The technology has been used in petroleum exploration since 2010. — Photo courtesy marketonemediagroup.com Vancouver, British Columbia – A recent inn
The technology has been used in petroleum exploration since 2010. — Photo courtesy marketonemediagroup.com
Vancouver, British Columbia – A recent innovation in geosurvey methods could help slash costs and risks for mineral exploration projects.
A proprietary method that injects energy into the ground and then looks for telltale reactions at the atomic and molecular level, has been licensed by Vital GEOSURVEY for use in mineral exploration. The technology has been used in petroleum exploration since 2010 where it’s generating repeat business according to company President John Resing.
However it is unproven in the mineral exploration sector where conventional geological survey methods help identify candidate areas for drilling but rely on physical evidence —drill core samples — to confirm whether or not an investment in further exploration or mine development is warranted. A project to measure Vital’s technology as a complement to conventional surveying is underway with results anticipated in 2015.
Nexus Gold’s Walker Ridge Gold Project in Nevada, a drill-ready, multi-target Carlin-type exploration project in a known gold zone, was the subject of a Vital GEOSURVEY examination in October-November 2014. Walker Ridge had been subject to rounds of geochemical sampling in the 1980s and again in 2007. Gravity and resistivity studies as well as uranium-lead radiometric dating followed, leading to the identification of a 35.9 million-year-old intrusive body that conforms to the profile of Carlin age-range gold deposition.
Vital’s results align with conventional geosurvey methods — but they’ve given stronger signals about the presence of gold. Their survey identified 38 points of interest in eight clusters over a two-square-mile area within the Nexus claim block. The next step for Nexus and Vital is a drilling program to see if conventional methods and Vital’s results line up with actual gold mineralization.
“Our technology is not derivative of any existing technologies,” Resing said. “We inject energy in the ground and then we measure how the target responds to that energy injection. The target can be an atom in the case of gold exploration — we set the machine to have gold atoms respond. If we were looking for copper we would set it for the copper molecules that make up the principal copper ores.
“What distinguishes this technology is that it directly measures what you are looking for. All other geophysical methods measure some attribute of the rocks in the vicinity of where you think something might be, but you are not directly measuring what you are looking for.
“There is no theoretical limit on how deep we can operate effectively and no practical limit has been found in petroleum use. If you can see down thousands of feet for drilling oil wells, then it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be any kind of issue for mineral exploration.”
Resing emphasized that the technology, which was developed about eight years ago by two former NASA engineers, is as-yet unproven for mineral exploration.
“We would consider it proven technology for petroleum exploration — the customers keep asking if we would do more work for them. Nexus will be the first time we have the truth machine (a drilling operation) applied to what our technology suggests is present.”
Resing added that the innovation comes in the technology, not the basic science involved.
“There’s nothing new about the science of what we’re doing. It is just a matter of highly capable engineers thinking outside the box about translating principles of physics into instruments that do in fact measure what you’re attempting to measure.”
Geologist Douglas Oliver, Nexus vice-president of exploration, said the company’s plan is to “ground-truth” Vital’s results along with its own geosurvey data in early 2015. One specific location that is accessible in winter is the first target.
“Vital did extensive work on this one anomaly. It turns out it’s the largest anomaly they discovered on the property, and it turns out it’s in a location we can get to (in winter),” Oliver said.
“What makes the Vital survey interesting is that this is the first geophysical survey that actually is detecting the mineral you are interested in, at depth. It’s the first survey that says ‘There’s gold there.’ So from a geophysical survey this thing has the potential to be a real game changer.”
By contrast a geochemical survey will only point to what’s happening on the surface, Oliver added. “Unfortunately, and particularly in North America, the likelihood of finding a deposit on the surface that nobody has covered, I think, is pretty remote at this point in time.”
“The problem with geochemistry is that it’s giving you an indication of something that’s not necessarily where the ore body is going to be. If you’re doing a gravity survey you’re saying, ‘Okay, if there’s an ore body down there I would expect to see the gravity high, or the gravity low depending on the type of deposit.’ ”
“But that’s pretty far removed from saying there’s gold, or lead, or copper down there.”
Nexus lead director Alex Klenman said the company is very intrigued with the Vital technology.
“We have an intrusion of the right date, within the geochemical anomaly, with gravity and resistivity all lining up, and then we did this survey which purports to alert you to gold atomization in your system. It certainly is compelling.” “We really like the fact that they surveyed our entire property and the results came back within our established target area. In other words, they didn’t ‘see’ anything outside of the area already identified as the primary target zone. In this regard the Vital survey results line up very nicely with the established geochemical, geophysical, and geo-chronological results, and the permitted drill locations, which in retrospect is critical to moving the project forward” Klenman said.
The opportunity to work with Vital “fell into our lap,” he added. “I’d been in contact with the principal for Vital for about a year, although I had no idea he was working on bringing this technology to mineral exploration. He had said, ‘When you take your company public, let me know.’ ”
When Nexus, formerly Alita Resources, went public in August 2014, it signed a non-disclosure agreement with Vital — which brought in a private oil investor who was interested in helping finance a Walker Ridge survey project.
“We felt that we were in a win-win situation,” Klenman said. “We already have phenomenal targets based on all the data we’ve acquired to date. The Vital survey results add another layer to the story. And if the technology is accurate, or even partially right, things get really interesting. For a small exploration company the upside of being involved with an innovative and leading-edge technology is easy to see.”
The Vital technology “appeals to people who might want to be at the forefront of a technological advance,” he added. “We intend to execute a thorough drill program in 2015. We have six to eight strong targets and we want to drill all of them — and at least, sample as many of them as we can. That will carry us at least through the summer and into the fall of 2015.”
“We have a great target. We are in a known gold trend. We are surrounded by multi-million ounce deposits. Our geology is similar to the areas of those deposits. Our signatures are similar. We have all the indicators that you need.”
“If you are going to go elephant hunting you have to go where there are elephants. We have a large piece of ground that’s never been drilled deep. We know we’re in the right neighbourhood. We are in this business for discovery and every bit of work we’ve done at Walker Ridge is telling us to keep going.”
