Canadians study Soviet technique for exploration

Canadian mineral explorationists are getting a close look this summer at a Soviet geophysical exploration technique. Since first broaching the subject during a trip to Moscow in 1983, Harold Seigel, president of Scintrex Ltd., has been trying to set up a test of three methods of mineral exploration developed by the Soviets. All three methods fall under the heading of geoelectrochemical.

An agreement was reached earlier this year and, as a result, 10 Soviet scientists and their equipment have assembled in Canada to demonstrate how the technique works.

A group of 12 Canadian mining companies as well as the federal and Ontario governments are paying the cost of setting up the demonstration, about $500,000.

During the summer, the Soviet delegation and Canadian observers will test the three methods on six test sites in Ontario and Quebec. They will look at known mineral deposits, including gold, polymetallic and nickel deposits, and determine how successful the technique might have been in locating them.

“They (the methods) appear to have the potential to detect the presence of mineral deposits under conditions of overburden cover or depth of burial which would normally render them undetectable by standard Canadian exploration technology,” says Seigel.

All three methods are based on detecting hidden ore deposits through the aureole or halo of mobile metallic ions above them, he says.

Seigel says it is the first time, to his knowledge, that such a group of Canadian companies have co- operated to this extent on an exploration project. Each participant will be entitled to a confidential copy of the test results, probably available by November.

If there is sufficient interest, Scintrex, which has organized the demonstration, will establish a service company to market the technique in Canada.