Resource World Magazine

D E C E M B E R / J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 0 www.resourceworld.com 63 MININGWORLD sites and proceed in a linear fashion and bring that data back to process it. It gives us a very nice slice of the Earth. Magnetotelluric fields, as you can imagine, penetrate quite deep into the Earth. It is possible, and the application in BC, is to look down about 4 or 5 kilometres. The reason you look down this deep is that it may be overthrust terrain. Many of these min- eral-bearing sections repeat themselves. With a Magnetotelluric survey, you can look quite deep and pick up layer after layer. One company we have been successful with in this application is American Creek Resources who also wanted high resolution to detect narrow, high-grade veins. The company actually contracted two surveys, including an MT survey at Treaty Creek (20% car- ried interest) and a deep seeking IP survey at their fully owned Dunwell Mine property, with exceptional results. American Creek Resources is now emerging as one of the companies with interest- ing discoveries that they are drilling. RW: Can you explain how your Omega MT Survey differs from conventional magnetotelluric surveys? Hollyer: With Magnetotellurics, what we do that is different is that our data acquisition system records from about 10,000 kilo- hertz to 10,000 seconds or 10,000 hertz. It is an ultra-broad band range which means that we can take in a maximum amount of shallow and near surface anomalies and have enough resolution at depth as well. That's important. There is also an area that is called the dead band. It is a zone of low frequency where the sig- nal diminishes. Our approach overcomes this limitation. We get higher resolution at depth as a result. RW: The Omega MT survey takes readings of energy already in the Earth. An IP Survey introduces an electrical current into the earth and measures the response. How does Simcoe Geoscience's Alpha IP survey differ from conventional IP Surveys? Hollyer: The big differences are is that it is very high resolu- tion and deep imaging. The new technology helps with targets, such as high-grade vein systems, which are small in aperture and need resolution. Moreover, the system can be configured to depths of 1,000 metres, while still maintaining resolution, which means that the entire system can be imaged to the roots of the deposit. And, in addition, the equipment is wireless so now the crew can just set up a whole line of data and image it in one pass instead of using multiple passes, which means less field cost and greater data accuracy. We've eliminated the weight so that also speeds things up and keeps costs down. Importantly, the technology delivers resolution based on pro- cedures and accuracy. Instead of laying out cable and assuming our stations are correct in terms of positioning, we take GPS read- ings and we put in all the stations so that they are GPS'd exactly. This also enhances drilling. It has been found, in the literature, that electrical resistivity measurements, including Induced Polarization, are very sensitive to location errors. So, if you can imagine, with a conventional IP survey, you could have a possible positioning error of 5, 10 or even 20 metres in terms of your sta- tions on surface. With Alpha IP, drill positions are precise. RW: Can you talk about why and how it has been particularly successful in the Golden Triangle? Hollyer: The answer in short is that it is well suited. IP sur- veys, even when there is not much sulfide, are coming up with good results in this environment. The ground seems to be cali- brated for IP. It is also equally suited for MT. Gravity is another one that works well. We almost offer that as a freebie to our cli- ents because we find it is a good thing to have on board. That means that clients that are trying to find deposits in lighter rocks can map those out with the gravity survey. Or, alternatively, if they are trying to find dense rocks, like a VMS deposit, they have got the gravity at hand. RW: What is going on R & D wise? Hollyer: There is a whole new area that is ready for expan- sion, but I can't talk about that yet. What we have done is look at all the available instrumentation systems on the market. We said, okay, we don't want to design our systems from scratch because these systems have value. We went to the main equipment manu- facturer and said here are 10 to 15 design considerations that we want in the system. Our R&D, for the last four or five years has been focused on the Alpha IP and getting that to be an efficient and successful system. n

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