The Australian Society of Exploration Geophysicists event was held at the Perth Convention Centre on the Saturday before the main conference. There were over 40 attendees who were treated to a range of presentations from major geophysical logging contractors in WA (Borehole Wireline gave two presentations), operating companies and consultants. Our logging unit, BW30, was on display for the practical section of the workshop.
I must admit going into the workshop I was a little apprehensive on the overall acceptability of the service and use of the data. I have always held the belief that geophysical logging data is a primary data collection method for the exploration and mining industries and should be used more, not less, to allow smart, informed commercial decisions to be made.
By the end of the workshop, a range of excellent presentations confirmed geophysical logging data is collected on a routine basis in coal, uranium and iron ore exploration and mining and the data is used in complex modelling scenarios. However this is not the case in base metal mining where geochemical analysis of borehole samples rules. Examples were presented for nickel exploration in Canada where the geophysical data showed clear changes in physical properties (which could be related to later processing decisions) but the core samples and core descriptions were bland throughout.
Whilst there is no silver bullet to understanding the earth beneath us, a combination of geology, surface geophysics and borehole geophysical data will form the best models.
For the logging contractors some “takeaways” were:
- The need for data quality assurance data confidence through proven precision/data repeatability.
- The need for a standard header format in the LAS file supplied by logging contractors (outside of the standard CWLS LAS 2.0 version)
For the mining companies, some “takeaways” were:
- The need for geophysical logging data in modelling.
- The “risks” associated with using rented or owned logging equipment for their own operations.
One overall thought was that the attendees were “logging compliant” in that they are familiar with borehole geophysical logs. They probably represent 1% of the log user and/or potential user market and it is the other 99% who we (the logging contractors) need to contact and educate on the benefits of borehole geophysical logging.
That is quite a task for 2015!!