Estimating the pre-mining gravity and gravity gradient response of the Broken Hill Ag-Pb-Zn Deposit

Abstract

Mining of the Broken Hill Ag-Pb-Zn deposit has substantially modified what was originally a positive anomalous mass. When an airborne gravity gradiometer (AGG) survey was flown over the Broken Hill region in early 2003, the measured response reflected the modified mass distribution. To answer the questions ``What was the original response of the orebody?' and ``Would this response have been detected had the survey been flown prior to mining?', an estimate of the changes in response brought about by mining activities was made and added to the survey data to produce an image of the pre-mining gravity response. To estimate the change in response, a 3D model of the mined portion of the deposit was built. An estimate of the change in mass due to mining activities was made and this mass was distributed with uniform density throughout the model. The gravity and vertical gravity gradient response of the orebody model was then calculated, filtered to match the characteristics of the AGG data and added to the observed survey data. The ?corrected? data show distinct gravity and gravity gradient highs over the northern and southern parts of the orebody which hosted the bulk of the reserves. Although the anomalous response is close to the noise levels of the survey data, we can conclude that the AGG survey would have detected an anomalous response from the Broken Hill orebody had the survey been flown prior to mining. However, there are other geological features in the survey area that produce similar anomalies, notably a number of amphibolite units.