Abstract

The geoelectrical tomography survey was carried out to explore and characterize a (Zn-Pb-Ag) sulphide deposit in Nash Creek (NC), New Brunswick province, Canada. The exploration strategy has been conducted by the 2-D survey for a well-cut grid consisting of twelve surface lines (profiles) each around 2 km long, and 300 m apart, for the total area around 9.5 km2. The datasets (resistivity and induced polarization) were acquired using the Iris El-Rec Pro system with pole-dipole electrodes array spaced 50 m apart, and ten levels of data datum. The results of the 2-D inversion revealed that the underground resistivity and chargeability values in the exploration area have a range of (5 to 1300 Ωm) and (0-9.5 mV/V), respectively. The sulphide mineralization zones in the exploration area are characterized by moderate resistivity values (150-300 Ωm) and moderate to low chargeability values (>5.5 mV/V), with a depth of around (90140 m) from the surface. The 3-D visualization model clearly reveals that three main zones of sulphide mineralization are present in the exploration area. The predicted geological reserve of the sulphide ore in the exploration area was calculated. The inverted models revealed a good agreement with the existing geological features in the exploration area.

Highlights

  • Exploring underground minerals on the surface is a significant challenge

  • We present the results of the 2-D geoelectrical survey from the Nash Creek (NC) (Zn-Pb-Ag) sulphide deposit

  • The inverted models revealed a good agreement with the existing geological features in the exploration area

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Summary

Introduction

Exploring underground minerals on the surface is a significant challenge. Because of the mineral deposits are usually existed in geologically complex formations and associated with the host rocks, so it is hard to distinguish. One of the geophysical techniques that can be applied effectively for that is the geoelectrical technique (DCIP) (direct current (DC) resistivity and induced polarization (IP)) [1,2,3]. This technique produces two parameters, namely resistivity and chargeability, which quite well distinguishes the mineral deposit content in rocks [4,5,6].

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