Suppliers news: Geotech keeps busy with surveying contracts

Aurora, Ont.-based Geotech recently won a pair of contracts to fly airborne geophysical surveys in the northern U.S. and the Yukon.

The U.S. Geological Survey tapped the firm to fly a series of widely spaced profiles over more than 2,400 km in upper Michigan, northern Wisconsin and northeastern Minnesota.

The survey will assess how different rocks conduct electricity, which would shed light on areas with mineral potential. The survey is targeting 1.8-billion-year-old rocks, which were deposited when the area was at the edge of a large ocean.

The Yukon government also tasked Geotech with undertaking a 700 sq. km survey of the Livingstone Creek area in south-central Yukon.

The government ordered the survey because the region is known for placer mining that yielded large gold nuggets. “To date, no bedrock source for the gold has been found,” the government said in a release. Placer mining in the area has occurred between two major north-trending faults: the Big Salmon fault to the west and the d’Abbadie fault to the east. Between these two faults there are a number of northeast-striking faults, which could be linked kinematically. The government says the area could be home to vein-hosted gold, but a veneer of till has left the region poorly documented.

Yukon authorities hope the survey will help point to the gold source, and promote further understanding and exploration.

Both surveys used Geotech’s versatile time domain electromagnetic (VTEM) technology. The system generates currents that penetrate the earth — taking the path of least resistance — to produce clear data with minimal noise, the firm says.

Geotech operates more than 30 VTEM systems worldwide, which have surveyed more than 2 million line kilometres to date. The privately held firm has a fleet of more than 20 aircrafts; offices in Australia, Brazil, Barbados, Ghana and South Africa; and strategic partners in China, Kazakhstan and Russia.