Explanation of Abitibi IPThis is from the other board and explains the IP proccess.
It also gives a link to the full report
I don't think there's any harm in giving a little bit of an explanation of the IP images, and how they are derived.
The complete Abitibi Geophysics IP report is online here. It's a 42 page .pdf document, so give it a moment to download.
There are some fairly detailed descriptions of the actual methodology used in the opening segment of the report, if you want to get a technical description of the process itself. Beginning around page 15, you can see the new targets. Some of the images are presented with much less information on them than the composite image that Robin showed on the video clip, so that one or a few of the targets can be examined more closely. In the closing pages of the report, there are numerous block model figures, that give you sectional views of the mineralized trends.
Those targets are developed by a mathematical process called inversion. The signal obtained by the scientific instruments that were sent down the drill holes record a continuous stream of data. Using a database of signals from known deposits, the computer "inverts" the data stream, to imagine potential structures that could possibly have given rise to those specific datastreams observed in the field. Because this is not an exact science, the images produced in this way are bloated, or fuzzy images of the potential ore-bearing structure that might really be present. They are not meant to represent a gold-bearing volume of rock, but instead, are probability envelopes for fault-hosted or vein gold-bearing structures that might lie somewhere within that volume of rock. The red envelope uses the lowest probability threshold for where that structure might be. Within the red balloons are smaller and more discreet purplish volumes, which are based on a more discriminating threshold of probability. By tightening the threshold repeatedly, the computer modeller can zero in on the precise point in three dimensions that gave rise to the very highest probability for the highest grade of conductor that might host gold.
Because we also have a 3-D underground model based on the actual drill core from the work done 50 years ago, which has been augmented by our own recent drill core, we can predict with high probability where there are shear zones, vein systems, and now, potential high-grade sections of those structures, via the IP program.
A cautionary note should be added to all I have said; the IP signal is derived from the sulphides that run in the veins that also host the gold. There is a very strong correlation between the sulphides and the gold values in our work so far, but it is possible that we might find sulphide concentrations with lower gold grades. However, it is also true that we have found gold in the absence of sulphides. Hitting some of the latter is a little bit luck, and a little bit of the expertise of the head geologist running our program. He's worked in the Val D'Or gold belt for decades, and he understands how these systems are put together.
All in all, we are very optimistic about the next round of drilling. And, as Robin mentioned in the interview, we are conducting a wider-scale surface IP program to augment what we already know from the current IP program. We will do more down-hole IP work after these newer holes are done, which will hopefully give us even more targets for the subsequent round of drilling, which we hope to have completed before the end of the second quarter.
Larry Hoover
Director, Galahad Metals, on behalf of the company.