Trial surveys at four underground coal mines have been conducted using a prototype long-range radar technology. The ATEX-approved instrumentation will be full shielded for deployment in environments subject to radar clutter, where long-range imaging of strata, voids and abandoned workings is required. The final system is to be delivered in Q3 2010 and will be available for use worldwide immediately thereafter.
All posts by Groundradar
Another successful PDAC for Groundradar
Groundradar received hundreds of visitors during the 2010 PDAC. Mr. Francke gave two well-attended presentations on the state-of-the-art in long-range ground penetrating radar and the applications of geophysics to nickel laterite exploration.
Groundradar, Utsi Electronics and Aimil Sign Research and Development Contract with Indian Government
Groundradar and their technology partners Utsi Electronics of Cambridge, UK and Aimil Ltd of New Delhi, India, today signed a contract to develop a custom long-range GPR technology for the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Government of India. The intrinsically safe technology is expected to include novel designs in radar electronics and antennas for use in underground mines. The project will span the next 12 months.
Jan Francke invited to speak at PDAC 2010
Organizers of the PDAC convention have requested that Jan Francke to speak during the invited sessions on geophysics. The title of the talk will be “Advances in Geophysics for Resource Modeling of Nickel Laterites”. A number of geophysical applications to laterites will be covered, including regional airborne magnetic and electromagnetic surveys, ground EM, resistivity (ERT) and IP approaches, and long-range GPR applications. Numerous case examples will be provides from laterite projects on all six continents.
Groundradar conducts borehole tomography surveys in New Caledonia
Groundradar was contracted to conducted borehole tomography surveys at a nickel laterite project in New Caledonia. Borehole tomography provides one of the highest resolution views of the subsurface, and reveals a number of important soil and rock parameters such as radar velocities, and attenuations. Using the Topp relation, water saturation and porosity may also be derived from the tomographic cross-section. Borehole surveys are also commonly applied in the detection of un-mapped tunnels in open pit mine sites.
Adrove and Francke author paper on the use of advanced GPR for abandoned tunnel detection at Geita, Tanzania
Jan Francke has co-authored a paper entitled “Application of advanced ground penetrating radar technology for abandoned working detection at Geita Gold Mine, Tanzania”. The paper, to be presented at an AngloGold Ashanti conference in September, 2009 discusses the use of UltraGPR to image abandoned workings at an open pit operation in Tanzania. UltraGPR was able to detect a series of voids at a coverage rate of one hectare per day with one metre-spaced profiles.
UltraGPR technology featured in First Break
Jan Francke of Groundradar and Vincent Utsi of Utsi Electronics have written a paper on advances in long-range GPR technology. A detailed background on radar theory is provided, along with case histories from a variety of mining and geotechnical applications. First Break is the leading publication in Europe serving the geoscience and engineering communities, with a circulation of over 15,000 copies monthly. The article, entitled “Advances in long-range GPR systems and their applications to mineral exploration, geotechnical and static correction problems” is featured as a Special Topic in the July 2009 issue (www.firstbreak.nl). A downloadable version of the paper is available here (©2009 EAGE).
Groundradar conducts surveys on all 6 continents in last 30 days
Over a one-month period, Groundradar has conducted surveys on all six continents: Africa (Zambia), Australia, North America (Alaska), South America (Brazil), Europe (Ireland), and Asia (Turkey). These surveys have pushed the boundaries of UltraGPR technology to new applications ranging from placer beach sands to peat bogs to emerald exploration. As recent reductions in exploration budgets are implemented throughout the industry, UltraGPR technology is facing increased demand as a low-cost tool to help strategically-locate a fewer number of boreholes.
Groundradar at PDAC
Groundradar will be located in Booth 702 at this year’s PDAC. Groundradar will have staff on site to discuss applications of long-range GPR technology to mineral resource and geotechnical applications. The PDAC is the largest mining-related trade show and convention in the world, with over 20,000 delegates.
Groundradar invited to speak at PDAC
Mr. Jan Francke of Groundradar will be speaking on Monday, March 2nd at the PDAC/CAMESE Exhibitors Innovation Forum. The title of the talk will be “Recent Advances in Ultra-Deep GPR Technology”. Data examples from around the globe will be presented showing the capability of UltraGPR technology for mineral exploration applications to depths of over 100 m. The presentation will be available as a streaming video on groundradar.com shortly afterwards.