CRICOS code 00025B Automated logging of drill core M.Klawitter 1 , R.Valenta 1 , N.Spanswick 2 , I.Fahey 2 1 University of Queensland, Sustainable Minerals Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4072 2 Glencore plc, George Fisher Mine, Mount Isa Qld 4825
CRICOS code 00025B
Automated logging of drill coreM.Klawitter1, R.Valenta1, N.Spanswick2, I.Fahey2
1 University of Queensland, Sustainable Minerals Institute, Brisbane, QLD 4072
2 Glencore plc, George Fisher Mine, Mount Isa Qld 4825
CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025BAutomated logging of drill core | 26.02.2019 2
Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
• The aim is to find solutions to automate aspects of geological drill
core logging based on the multi-element geochemistry of the rock
• The samples for this study were provided by Glencore plc from the
George Fisher Mine in Mt Isa
• 31 drill holes were scanned with an X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)
Scanner
• The XRF scanning was performed with a Minalyzer CS (core
scanner)
Introduction
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Introduction Geology
Murphy, 2004glencore.com
CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Introduction Minalyzer CS
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
The Minalyzer CS provides:
• Chemical Assays
- From Mg to U
• Photography
• Topography
• Rock Quality
• Structural Logging
• Specific Gravity
chalmersventures.com
CRICOS code 00025BCRICOS code 00025B
Data Acquisition
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
• Non-destructive XRF
scanning on full core length
• Scanning on the core in trays
• Scanning rate: 1 cm/s
• Outcome data intervals:
- 1 cm / 10 cm / 1 m
minalogger.com
Sulphur
Iron
Sulphur
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Cleaning of the dataAl2O3 SiO2 P S Cl K2O CaO TiO2 V Cr MnO Fe Ni Cu Zn Ga As Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Ba Pb
The XRF data shows low S and Fe values
• Example of
Stratigraphy Log
and XRF Scan
• The log includes
important
geological
information
• XRF data is
presented in bars
for each cell (high
value = long bar)
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Clustering
• 4 Clusters (yellow/orange/blue/green) based
on the ‘heat-maps’ and associated trends
• Blue: high values of Al2O3, K2O, SiO2, TiO2, Zr
• Green: high values of Fe and S
• Yellow: high values of CaO
• Orange: Traces of all major elements/oxides
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Rocktype classification
• Blue: Shales (high values of Al2O3, K2O, SiO2, TiO2, Zr)
• Yellow: Calcareous Siltstones (high values of CaO)
• Green: Pyrite (high values of Fe and S)
• Orange: Mixture of lithologies (traces of all
elements/oxides)
• The Pyrite-rich layers can be further distinguished
- high content (>20% Pyrites)
- low content (5-20% Pyrites)
• The samples in the orange cluster were associated with
adjacent clusters
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Automated drill core logging
Exa
mp
le o
f a
uto
ma
ted
lo
g
Siltstone
Shale
Pyritic Shale (5-20%)
Pyritic Shale (>20%)
• Automated detection of 4 host-rock lithologies
✓ Calcareous Siltstones (light grey)
✓ Shales (dark grey)
✓ Pyritic shale (5-20% Pyrite) (brown)
✓ Pyritic shale (>20% Pyrite) (yellow)
• Consistent interpretation of the data
• Interpretation based on actual scanned XRF data
and correlation between elements/oxides
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Automated detection of host-rock lithologies
10 c
m
10 c
m
10 c
m
10 c
m
Siltstone
Shale
Pyritic Shale (5-20%)
Pyritic Shale (>20%)
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Enhanced geological drill core loggingSouth North
Siltstone
Pyrite
Pyritic Shale + Zn & Pb
Banded + Zn & Pb
Siltstone
Pyritic Shale + Zn & Pb
Shale
Dow
nhole
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Enhanced geological drill core logging
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Enhanced geological drill core logging
c6
c5lc2m
c1l
b4
b3m
b1l
d1lc6
c5l
c4
c3m
c2m
c1lb2
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Enhanced domaining
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Sustainable Minerals InstituteW.H.Bryan Mining & Research Centre
Outcome
• Enhanced geological drill core logging
- Rocktype classification and domaining
• Consistent interpretation of the data
- Interpretation based on actual scanned XRF data
• Enhanced detection of domain boundaries
- Based on geochemical signatures and rocktype recognition
• Implications to mining
- Potentially saving time and costs
CRICOS code 00025B
Thank youDr Matthias Klawitter | Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Sustainable Minerals Institute
07 3365 5941
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