Abstract
Airborne electromagnetics is an effective and efficient exploration tool in shallow mineral exploration for its high efficiency and low cost. In 2016, airborne electromagnetic and airborne magnetic surveys have been carried out at the border of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Gansu Province, the Northwest China. With an integrated system, the airborne electromagnetics and airborne magnetic data were collected simultaneously by AreoTEM-IV system from Aeroquest International Limited in Vancouver, BC, Canada, and the CS3 Cesium Vapor magnetometer from Scintrex in Concord, ON, Canada. About 3149 line-km of both data with 250 m line space were acquired. After data processing, the comprehensive analysis and interpretation of resistivity and magnetic anomalies has been carried out to infer lithological structure and outline the potential ore deposits. Verified by the ground surveys, seven outlined anomalies are consistent with the known ore sites, and one new gold deposit and several mineralization clues were found. The prospective reserves of gold are expected to exceed 10 tons. Besides, some prospecting target areas were outlined as the possible locations of copper–nickel deposits. The successful case shows the airborne magnetic data accords with geological structures, and the airborne electromagnetic method is effective in finding metal mineral resources, which can help to quickly identify potential ore targets with no surface outcrop.
Highlights
In China, with the vast lands and the rapid development of economy, ground-based geophysical exploration is getting more and more difficult to meet the requirements of energy and mineral explorations for its low efficiency and limited access caused by terrible terrain and traffic [1,2]
Airborne electromagnetics (AEM) and aeromagnetic surveys were carried out to search for more polymetallic deposits and provide geophysical data for basic geological research in the survey area
Through the airborne magnetic and AEM survey at Baishiquan–Hongliujing area, 39 new AEM anomalies are outlined as the clues of potential deposits, where 7 outlined anomalies are consistent with the known ore sites
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Major AEM systems in the world basically come from a few companies [2,4] These companies developed many AEM systems and successfully applied in in mineral exploration [6,7], groundwater study [8,9], engineering geology [10], and environment investigations [11] of shallow subsurface. Major ATEM systems include TEMPEST from CGG, SkyTEM series from SkyTEM Surveys, and AeroTEM and VTEM series from Geotech These systems were designed and developed with different features for focusing on different concerns. With the development of computer and technology, 3D and Quasi-3D inversion are gradually applied to AEM explorations [15,16,17], and the machine learning has shown a good effect on data processing [18,19,20]. The successful exploration shows airborne electromagnetic method is effective in finding metal mineral resources, and can provide support for solving the regional basic geological problems
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