Mineral Exploration
for the layperson
Mining and Exploration
Geology Handbook
Mining and Exploration: The Journey to Unearth Valuable Minerals
Mineral exploration often starts with simple techniques such as examining maps, satellite images, or even kicking over rocks in the field. As the process advances, it involves more intricate methods and increasing expenses, with each subsequent step determined by the outcomes of previous stages. Let’s explore the key aspects of mineral exploration:
Logging Core 101: The Basics of Logging Drill Core in Exploration
Drill core logging is a fundamental aspect of mineral exploration, providing valuable information on the rock types, mineralization, and geological structures encountered during drilling. Discover the basics of logging drill core, including the techniques and tools used to record essential data.
Sampling 101 – QA/QC: Ensuring the Accuracy of Drill Core Data
Accurate sampling and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) procedures are vital for reliable drill core analysis. Learn the best practices for collecting representative samples and maintaining high QA/QC standards to ensure accurate and reliable exploration data.
Terminology: Mining, Exploration, and Geology Lingo
Understanding the technical language used in mining, exploration, and geology is crucial for navigating these industries. Our comprehensive glossary will help you become familiar with essential terminology, providing a solid foundation for your exploration journey.
Happening Now
Whose exploring NW Ontario?
Exploration And permitting tablesThe table provided by MNDM shows the Plan or Permit number, the project name, the claim holder, all affected claims, the project location, any activities taking place and a start and end date for the activities. Activities...
Steps of Exploration
Remote sensing
Remote sensing is the practice of looking for favourable exploration targets using widely available geophysics and regional geological information. Looking at maps for rock types that are known to host deposits in other areas, proximity to other exploration (past or present, or looking at topographical features that may indicate the presence of an exploration target.
Common information used for remote sensing are: Geological maps (Government), Regional Geophysics surveys (Government) , Topographical maps, historic exploration work archives or the proximity to current, nearby exploration work. At this stage the company or individual knows what type of economic mineral they are looking for and have an idea of where it may be.
Staking a claim
When an area meets the basic exploration criteria it can be staked. This is the government regulated method of determining who has the mineral rights to that area for a set period of time. Once the property is staked, the claim is required to do yearly exploration work on the property of a certain financial value to keep the claim. If the claim owner fails to do any work or abandons the claim it reverts to being stake-able in two years.
Common work done on properties before being sold to an exploration company include mapping, sampling (hand and maybe channel), power stripping with possible small scale drilling. This is all done in an effort to both hold the claim, but to also option it to an exploration company.
With the future introduction of map staking in Ontario, staking will occur online using maps and GPS, for now it requires people to actually physically walk and mark the claim unit.
Prospecting
Prospecting is the boot on the ground kicking over rocks. Prospectors or geologists look over an area for potential exploration target minerals and features which may indicate a further look or staking of a claim.
Commonly rock samples (hand samples) are collected and evaluated for indicator minerals and/or an actual economic minerals.
Optioning or selling a claim
When a prospector or claim owner has a claim, they want to sell or option it to an exploration company. They can aggressively market a group of claims, or if the claim is in an actively sought after area simply option it off when an exploration company becomes interested. Option agreements tend to have cash value, stock options in the exploration company as well as a NSR (net Smelter Royalty) which is a percentage of any mineral actually mined and sold from that property if it ever becomes a mine.
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Geology Handbook
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