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  • KEGS February Bulletin

    2 Feb 2024 8:49 AM | Peter Tschirhart (Administrator)

    KEGS - Canadian Exploration Geophysical Society

    KEGS February Bulletin

    ** KEGS February Talk

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    Details of the KEGS talk happening this month.

    Title: Passive seismic methods and how they can be used for mineral exploration

    Speaker: Omid Bagherpur (BHP)

    Date: Tuesday, February 13 at 4:00 PM

    Location: University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences, Room ES2093 (22 Ursula Franklin Street) and online. Register for the virtual session below:

    https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/855501847146237022

    Abstract:

    Passive seismic imaging methods date back to the 1970s with the introduction of local earthquake tomography method. Since then, many new methods have been developed that exploit various natural source seismic phases to extract 3D velocity structure of the subsurface. Thanks to advancements in passive seismology datasets and methodologies, we now know much more than ever about the Earth interior, from the shallow surface to the core. Although the majority of the seismic tomography techniques are mainly used for studying deep solid earth interior, more recently developed surface wave tomography techniques have proved to be highly effective in imaging the top crustal and uppermost mantle structure at a desirable resolution to be used throughout the mineral exploration industry. Particularly, the ambient seismic noise tomography (ANT) technique can provide detailed images of the velocity structure at scales from continents to deposit scale. In this presentation, we review the history and

    minimum fundamentals of the passive seismic methods including the ANT method, and then we go through some examples that passive seismic methods have been highly successful across the industry. These examples include several cases where passive seismic methods have significantly improved our current understanding of mineral system frameworks at BHP.

    Bio:

    Mr. Omid Bagherpur is a Principal Geophysicist at BHP Toronto and has been working with the Metals Exploration team since 2022. He has more than a decade of geophysical experience and has learned and practised various exploration geophysical methods, including passive structural seismology, throughout his PhD and postdoctoral studies, as well as 2D and 3D modeling and analyses of Magnetotellurics datasets In his M.Sc. studies. Omid also has expertise in potential field geophysics, and direct current resistivity and induced polarization methods.

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    ** Upcoming KEGS Talks and Events

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    KEGS is currently looking for speakers for the Spring 2024 meetings. If you are interested to speak at a KEGS monthly talk, please contact any of the Executive.

    Upcoming talks and events:

    * March Events - 2 March: KEGS PDAC Symposium - Registration is open. Further info here (https://www.kegsonline.org/KEGS-2024-Symposium) .

    Find out about more geoscientific events in GTA Geoscience calendar here (https://www.kegsonline.org/GTA-Geoscience-Events) .

    -----------------------------------------------------------

    ** KEGS PDAC Symposium 2024 - Registration

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    The KEGS Symposium is back, in person, on March 2nd, 2024 - the Saturday preceding the 2024 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, Canada. The Symposium will feature a full day of talks on the topics listed below. A reception will follow the days talks.

    Main topics:

    * Geophysical Case Studies for Mineral Exploration Under Cover, or at Depth (500m or more)

    * Use of Legacy Geophysical Data in Mineral Exploration

    * Mineral Systems Analysis using Geophysics

    * New Developments (Data Acquisition, Processing, and Interpretation)

    * Petrophysical or Geological Data Integration with Geophysics

    When: Saturday, March 2, 2024

    Breakfast: 8:00 – 9:00

    Symposium: 9:00 – 16:50 ​

    Reception: 16:50 – 18:00 ​

    Where: InterContinental Hotel, 225 Front St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2X3, Ballroom B.

    Cost:

    * $400.00 CAD for Members

    * $450.00 CAD for Non-Members

    * $200.00 CAD for Retiree (must be a KEGS member)

    * $50.00 CAD for Students

    Registration includes breakfast, coffee, lunch and one drink ticket at the reception.

    Further information on the KEGS website (https://www.kegsonline.org/KEGS-2024-Symposium) .

