APPLICATION OF WELL LOGGING TECHNIQUES IN METALLIC MINERAL MINING

Abstract

Nearly all of the well logging devices currently used in the petroleum industry have found some limited application in metallic mineral exploration and mining. However, due to differing problems, the emphasis in the mineral industries has been on those devices regarded as “exotic” or “specialty” by the petroleum industry. These include devices to measure or determine induced polarization, magnetic susceptibility, and, hopefully, nuclear activation and the use of spectral analysis. Problems which the mining industry believes are solvable with well logging methods include bulk assay and recognition of minerals adjacent to and retired from a borehole, delineation of joint and fracture systems, leaching problems which involve porosity, permeability and groundwater movement, bank stability in open pit mines, roof and pillar loading in shaft mines, grindability, and penetration rates in drilling. Devices currently offered by the well logging industry which may be useful for these problems include those capable of measuring electrical properties, natural and induced nuclear radiation, seismic velocities of both compressional and shear modes, temperature, mechanical features of a borehole such as diameter and rugosity, and borehole photography either direct or by television.