Beruflich Dokumente
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STUDYFROMGUYANA'SPOTARO REGION
CsabaEkes
Terraprobe Geoscience Corporation
Suite 103, 6150 Grant St., Burnaby, B.C. V5B 2K6 Canada
gprterraprobe.com
AdrianHickin
School ofEarth and Ocean Sciences
University ofVictoria,Victoria,B.C. V8W 3P6 Canada
adrianhickin@shaw.ca
Placer mining is the search for diamond and gold-bearing Vannessa's property is located in western Guyana in the
gravel and sand,whichcanbe workedat a profit.Along with vicinityofthe Pakaraimaescarpment adjacentto the Guyana
grade, most placer miners are concerned with the depth and shield (Fig. 1, 2). The bedrock geology consists of ancient
topography of bedrock and thickness of overburden. The cratonal rock accompanied by Middle ProterozoicRoraima
main reasons for this are: 1) alluvial placers are generally Formation sedimentary rocks and younger igneous
found on bedrockwith the richestpaydirt resting in bedrock intrusions (Keats, 1976). The 2100 m thick fluvial and
depressions, 2) stripping ratios are critical factors fluviodeltaic Roraima Formation is the assumed source of
determining ifa particulargravel deposit can be mined at a the alluvial diamond and gold deposits on theproperty.The
Ninth International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, Steven K. Koppenjan, Hua Lee, Editors,
Proceedings of SPIE Vol. 4758 (2002) © 2002 SPIE · 0277-786X/02/$15.00 685
Eight radar facies were identified and were used for Davis, J. L., Annan, A. P., & Vaughan, C., 1984. Placer
interpreting the GPR data. The strong dielectric contrast Exploration usingradar and seismic methods. In: Expanded
betweenbedrock and the overlying gravel and sand produce abstracts with biographies: 1984 technicalprogram:
hyperbolic reflectionsthat can be easily identified on most Proceedingsofs4th annual internationalSEGmeeting,
profiles. Bedrock surface and the bedrock-fluvial sediment Society ofExplorationGeophysicists, Tulsa,pp. 306-308.
interface were clearly recognizedon most radar profiles. The
extent and large-scale geometry of the diamond and gold Keats, W., 1976. The RoraimaFormation inGuyana: A
producing fluvial sediment body in the southernpart ofthe revised stratigraphy and proposed environment of
property was successfully outlined with the aid of GPR. In deposition. VenezuelaDireccion Geologia, pp. 901-937.
addition, three large-scale bedrock depressions were
identified for future drilling/trenching and potential bulk Petit,M., 1984. La serie des sables blancs(Cenozoique) dans
sampling. lesGuyanes et leursignificationmorphologique (Guyana-
Guyane Francaise-Suriname).Travaux etDocuments de
Interpreted GPR data were used to model the 3D extent of GeographieTropicale, 52, pp. 131-164.
the producing sand and gravel bodies as well as the extent
and volume of overburden (Fig. 4). This information was Pollard, E. R., 1958. Diamond resources andtheirdevelopment
used not only to strategically locate drill holes to confirmthe inBritish Guiana, British Guiana Geological Survey Bulletin,
radar interpretation but also for designing the mining Georgetown,p. 10.
operation. GPR data provided high-resolution and accurate
subsurface information in an otherwise poorlyexposedarea. Power, M.A., 1994. An evaluation ofGround penetratingradar
Additionally, GPR surveyswere conductedrapidly and cost- as atool in placerexploration. IndianandNorthern Affairs
effectively makingthis a powerfulexploration technique for Canada, Openfile 1994-1 (T).
delineating placerdeposits.
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Figure4. Three-dimensional model ofgold and diamondbearing fluvial palaeochannel. View looking northwest.
Vertical exaggeration X 5. Layout ofGPR lines is shown in figure 2.