October 29, 2023
Advancements in Exploration Techniques and Provincial Geoscience Datasets
Registration: $50
Students: $25
This full-day session will highlight recent advances in exploration techniques and improvements to provincial datasets that are available to the exploration community. Industry representatives will provide an overview and illustrate the benefits of various innovative exploration techniques, including hyperspectral analysis of drill core, use of unmanned aerial vehicles in mineral exploration, and portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometry applications in exploration. Also, staff members of the New Brunswick Geological Survey will provide a summary of the recent upgrades to free provincial geoscience datasets and demonstrate the various means to access them.
Chairperson: Michael Parkhill (New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development)
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Serge Allard, Will Gilmore, and Michael Parkhill (NBDNRED) – New Brunswick Geological Survey till geochemistry program and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) layers
This part of the workshop will focus on the New Brunswick till geochemistry program and its relevance to the exploration community. Part one of this presentation will include a summary of the program history, format and availability of tabular datasets and related publications, and an overview of the new till geochemistry GIS layers hosted on the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development Open Data Page. Part two of this presentation will include a demonstration on how to use LiDAR imagery to target suitable areas for till and soil sampling.
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Neil Renwick, Geospatial Specialist / Geologist ([email protected]); Sarah McDonald, Geospatial Analyst / Geologist [email protected]); and Edward Wu, Intermediate Structural Geologist ([email protected]) (Terrane Geoscience) – Applications of unmanned aerial vehicles in exploration and mining
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been gaining popularity in the geoscience and engineering world because they can offer efficient and cost-effective solutions to every part of the mining cycle: exploration, planning, mining operations, and reclamation. UAVs are capable of flying autonomously along predefined routes for acquisition of high-resolution data without compromising safety. This part of the workshop will explore the key differences and limitations of UAV-based photogrammetry and LiDAR surveys, their data derivatives, and how to consistently collect high-quality data. We will demonstrate real-world applications of both UAV-based photogrammetry and LiDAR in the exploration and mining environments and how we’ve integrated these types of data into exploration targeting, and geological and geotechnical models.
12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
Lunch
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Dr. Gary Thompson, Director of Industry Innovation, Office of Applied Research and Innovation, College of the North Atlantic (https://www.cna.nl.ca/research-and-innovation/profiles/gary-thompson.aspx) – Supporting Atlantic Canadian Mining Innovation with Hyperspectral and Reality Capture Technology Applications
An overview of the hyperspectral public geoscience initiative to acquire hyperspectral imaging data on up to 200,000 m of drill core stored in Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Industry, Energy and Technology public core storage libraries (DIET) and Reality Capture technologies at work in the mining sector. Project updates will include Newfoundland and Labrador Gold Atlas, hyperspectral/LiDAR UAV applications, autonomous LiDAR UAV applications, and 3D digital mine mapping.
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
David Lentz and Fazilat Yousefi (University of New Brunswick) – pXRF applications in exploration: calibration to data analysis
This part of the workshop presents the basics for portable X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (pXRF) (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy), including development history, analytical capabilities, and various modes of operation. pXRF applications are wide ranging, as the precision and accuracy have achieved levels for custom laboratories. Key is developing material appropriate calibrations, with an appropriate range of certified reference materials (CRMs) (using excel) because selecting appropriate CRMs is essential to quality analyses. The workshop will demonstrate pXRF application, as well as CRM calibration (correction), and analysis of QA/QC for soils and other surficial materials, various rock types to various mineralized rocks, and even ores.
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Hands on session, etc. to follow, typical overburden types (till, soil, glaciofluvial sediments, etc.). The pXRF will be setup to analyze prospector samples.