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    ** KEGS Foundation

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    All students are encouraged to attend the KEGS Symposium on March 2 and participate in the PDAC Convention from March 3 - 6, 2024. For more details on the convention's student programs and networking, see https://www.pdac.ca/convention/programming/Student-Early-Career-Program

    Students who were awarded KEGS Foundation scholarships for 2023-24 can attend the KEGS Symposium at no cost, and have their participation at PDAC subsidized, through the travel bursary program. Contact sreford@kegsfoundation.org (mailto:sreford@kegsfoundation.org) for information

    The scholarship application window for the 2024-25 academic year will soon open. Stay tuned for more details and the application form.

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    ** KEGS Ottawa

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    February Talk

    Title: Satellite-derived gravity data: from ocean wide bathymetric mapping to crustal scale modelling

    Speaker: Chris Galley, Post Doc University of Ottawa and Memorial University

    Date: Monday, February 19 at 4:30 PM

    Location: GSC, Harrison Hall, Room 177, 601 Booth St., Ottawa

    Note: In order to enter Harrison Hall, you will have to show some Canadian identification: a passport, permanent resident card, driver license, or health card. If you are a foreign student and have a residency visa, that should work too. Send me an email if you are not Canadian and have some questions about whether your identification will work. The reason for this extra complication is that Harrison Hall is inside the controlled area. Checking everyone's id documents might take time - please try to get on site with some time to spare for the extra security procedure.

    Abstract:

    Most of our planet is covered in water, with only 20% of its bathymetric surface having been measured through shipborne acoustic methods (with resolutions of 20-100m). This leaves us to rely on a satellite-derived bathymetric model of the seafloor to fill in the remaining 80%, which boasts a resolution of 1-2 km. But how can a satellite, positioned approximately 800 km above Earth's surface, collect data that can be modelled at that resolution? This talk will outline how satellite altimetry data is collected, and what steps have been taken to turn the altimetry data into free-air anomaly data that in turn is used to produce a bathymetric surface. However, the modelling of this gravity data doesn’t need to stop at the seafloor. Three-dimensional inversion modelling allows us to study petrological changes across the seafloor as well as resolving the depth of the Moho, the boundary between the lithospheric mantle and the crust. The talk will conclude with a case study of the Lau Basin, an

    actively forming back-arc basin north of New Zealand. The study’s gravity inversion modelling revealed changes in crustal composition and growth rates throughout the basin and along the volcanic arc.

    Bio:

    Chris Galley is a geophysicist whose work has focused on the study of ancient and modern hydrothermal systems and their associated mineralization. Through the modelling of magnetic data, he has resolved the geometry of subseafloor hydrothermal convective systems and their near surface alteration and is presently modelling the structure of sediment hosted seafloor massive sulfide deposits off the East coast of the USA. His present studies also include crustal thickness modelling of the Lau Basin (a modern back-arc basin) and the Abitibi Greenstone Belt (an ancient back-arc basin) through gravity data inversion to determine the regional controls on volcanogenic massive sulfide mineralization. Chris presently holds postdoctoral positions at the University of Ottawa and Memorial University of Newfoundland. He received his PhD in Geophysics from Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2022, and his BSc. in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Victoria in 2015.

    February Canal Skate

    We generally try to go for a KEGS Ottawa canal skate after our February meeting, of course 100% dependant on if the canal is open for skating. Please respond to Luise Sander if you think you might like to join us on the canal after the presentation. The option of going to the pub is always there too.

    Upcoming KEGS Ottawa Presentations

    * Monday, March 18: Dennis Gamble, Notra Inc.,"UXO case history: From initial site assessment of the former Utopia, NB army base (370 km2) using a mineral exploration approach to develop an Unexploded Ordnance Site Model(SUM)"

    * Monday, April 15: Bob Grasty, GammaBob, “Experience building a worldwide network of calibration pads for ground and airborne gamma ray surveying"

    Please contact Luise Sander, SGL, luise@sgl.com (mailto:luise@sgl.com) , (613) 521 9626 for:

    * any upcoming KEGS Ottawa presentations

    * if you know anyone who might be interested in presenting to our KEGS Ottawa group

    * if you know anyone who should be included on the KEGS Ottawa email group

    * if you are on the KEGS email group and would like to unsubscribe from it

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    ** J. Tuzo Wilson Lecture

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    Title: Earthquake Early Warning

