quakes99 wrote: Hey Sudzie! Wasn't it you who posted several months ago that you were suggesting to Ross's technical team that they carry out an in-water seismic survey? Seems that they took to your idea hook, line and sinker. ;-) What a brilliant data set this survey will provide.
For those that are unfamiliar with marine seismic surveys, essentially a sound source is towed behind a vessel, emiting a burst of sound on a regular basis. The sound pulse penetrates the lake bottom (in our case) and is reflected back up by the various layers in the earth and then recorded by a sensor that is also being towed at the same time. The vessel navigates a set of parallel tracks (lines) in a grid pattern over the survey area, continually recording the GPS navigation data with the sound sensor data.
The recordings are then processed by specialized seismic data software and transformed into visual images of the subsurface of the earth in the survey area. It is much like how a CT Scan can be used to create a visual image of the inside of a human body... but the images generated in our case will be of the ore body and all the surrounding structures... faults, alteration zones, overburden interface, and the many different U3O8 structures that make up the high-grade discovery zones.
Instead of having to drill a large number of survey holes (surgery) the seismic survey allows Ross to acquire a high-resolution image of Triple R that shows all of its features that need to be better understood. It supports both the geotechnical work to develop a mine plan, as well as can show other high-grade ore zones that have not yet been found by other survey methods. Not only that, it can further de-risk the project through the production of a very useful 3-dimensional view of Triple R that a potential acquirer can use to further assess the deposit and its expansion/development potential prior to making an offer to purchase.
Seismic surveys have been done in the past for Hathor's Roughrider deposit and at McArthur River. They have widespread applications in petroleum exploration as well as in mapping underlying ground structures before constructing roads and buildings. They can also help detect groundwater and many different mineralized geologic structures.
Here are a few images that may help to give you an idea of how this all works.
At PLS the marine seismic survey will cover this area:
Not only will it survey Triple R, it will survey some of the adjacent EM conductors to see if they also contain mineralized zones that match the patterns seen along Triple R.
If successful, this survey could provide the overall big picture view of all the mineralized zones found at and around Triple R. Pretty exciting stuff, imho.
Wishing Ross and his technical team the best of luck with their summer surveys.
Cheers!