Exploration and Mining Unified through Seismic Imaging

Due to their ability to produce high-resolution images of the subsurface to great depths, seismic surveys provide critical inputs to almost all oil and gas exploration projects. However, with some notable exceptions, seismic surveys have rarely been used in mineral exploration. In the past, this was due to both technical and financial reasons. Significant developments on both fronts mean that seismic surveys can now offer substantial benefits to mineral exploration and mining, and surveys conducted for exploration can provide important data sets for mine planning over the life of a mining project.We present case history data that show that seismic surveys can greatly assist with mapping the 3D distribution of lithologies and alteration and, in favourable circumstances, directly detect mineralisation in and around mineral systems. As a result of their high spatial sampling density, seismic surveys are also highly effective at mapping structures that can remain undetected or poorly characterised by drilling alone. These structures may host or provide important vectors to mineralisation. They can also be particularly important when planning shafts, raise bores, declines, stopes and open pit walls. A further benefit of seismic surveys is that they can remotely provide information on geotechnical rock parameters that are used for rippability, slope stability, blasting and ground support.CITATION:Turner, G, Urosevic, M, Pridmore, D and Dwyer, J, 2015. Exploration and mining unified through seismic imaging, in Proceedings Third International Future Mining Conference, pp 117–122 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).