Innovation in Geology
New approaches in exploration prompted by brine deposits
Nevada-based innovative minds are likely to remain at the forefront of addressing the secular-long challenge of interpreting and characterizing mine sites. Variable soil, rock strata, and complex host-rock formations all contribute to challenges when exploring areas of mineralization. As population growth, urbanization and climate change trends push the demand for mineral resources upwards, Nevada emerges once again as a leader in innovative approaches to leverage the earth's crust’s resources. In November 2022, the USGS announced US$1.45 million in funding to conduct geologic mapping, airborne geophysical surveying and geochemical sampling in Northern Nevada to advance scientific innovation and map critical minerals.
Technological prowess that can sustain evidence of decreasing exploration risk will be one of the most important trends to watch for in the coming years. Mineral exploration is a high-risk business (commonly measured by three successes in a thousand projects), profiles in the short term, and is complicated to budget. As such, juniors are increasingly shifting their focus towards geology companies that have the expertise to leverage new technologies and decipher the millions of rows of historic data trapped in the archaic databases they will have gathered from acquiring a project.
"Nevada’s unique extensional geology produces an array of small separated basins that act as natural salt concentrators. The exploration space will consolidate rapidly within these basins as hydrothermal inputs are discovered and then expand into other smaller basins in the region."
Chris Castillo, CEO, Castillo Geophysical
Breakthrough technologies for mineral exploration
Nevada is no stranger to technological breakthroughs pioneering geological exploration. Almost a century ago, the Induced Polarization (IP) method began for the exploration of porphyry copper in the state and neighboring Arizona. This revolutionary geophysical method measures the chargeability of the subsurface by using voltage decay of a produced current and was in the 1950s a breakthrough in discriminating between low-grade and large-scale copper deposits.
Much of the new geophysical approaches are today focused on lithium discovery. One of the reasonings behind the foundation in 2021 of Castillo Geophysical was applying seismic image tools developed by the oil and gas industry for a rapidly transforming lithium market. Consisting of a network of specialized PhDs, Castillo Geophysical focused on high-resolution data processing, while leveraging its connections to academia and scientific labs to access the latest technology. In November 2021, Ameriwest Lithium, an emerging junior, contracted the firm to reprocess seismic data at its Railroad Valley project using the latest techniques. Chris Castillo, CEO, explained his approach: “We interpreted seismic data, MT and gravity in tandem to investigate complex groundwater interactions that are evidenced by geothermal springs in the valley.”
The up-and-coming lithium capital of the US is forecast to continue resembling a testing ground for tens of geologists applying the latest innovations to upscale Nevada’s unique lithium-rich basins that act as natural salt concentrators. The booming activity seen in 2021 and 2022 regarding seismic data interpretation is an indicator of the efforts ahead in 2023. Asked about geophysical innovations specific to the state, Christ Castillo shared: “A lot of it has to do with data processing. Globally, what sets apart the most productive lithium plays is the presence of subsurface hydrothermal input.”
"Digital transformation is reshaping the mining industry. As we have got deeper and the grades have declined, we have relied on innovation to sustain the industry.
Tom Meuzelaar, Owner, Life Cycle Geo
Unlocking the means to leverage AI and computation
Visualizing the future of geological mineral exploration comes at a cost, often a significant one. Combining electromagnetic methods with multi-channel seismic approaches into a digitalized format to better picture the conductivity structure below the surface is a process in the early stages. The upstream investment in time, resources and capital is significant. Announced as the future new normal in geological surveys, machine learning, AI and computation are slowly climbing out of the infancy stage, but the road remains long. As put by Chris Castillo: “Technologies require a large investment in computation, and the methods that will make this technology accessible are still in development.”
Data science has the potential to unlock determining value throughout the life cycle of a project in its quest toward permitting. With a background in geochemistry, geology, and data science, Tom Meuzelaar founded Life Cycle Geo in 2019 to help mining firms characterize materials present in their deposits, along with interpreting large geologic datasets. This work is key for explorers to build the best version of their mineral resource estimation and guarantee NI 43-101 compliance, for instance. Mineral characterization through AI practices presents key advantages for explorers; fundamentally, misclassified materials result in time, resource and money loss.
Undoubtedly, machine learning algorithms able to predict the distance to mineralization are a game-changer. Operators that have historically struggled to recognize the complex sequence of mineral alteration are now presented with the power of data science to limit margins of errors that impact their margins. Explaining the challenges AI helps solve, Tom Meuzelaar explained: “The first data collected for a project is often surface geochemistry, followed by drill hole assay. This is a rich dataset, as operators are getting 30 to 50 elements from the periodic table. Assay data collection continues throughout the life cycle, so the primary thesis behind material classification is using machine learning to identify material types with all the assay data that has been collected.”
Image courtesy of Photon Photos via Unsplash