-
oa Improved Subsurface Imaging through Re-processing of Legacy 2D Seismic Data - A Case Study from a Deep South African Gold Mine
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, 2nd Conference on Geophysics for Mineral Exploration and Mining, Sep 2018, Volume 2018, p.1 - 5
Abstract
Over the last few years, there has been a proliferation of seismic solutions, which employ specific combinations of equipment, acquisition, and processing techniques that can be applied in hard rock situations to improve the imaging resolution. The latest developments in seismic processing, in particular, make it worthwhile to re-process the legacy data to enhance the resolution of the data. This is particularly important in the mining regions where no new data are available or the acquisition of new data is expensive or not allowed due to new environmental regulations. In this work we demonstrate, through a case study from one of the world’s deepest gold mines in South Africa, how revisiting, recovering and re-processing of the seismic data acquired decades ago can significantly improve the quality of the interpretations. The information can benefit future mine planning operations by providing a better estimation of the resources and inform in the siting of the sinking of future shafts. Thus, any future mineral exploration plans could take the information obtained from the re-processed legacy seismic data into account when planning either 2D or 3D seismic surveys.