BCGS Technical Talk – April 16, 2020

Speaker: Joel Jansen, Anglo American

Title: Advances in Geophysical Inversion: From Smooth Models to Pseudo-Geology

Date/Time: Thursday, April 16, 2020 @ 4:30pm PST

Location: Online Webinar

Abstract:

With respect to mineral exploration, geophysical inversion has been around since the early 1990s.  At least that’s when UBC-GIF first started.  I received my M.Sc. in 1995 and entered the workforce in 1996 right when the first codes where being released, so I’ve had a front-row seat for most of what’s happened (although that doesn’t mean I didn’t nap through a few scenes).  What I experienced exactly mimics Gartner’s technology Hype Cycle, which begins with a trigger, quickly reaches a peak of inflated expectations, then just as quickly drops into a trough of disillusionment before finally progressing up the slope of enlightenment onto the plateau of productivity.  Writer and philosopher George Santanaya wrote that “Those who don’t learn history are doomed to repeat it.”  In this presentation, with 25 years of retrospection, I take you on a personalised tour of where we’ve gone wrong and how I believe we’re now on the right track.  Hopefully it will end with a rich discussion about how the continuing development of the new tools at our disposal.

This talk was first given at this year’s DMEC (PDAC) Symposium.  Before sh*t hit the fan…

Webinar:

A recording of this months webinar is available on Youtube.