Geophysicists from Wits University in South Africa have developed seismic technologies to help make mining exploration more sustainable.
Geophysicists from Wits University in South Africa have developed seismic technologies to help make mining exploration more sustainable.
The project led by the Wits Seismic Research Centre in the School of Geosciences is an active-passive seismic approach aimed at reviving the seismic mining methods in the country.
‘For economic and environmental reasons, the use of traditional active seismic methods has been slowly abandoned in South Africa. Our innovative seismic approach is bringing some hopes to revive this activity and bring solutions to the mining industry,’ said Professor Musa Manzi, director of the Wits Seismic Research Centre.
The project aims to combine active and passive seismic methods, using a combination of instruments for exploration in noisy gold and platinum mines at 300-3500 m depths.
Last year, the team tested its seismic method at an underground platinum mine in Rustenburg in an experiment that aimed to reduce drilling costs, lower exploration costs, maximize mine safety, increase the possibility of finding new prospects, and increase the life of mine.
Manzi added that cableless systems are ‘easier to adapt to a small-scale seismic survey inside the mine where space is limited and conditions are challenging.’ The land streamer saves time as it eliminates the need to plant traditional geophones on the ground, which can also be difficult to do in mine tunnels, he added.
The team is collaborating with local and international researchers to improve the passive seismic imaging resolution. ‘The project has involved more than 25 young professionals (honours, masters, PhD, early-career researchers and technology developers),’ said Manzi. ‘The data collected will continue to be used for research purposes at postgraduate level at Wits.’
He believes that the project has the potential to enrich exploration geophysics in Africa with new instruments and survey design methodologies to improve acquisition and processing.
