The application of AEM as a regional mapping and targeting tool: A Mineral Explorer?s Perspective

Abstract

As part of the Onshore Energy Initiative GA flew the Paterson Province in WA for AEM using Tempest on east west flight lines ranging from 1-2km line spacing in 2008. Encounter Resources is an ASX listed, Greenfields exploration company run by a group of former WMC employees. The company's main project is the Yeneena Project, located 60km south west of the giant Telfer Gold/Copper deposit in the Proterozoic Paterson Province. Prior exploration in this region has been minimal due to extensive sand cover and the ineffectiveness of magnetics as a regional mapping and targeting tool. In what was a bold decision for the company at the time Encounter committed to infill the GA regional survey to a 500m line spacing across its 1400km2 project. The acquisition and application of this new data set was a seminal moment in the exploration project. The use of AEM to map structure and the geological units under sand cover in conjunction with regional aircore drilling has significantly improved the explorability of this highly prospective Paterson mineral province. Following up on structural targets generated in the initial Tempest survey a series of helicopter based VTEM surveys have been completed by Encounter. This use of the regional EM data has lead to a significant investment in ground geophysics, aircore, RC and diamond drilling and has been integral to the discovery of copper sulphides at three separate locations at the Yeneena project. This includes the BM1-BM7 copper mineral system which is now over 11km long and still growing. Early intersections of 10m @ 6.8% Cu, 20m @ 2% Cu and 73m @ 0.4% Cu have demonstrated the prospectivity and the scale potential of this new copper discovery in WA.