Letter to the editor: SEG and IQ

Your report on the SEG conference is a service to the science and practice of geology and its role in the discovery of ore bodies.

In the article (T.N.M., Oct. 14-20/13), you quote Gerry Carlson: “I think . . . there is a lot of potential in B. C. The showings are known, the alterations are known at surface, but many people have walked away before doing enough drilling.”

In my experience, many people in such common situations may tend to do more geology and walk away without drilling, believing that their science will tell them what is down there.

They commonly do not understand that exploration is not science, and that IQ gets you there, but NQ finds it.

Siegfried Muessig

Retired Getty Mining vice-president