Petrophysics for Mineral Discovery during Drilling: MinEx CRC Project 4

The Challenge

Drilling can provide physical samples of rock hidden deep beneath the surface, but with conventional ‘blind’ drilling it can take many holes for an explorer to develop enough understanding of the buried geology and structures to properly define and test potential mineralisation targets.

Key Findings

This project delivered a working prototype of a novel sensor for measuring total count gamma radiation in an active drilling environment. 

Total gamma count registers the presence of naturally occurring radioactive elements within the sensed volume surrounding a drill hole, providing a real-time proxy for lithology. 

The prototype sensor is capable of real-time logging-while-drilling in the RoXplorer Coiled Tubing (CT) drilling system. 

Benefit to WA

By improving the accuracy of drill targeting and quality of information returned, this technology could reduce the drilling required to identify and define buried mineralisation. In addition to making exploration cheaper and easier, this efficiency would reduce the environmental impact of exploration in remote and sometimes sensitive areas of WA. 

Keywords: Mineral exploration; geophysics; drilling technology; petrophysics