BCGS January Technical Talk – Wednesday January 21, 2015

SPEAKER: Joel Jansen, Teck

TITLE: Results of a muon geotomography survey from the Pend Oreille Zn-Pb mine

DATE/TIME: Wednesday January 21, 2015 @ 4:30pm

LOCATION: Room 451, 409 Granville St (UK Building at Granville and Hastings), Vancouver

ABSTRACT:

Muon geotomography is a new imaging technology that creates 3D images of subsurface density distributions. Similar in concept to computed tomography scanning, muon geotomography uses naturally occurring cosmic radiation that gets attenuated when traversing matter. Cosmic ray muon data were acquired in the Pend Oreille Zn-Pb mine in Metaline Falls, Washington State, USA without prior knowledge of the presence or absence of ore bodies.  The resulting 3D density distribution of the overburden indicated a substantial volume of rock with higher density than the host stratigraphy above the survey site. Subsequently, a model of existing ore shells based on drill core data was provided and a simulation of the expected muon tomography data was found to be consistent with the muon geotomography measurements. This is the first blind test demonstration of muon geotomography applied to mineral exploration.