Automated logging of drill core M.Klawitter 1 , R.Valenta 1 , - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Automated logging of drill core

M.Klawitter1, R.Valenta1, N.Spanswick2, I.Fahey2

1 University of Queensland, Sustainable Minerals Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4072 2 Glencore plc, George Fisher Mine, Mount Isa Qld 4825

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

• The aim is to find solutions to automate aspects of geological drill

core logging based on the multi-element geochemistry of the rock

• The samples for this study were provided by Glencore plc from the

George Fisher Mine in Mt Isa

• 31 drill holes were scanned with an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)

Scanner

• The XRF scanning was performed with a Minalyzer CS (core

scanner)

Introduction

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Introduction Geology

Murphy, 2004 glencore.com

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Introduction Minalyzer CS

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

The Minalyzer CS provides:

• Chemical Assays
• From Mg to U
• Photography
• Topography
• Rock Quality
• Structural Logging
• Specific Gravity

chalmersventures.com

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Data Acquisition

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• Non-destructive XRF

scanning on full core length

• Scanning on the core in trays
• Scanning rate: 1 cm/s
• Outcome data intervals:
• 1 cm / 10 cm / 1 m

minalogger.com

Sulphur Iron Sulphur

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Cleaning of the data

Al2O3 SiO2 P S Cl K2O CaO TiO2 V Cr MnO Fe Ni Cu Zn Ga As Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Ba Pb

The XRF data shows low S and Fe values

• Example of

Stratigraphy Log and XRF Scan

• The log includes

important geological information

• XRF data is

presented in bars for each cell (high value = long bar)

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Clustering

• 4 Clusters (yellow/orange/blue/green) based
• n the ‘heat-maps’ and associated trends
• Blue: high values of Al2O3, K2O, SiO2, TiO2, Zr
• Green: high values of Fe and S
• Yellow: high values of CaO
• Orange: Traces of all major elements/oxides

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Rocktype classification

• Blue: Shales (high values of Al2O3, K2O, SiO2, TiO2, Zr)
• Yellow: Calcareous Siltstones (high values of CaO)
• Green: Pyrite (high values of Fe and S)
• Orange: Mixture of lithologies (traces of all

elements/oxides)

• The Pyrite-rich layers can be further distinguished
• high content (>20% Pyrites)
• low content (5-20% Pyrites)
• The samples in the orange cluster were associated with

adjacent clusters

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Automated drill core logging

Example of automated log Siltstone Shale Pyritic Shale (5-20%) Pyritic Shale (>20%)

• Automated detection of 4 host-rock lithologies

✓ Calcareous Siltstones (light grey) ✓ Shales (dark grey) ✓ Pyritic shale (5-20% Pyrite) (brown) ✓ Pyritic shale (>20% Pyrite) (yellow)

• Consistent interpretation of the data
• Interpretation based on actual scanned XRF data

and correlation between elements/oxides

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Automated detection of host-rock lithologies

10 cm 10 cm 10 cm 10 cm

Siltstone Shale Pyritic Shale (5-20%) Pyritic Shale (>20%)

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Enhanced geological drill core logging

South North

Siltstone Pyrite Pyritic Shale + Zn & Pb Banded + Zn & Pb Siltstone Pyritic Shale + Zn & Pb Shale

Downhole

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Enhanced geological drill core logging

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Enhanced geological drill core logging

c6 c5l c2m c1l b4 b3m b1l d1l c6 c5l c4 c3m c2m c1l b2

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Enhanced domaining

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Sustainable Minerals Institute W.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre

Outcome

• Enhanced geological drill core logging
• Rocktype classification and domaining
• Consistent interpretation of the data
• Interpretation based on actual scanned XRF data
• Enhanced detection of domain boundaries
• Based on geochemical signatures and rocktype recognition
• Implications to mining
• Potentially saving time and costs

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Thank you

Dr Matthias Klawitter | Postdoctoral Research Fellow Sustainable Minerals Institute m.klawitter@uq.edu.au 07 3365 5941

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