Modern methods in the search for metalliferous ores in Britain

Abstract

The vast majority of orebodies that outcrop in Great Britain have already been found. Significant new metalliferous mineral reserves are likely to be delineated only by the combined application of geology, geochemistry and geophysics. Regional and exploration geochemistry are powerful new tools scarcely used in the past in Great Britain but already showing promise in the discovery of hidden ore. Geophysical and geochemical instrumentation designed to help locate ore tens or even hundreds of metres below surface are in a continuous state of development, but there is still a dearth of quantitative information on ore-forming processes and of favourable structural environments in which orebodies can be expected to be found. Recent work on the possible association of mineralization with divergent and convergent plate margins is a step in the right direction. However, even when a favourable environment is known deposits must still be located. The greatest hope for doing so in the future lies in the combined use of geochemical and geophysical techniques. It is not considered that the working of lower and lower grade ores is a solution to possible mineral shortages. Rather, the aim should be to discover more mineralization of conventional type and to mine the ore with minimum disruption of the environment.