1887
ASEG2001 - 15th Geophysical Conference
  • ISSN: 2202-0586
  • E-ISSN:

Abstract

Exploration for nickel sulphides has often involved the application of airborne electromagnetic data. Some of the early successes of the technique were in Canada in the 1950s, detecting shallow massive sulphides in highly resistive host stratigraphies. As exploration for deeper deposits under cover proliferates, a comparison of different systems and an analysis of the depth of penetration of these systems is required.

An examination of field data from known nickel sulphide deposits shows that the target anomalies are all above the noise level except where shielded by a flat-lying conductor. Using the geological models for each deposit, forward modelling was applied to determine that the ore bodies chosen for this study could be buried deeper before the system used would cease to be an effective exploration tool. A forward modelling exercise shows that all methods examined are able to identify the target. Systems with the lower base frequency give the best results.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1071/ASEG2001ab149
2001-12-01
2026-01-23
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Evans, D., 1998, BHP Internal Company Memo No. CM849, To Nickel Working Group, February 1998.
  2. Leggatt, P.B., Klinkert, P.S., Hage, T.B., 2000, The Spectrem airborne electromagnetic system - further developments, Geophysics 65, 1976-1982.
  3. OGS, 2000, Report on Matheson Airborne Geophysical Survey, Geophysical data set 1101, Ontario Geological survey, Sudbury, October 2000.
  4. Peters, B., and Buck, P., 2000, The Maggie Hays and Emily Ann Nickel Deposits, Western Australia: A Geophysical Case History, Exploration Geophysics 31, 210-221.
  5. Raiche, A., 1998, Modelling the time-domain response of AEM systems, Exploration Geophysics 29, 103-106.
  6. Reford, S. and Fyon, A., 2000, Reid-Mahaffy airborne geophysical test site survey miscellaneous release - data (MRD) 55: Geological setting, measured and processed data, and derived products, Ontario Geological survey, Sudbury, October 2000.
  7. Stolz, E., 2000, Electromagnetic methods applied to exploration for deep nickel sulphides in the Leinster area, Western Australia, Exploration Geophysics 31, 222-228.
/content/journals/10.1071/ASEG2001ab149
Loading
  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): Airborne electromagnetics; Nickel sulphide
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error