Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration

Over recent years, seismic methods have emerged as a potential imaging technique for delineation of ore-bodies and for mine planning. The application of surface seismic methods in hard rock environments is however challenging due to various effects such as energy attenuation and scattering. Borehole...

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Main Authors: Menu, F., Greenwood, Andrew, Dupuis, Christian
Other Authors: CSIRO
Format: Conference Paper
Published: CSIRO 2013
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10361
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author Menu, F.
Greenwood, Andrew
Dupuis, Christian
author2 CSIRO
author_facet CSIRO
Menu, F.
Greenwood, Andrew
Dupuis, Christian
author_sort Menu, F.
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description Over recent years, seismic methods have emerged as a potential imaging technique for delineation of ore-bodies and for mine planning. The application of surface seismic methods in hard rock environments is however challenging due to various effects such as energy attenuation and scattering. Borehole seismic methods can be used to reduce these effects. The methods offer higher resolution at target depths, thus allowing better delineation and understanding of reflections from ore deposits. We present a synthetic study to understand the ability of the cross-hole seismic method to delineate ore bodies. Three variations of a simple scenario typical of nickel deposits found in the Yilgarn Craton were considered. Of the three models, two consist of volcanics overlying a granite body and a thin sulphide mineralized zone along the contact but at different locations relative to the source and receiver boreholes. The third consists of only the rock units with no sulphide mineralized zone along the contact. Synthetic shot records were produced and wavefield separated. Up-going wavefields were then used to create depth migrated images. The resulting images correlate well with the volcanic-granite contact and massive sulphide lens, showing the potential of using the cross-hole seismic method to delineate ore bodies.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
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publishDate 2013
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-103612018-12-14T00:47:30Z Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration Menu, F. Greenwood, Andrew Dupuis, Christian CSIRO Over recent years, seismic methods have emerged as a potential imaging technique for delineation of ore-bodies and for mine planning. The application of surface seismic methods in hard rock environments is however challenging due to various effects such as energy attenuation and scattering. Borehole seismic methods can be used to reduce these effects. The methods offer higher resolution at target depths, thus allowing better delineation and understanding of reflections from ore deposits. We present a synthetic study to understand the ability of the cross-hole seismic method to delineate ore bodies. Three variations of a simple scenario typical of nickel deposits found in the Yilgarn Craton were considered. Of the three models, two consist of volcanics overlying a granite body and a thin sulphide mineralized zone along the contact but at different locations relative to the source and receiver boreholes. The third consists of only the rock units with no sulphide mineralized zone along the contact. Synthetic shot records were produced and wavefield separated. Up-going wavefields were then used to create depth migrated images. The resulting images correlate well with the volcanic-granite contact and massive sulphide lens, showing the potential of using the cross-hole seismic method to delineate ore bodies. 2013 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10361 10.1071/ASEG2013ab037 CSIRO restricted
spellingShingle Menu, F.
Greenwood, Andrew
Dupuis, Christian
Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration
title Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration
title_full Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration
title_fullStr Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration
title_full_unstemmed Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration
title_short Ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration
title_sort ore-body delineation using borehole seismic techniques for hard rock exploration
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10361