The Use of Electrical Methods in Recent Exploration for Epithermal Gold Deposits in Japan

In general, electrical exploration methods are not very effective for finding a resistive zone, as compared with a conductive zone. Because of this, it is particularly difficult to distinguish a resistive zone from the surrounding area when its size is small and it is situated at depth. Using electrical exploration methods, the targets for epithermal gold deposits are the highly resistive quartz vein systems and associated silicified zones. Thus the detection of them by electrical methods was thought to be difficult in the past.

The Metal Mining Agency of Japan (MMAJ), in its recent exploration, has applied electrical methods with some degree of success, at the Hikiji area in the central Kyushu island of Japan. I will present some of these data and discuss the effectiveness and limitations of using electrical methods for finding epithermal gold deposits.