Mineral Exploration / Mine Development

The first step in the mining process is to locate a commercially viable concentration of minerals. This process is called mineral exploration and consists of various stages and technology to locate minerals. Area selection is the first phase and consists of selecting the best, most promising areas in a mineral field by applying techniques from various disciplines such as basin modeling, structural geology, geochronology, etc. The next phase is target generation, which involves investigations of the geology by mapping, geophysics, geochemical analysis and sometimes drilling. Aerial photography and satellite imagery is used extensively to generate high quality maps. Geophysical surveys are very important in gathering geological data and sense variations in gravity, magnetism, electromagnetism (conductivity and resistivity of rocks) and other variables.  From there resource evaluation, reserve definition and feasibility studies are completed. Their basic purpose is generate increasing amounts of information that will allow a detailed feasibility study to be produced and thus confirm if the ore deposit is uneconomic or economic. If a ore deposit is deemed economic, then construction begins to access the ore body. Mine buildings, processing plants are constructed, equipment is purchased and recovery of the ore begins.

- Geotech Ltd, Sander Geophysics, Major Drilling Group International, Thyssen Mining images.