Induced polarization response of porous media with metallic particles — Part 7: Detection and quantification of buried slag heaps

Abstract

With the progress of metallurgical activities, more and more dumped slag heaps emerge as valuable deposits to feed the growing need for metal resources. Detecting, quantifying, and reextracting metals from these slags may complement the prospection of new ore deposits. However, the spatial delineation of the slag heap cannot easily be obtained from the resistivity distribution alone (determined either with galvanometric or with induction-based methods). Although the magnetic method can detect slag heaps, it fails to make an estimation of the quantity of metal present in the slag. Alternatively, the induced polarization (IP) method can be used to fulfill this goal. The complex conductivity responses of slag samples from a slag heap in France are obtained in the laboratory. These data are used to assess the grade of the slag, which is close to 8%. Then, a least-squares 3D IP inversion is used to get the subsurface chargeability distribution delimiting the slag heap in the ground. From the linear relationship determined between the chargeability and the volumetric metal content or the volumetric slag content, the metallic volume of the slag heaps can be directly determined. This approach is used at the site of Saint-Vincent sur L'Isle, Dordogne (France), where it allows characterizing the shape of a slag heap and quantifying the total cumulative metal content of the investigated area.