his PhD in geological engineering at Queen’s University in Canada, specialising in seismic methods applied to hard rock mining. Prior to founding Mira Geoscience in 1999, he spent 10 years at the Noranda Technology Centre in Montreal working in exploration and minesite geophysics. John has spent his career working in multi-disciplinary modelling and interpretation for mineral exploration and geotechnical applications, focusing on quantitative, integrated interpretation of geological and geophysical data in 3D earth modelling; analysis and application of rock physical properties; 4D geotechnical hazard assessment; and data management and machine learning. He has been a leader in adapting technological advancements from the oil and gas to the minerals industry.

Kristofer Davis

PhD, PRINCIPAL GEOPHYSICIST AND SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMMER

Kris obtained his PhD at the Colorado School of Mines, specialising in potential fields processing and inversion, followed by several years as a post-doctoral fellow and research associate in the Geophysical Inversion Facility at the University of British Columbia. At Mira Geoscience, Kris leads the development of geophysical software tools, primarily through the Geoscience ANALYST Pro Geophysics platform. Working closely with industry explorationists and the Mira Geoscience consulting team, he has gained deep exposure to practical integrated interpretation projects across a spectrum of geophysical methods and geological interpretation challenges.

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DATE:

01 October 2024

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TIME:

Time: 9:30am – 5pm

(9am for 9:30am start)

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FEE:

Delegate: R2500

Student: R1000

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DURATION:

The session is a 1 Day Course

About this event

The workshop is structured as a series of presentations with moderated discussion. The convenors and small group of invited speakers have a common objective: effective, integrated geological interpretation of geophysical and geological data. Presentations and discussions will cover methods, technology, and especially focus on presenting a range of real-world case studies.

What I will learn

You will learn how to think about geophysical data in terms of the geological interpretation problem to be solved across a broad range of geophysical methods. You will learn about the power of combining geological models, physical properties, and geophysical forward modelling to validate geological interpretation and challenge geological hypotheses. You will discover how to use geophysical data to create plausible 3D geological models in cases where geological data is sparse to non-existent. You will learn about geophysical inversion in practice: its value and its limitations. You will learn about the promise and current challenges of joint inversion in practical applications. In summary, you will take away from this workshop a strong appreciation and practical knowledge of how to quantitatively integrate geological and geophysical data to solve your geological interpretation challenges.

What should I bring

You need only bring curiosity and a motivation to effectively integrate geophysical and geological data for the best interpretational outcomes.

debmarine.com

Debmarine Namibia is Namibia’s leading marine diamond mining company and is a recognised world leader in marine diamond exploration and mining technology. Namibia has the richest known marine diamond deposits in the world. In 2005, marine diamond production in Namibia surpassed land based production. Marine recovery is gaining momentum globally, and the prospects of our resource and operations remains positive. Our fleet of vessels fitted with state of the art marine diamond recovery technology operate on a continuous basis and carry enough supplies to operate independently for two months at sea. On board power generation and desalination produce energy and water for the crew, equipment and vessel. In port maintenance and the upgrade of vessel technology takes place every two to three year. Each vessel is operated by a crew of 60-80 people and supported by helicopter operations that provide emergency access and transport for personnel, diamond and additional equipment or suppliers. Crew are on board for 28 days at a time, working a 12 hour rotational shift, before being transported back to land for 28 days of leave.

namdeb.com

Namdeb is a wholly owned subsidiary of Namdeb Holdings (Proprietary) Limited Holdings which is owned in equal shares (50:50) by the Government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers Group. Namdeb performs land-based prospecting (exploration), mining and rehabilitation operation and services for Namdeb Holdings.
The heart of the operations is along the southwest coast of Namibia with land-based operations being centered around Oranjemund and additional activity taking place at satellite mines near Lüderitz as well as along the Orange River.

www.angloamerican.com

Anglo American is a leading global mining company and our products are the essential ingredients in almost every aspect of modern life. Our portfolio of world-class competitive mining operations and undeveloped resources provides the metals and minerals that enable a cleaner, more electrified world and that meet the fast growing consumer-driven demands of the world’s developed and maturing economies. With our people at the heart of our business, we use innovative practices and the latest technologies to discover new resources and mine, process, move and market our products to our customers around the world – safely, responsibly and sustainably.

