More activity on the airborne gravity front by our antipodean colleagues.
-----------------------------------------
CSIRO in Australia made the following announcement last week - see
"CSIRO Newsflash" on
www.csiro.gov.au
The gravity gradiometer project at CSIRO is quite separate from the
"Falcon" system which BHP is now flying on two continents, and would
appear to be three years from general commercial application.
Further details of the CSIRO AGG project can be viewed at
http://www.cat.csiro.au/dem/msg/gravity/gravity.html
Regards,
Michael Asten
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[release cliiped from www.csiro.gov.au]
CSIRO Media Release
CSIRO Home > Energy
Sky eye to "see underground"
Wednesday, 29 November 2000
Ref 2000/318
The discovery of giant new mineral deposits, invisible to present
exploration methods, is a step closer with the formation of an
international research consortium to develop a revolutionary precision
airborne instrument.
CSIRO Exploration and Mining, AngloGold Australasia, Anglo American and
De Beers announced today that they have signed a
collaborative agreement to develop an airborne gravity gradiometer
suitable for detection of buried orebodies and geological
structures.
The new contract is for AU$7.4M with AU$6.4M being provided by the
industry partners and AU$1M from CSIRO. The project is
scheduled for completion in 2003.
"Anglo American, De Beers and AngloGold have a long and successful
track record of high powered Research and Development and
a continued commitment to leading edge technologies to ensure their
competitive advantage in minerals prospecting" said Eddie
Kostlin, Vice-President: Geophysics at Anglo American.
"We have looked at all available options for airborne gradiometry and
are looking forward to collaborating with CSIRO on this
project which has such broad application for exploration in Australia
and elsewhere.
The investment is seen as part of our recent commitments to the
exploration and mining industry in Australia," said Mr Kostlin.
Over the past four years, a proof of concept system has been developed
by a team of ten CSIRO scientists and engineers led by Dr.
Mike Gladwin, Dr. Rhodes Hart and Dr. Craig P. Smith at the Queensland
Centre of Advanced Technologies. The initial research was
fully internally funded by CSIRO.
"For the gradiometer application, we have extended technology we
previously developed for precise measurements of the earth that
are associated with earthquake deformation processes," said Dr.
Gladwin.
"With the gradiometer, we measure movements as small as one thousand
millionth of a millimetre. This new system avoids many of the
problems of instruments developed elsewhere."
"Ultimately, the system will provide the industry with enhanced mapping
of the geological structures.
"This is part of CSIRO's "Glass Earth" Initiative which aims to
visualise the structure and mineralogy up to one kilometre deep into the
Earth's surface," said Dr Bruce Hobbs, CSIRO's Deputy Chief Executive
for Minerals and Energy.
Airborne gravity has been an unexploitable tool in geological mapping.
Till now, airborne exploration has been based on combinations
of data from magnetics, electromagnetics, natural gamma spectrometry
and infrared surface spectrometry.
Gravity gradiometry completes the essential set of technologies needed
to turn the top kilometre of the Earth's crust "transparent" for
mineral exploration and geophysical purposes.
"CSIRO has played an important role in development of all of these
technologies, and expects to do the same in measurement and
interpretation of airborne gravity gradiometry," said Dr. Hobbs.
More information:
Dr Mike Gladwin, CSIRO 07 3212 4562
Dr Bruce Hobbs, CSIRO 08 9333 6361
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