Download Supplement PDF - Mining Journal

est
frica
6%
Europe 4% FSU/
3%
Mongolia
8%
Sub-Saharan
Africa
Other countries account for about 6%
February 2012
EXPLORATION SPECIAL
Russia 3%
China
Australia
16% The 6% increased efforts in 7% West Africa translated into
gold receiving more than half the African exploration
total in each of the past two years. In contrast, since
accounting for about a third of African budgets in
2004, diamond allocations dropped to an all-time low
of 6% in 2011, primarily owing to waning diamond
spending in Sub-Saharan Africa, as many companies
focus more in countries such as Russia and India.
Exploration spending in Australia kept pace with
the world average increase in 2011, maintaining the
country’s share of the total at about 13%, despite
mining reform at the national and state levels
dominating national headlines for much of the year.
Spending in Western Australia accounted for
almost half the country’s 2011 non-ferrous
exploration total, while South Australia saw the
largest year-on-year percentage increase. Gold and
base metals accounted for the bulk of Australia’s 2011
exploration total, with allocations for diamonds,
uranium, platinum-group metals, and other targets
trailing by wide margins.
Gold and copper exploration in the US kept it in
sixth place regionally, ahead of the Pacific Islands.
Nevada had the largest share of the country’s 2011
exploration total, and three states (Nevada, Arizona
and Alaska) accounted for almost two-thirds of the
country’s total. Although gold continued to attract
more than half of all spending in the US, base metals
reached its second-highest percentage share in the
past decade, based in part on increased copper
exploration in Arizona and Utah.
Among the Pacific Islands, allocations for Papua
New Guinea, Indonesia and the Philippines accounted
for the bulk of the region’s 5% of the world
exploration total, with budgets fairly evenly split
between gold and base metals.
Despite the region’s high prospectivity for gold,
copper and nickel, investors continued to be wary of
the political and social unrest, uncertainty of tenure
and periodic anti-mining violence that have plagued
the region for years. As a result, the region has not
seen many new entrants in recent years, with most
exploration conducted by larger producers in, and
around, their existing assets.
4%
5%
Pacific
Islands
13%
Mining Journal special publication – PDAC
Figure 3: Top destinations for
non-ferrous exploration, 2011
© Metals Economics Group, 2012;
Source: Corporate Exploration Strategies
“Latin
America
remained the
most popular
exploration
destination,
attracting a
quarter of
global
spending
in 2011”
5
Advanced Geophysics
for In-Situ Analysis
“Schlumberger advanced wireline geophysics
technology provides the mining industry with
sophisticated real-time fracture characterization,
in-situ elemental and mineral assay, and rock mass
characterization. Wireline is the primary
method for evaluating and managing
subsurface resources in the oil and gas
industry, it has decades of validation
of maximizing certainty of exploration
and production activities. Adapted to
the mining industry, Schlumberger
advanced wireline geophysics
has the potential to provide high
value to both mine exploration
and production.”
Call us to learn how you can use geophysical logging
for highly effi cient in-situ evaluation of rock properties,
including:
• In-situ assay of base metals including copper and a
large suite of other mineral-forming elements – in
blast holes, exploration holes, and heaps.
• In-situ heap monitoring for copper inventory/recovery,
moisture content, saturation, and density.
• Automated fracture and structural analysis from highresolution
borehole imaging.
water.slb.com/contact
Ned Clayton
Senior Geophysicist
and Engineer
In-Situ Nickel Resource Assessment
Using Advanced Geophysics
© 2012 Schlumberger, * Mark of Schlumberger