As a responsible miner – of diamonds (through De Beers), copper, platinum group metals, iron ore, coal and nickel – we are the custodians of what are precious natural resources. We work together with our business partners and diverse stakeholders to unlock the sustainable value that those resources represent for our shareholders, the communities and countries in which we operate, and for society as a whole. Anglo American is re-imagining mining to improve people’s lives.

www.radiationsolutions.ca

Radiation Solutions Inc. (RSI) is a Canadian company specializing in the design and production of radiation detection equipment for field use. Our instrumentation is specifically designed for the detection, measurement and analysis of low-level ionizing gamma radiation from both naturally-occurring and man made sources. Founded in 1999, RSI commenced manufacturing operations in early 2006. Our industry-leading radiation detection technology incorporates a fully digital system design, spectral analysis and advanced data processing. Our technology is deployed in airborne and mobile systems, portable and handheld spectrometers, and stationary system installations. With almost 1,000 operational airborne, marine and mobile systems currently in use, RSI instruments are the most widely used, commercially available systems worldwide. Our instrumentation leads the industry in system performance including sensitivity, accuracy, ruggedness, and weight. RSI is committed to working closely with our customers during all stages of a product life cycle including product requirement, application, training, support and product improvement. Our comprehensive approach results in state-of-the-art hardware components and industry leading software that produce outstanding results that not only meet but exceed customer requirements and expectations.

www.geotron.co.za

Geotron (Chemtron prior to 1987) is a manufacturer and supplier of geophysical equipment and has been supplying and servicing the industry for over 48 years. The commitment to design, service & a dedicated team, has ensured a successful partnership and Geotron becoming one of the major geophysical instrumentation companies in the Southern Hemisphere. Scintrex, a major supplier of geophysical equipment has been associated with Geotron since 1989

Equipment manufactured:

Proton & 3 Component Fluxgate Magnetometers
Resistivity Meters & Penetrometers
Borehole specialized winches
MUEM Broadband sensors

Equipment supplied:

Magnetometers, Gravity Meters, Seismographs
Frequency & Time Domain Electromagnetic Equipment
Gamma Scintillometers & Spectrometers
General Geophysical & Archaeological Exploration Tools

www.bellgeo.com

Bell Geospace has been at the forefront of Gravity Gradiometry for over 30 years. Bell Geospace provides exploration companies with Full Tensor Gravity Gradiometry (FTG) and magnetic data to enhance sub-surface models and de-risk exploration projects.

Explore Province to Play, Efficiently
Airborne geophysics with FTG allows fast screening and ranking of prospective areas at the province and district scale, de-risking ground exploration at prospect and play scale. Accurate and informative data enhances existing complementary data and fine tunes a strategy for future acquisition.

African Gold Exploration
Bell Geo's FTG, gravity and magnetic data acquisition technology is especially good at locating contact zones and faults, suitable for finding the mineralized geology which hosts gold. Bell Geo’s most recent gold exploration project took place in West Africa. Gaud Pouliquen and Colm Murphy can share more details about this in person at SAGA.
Energy-Metals Exploration in Africa
Geoscientific methods are more critical than ever for energy-supply sustainability. Structural and lithological information to demystify subsurface mineral systems is required on a new, larger scale. If you're exploring in the Kalahari and Zambian copper belt, ask us at SAGA about Bell Geo’s experience in Botswana, Zambia, South Africa... and beyond.

New Interpretation Methods
The mines of tomorrow are hidden beneath layers of sedimentary cover or nestled as subtle extensions to known deposits. While traditional airborne geophysics excel in detecting metal deposits near the surface, they struggle when encountering deeper targets or non-magnetic geological trends.

Exploration teams seek to deploy high-resolution technologies on surveys with closely spaced lines or stations covering extensive areas. These surveys should capture a broad signal bandwidth to map the deeper extensions and connectivity with shallow structures effectively. However, such practices are not always feasible due to challenging terrain, including water bodies, vegetation, restricted access, or the significant time and budget required to acquire such data across large areas. Bell Geospace's FTG technology overcomes many of these limitations. With our latest workflows, signal bandwidth resolves shallow complexity and allows confident mapping at depth and will deliver geological structures and shapes within a given depth interval/window.