    Speaker: Prof. Richard Allen, University of California, Berkeley

    Date: Tuesday, February 27 at 7:30 - 9:00 PM

    Location: Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles Street West, Toronto

    Prof. Richard Allen from University of California, Berkeley will be speaking on the subject of Earthquake Early Warning systems and may also share some of the stories behind MyShake, the popular Earthquake Alert System. For more information: https://rallen.berkeley.edu/

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    ** Seequent Workshop

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    Title:Voxi EM & IP In-Person Workshop

    Date: Thursday, March 7 at 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM

    Location: Seequent Toronto Office, 207 Queens Quay W #810

    This course uses hands-on activities to demonstrate key considerations for data preparation, testing acquisition hypotheses with forward modelling, auxiliary parameters for inversion setup, best practices for inversion modelling, and finally exploring the inversion solution space. Participants will have the opportunity to create models during and after the workshop using VOXI TDEM and VOXI IP and Resistivity Modelling.

    https://events.seequent.com/voxiemandipworkshop-inperson-toronto

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    ** SEG Mining and Mineral Exploration Committee

    ------------------------------------------------------------

    SEGMIN CHANGES

    Earlier this fall, there were security concerns around the SEGMIN list server. Sadly, the list server is not an up-to-date modern way of communication and we have to make a change. We will be moving to an online community through Seequent that has been tested and behaves in a similar manner as the current list server, with some additional features. We will further discuss this change at the RoundUp meeting and tour the new platform. I know many like the emails that come in, and that feature will still be available (whether you like an email for each post, a weekly digest, etc). We expect the change to occur sometime early 2024.

    IMAGE24

    The call for abstracts will open in January for the IMAGE24 conference in August 2024 in Houston, TX. We have been working on pushing through special sessions and field trips to SEG. More to be shared at the RoundUp meeting.

    NEW SEG MME KEY CONTACT

    We are looking for a new key technical contact to start in August 2024 at the 2024 IMAGE meeting. Jiajia Sun will become the new SEG MME chair, with Dan Hollis moving into the vice-chair position. Please reach out to Sarah Devriese, Dan, or Jiajia if you are interested or have questions about the role.

    AMBIENT SEISMIC WORKSHOP

    SEG & AGU will be holding an Ambient Seismic Field Studies Workshop at Colorado School of Mines on July 31 to August 2, 2024. The general technical program will contain content relevant to mineral exploration and develop, including a session focused on case studies using ambient seismic tomography for mineral exploration. The Call for Abstracts opens in mid-January 2024. More information can be found here (https://seg.org/calendar_events/advances-in-ambient-seismic-field-studies-in-monitoring-resources-hazards-and-global-change/) .




  • KEGS January Bulletin

    5 Jan 2024 1:05 PM | Peter Tschirhart (Administrator)


    KEGS January Talk

    Details of the KEGS talk happening this month.


    Title: A Conservative Approach to Inversion with AI

    Speaker: Jim Craven - Geological Survey of Canada

    Date: Tuesday, Jan 9th at 4:00 PM

    Location: University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences, Room ES2093 (22 Ursula Franklin Street) and online. Register for the virtual session below:






    Abstract:  

    AI offers many advantages for large data set analyses and is an attractive solution to many issues currently faced in geophysics. The physics underlying geophysical methods become increasingly complicated and time consuming to simulate as we model the Earth in ever more realistic approaches. Increasingly large or detailed models are matched by the increasingly large amounts of data we can collect in modern surveys. AI is well adapted to solve complex large data problems.


    But there exist a few drawbacks to AI for physics-based analyses primarily due to the lack of direct incorporation of the underlying equations governing how the data should be analyzed. Working with geophysical data is predicated upon the concept of resolution. An inversion in a traditional sense can compute sensitivities based on the physics and creep or jump towards the best fit model to your data using guides from physics-based sensitivities whilst under some form of constraint such as model smoothness. This makes a lot of sense as it establishes a conservative framework that generates models that not only fit the data, but simultaneously supresses sporadic unresolved features not required by the data.  However, similar physics-based guides and spurious feature constraints on AI models do not appear to be explicitly involved.


    At the outset, it appears as if AI is both non physics based in its approach plus its lack of explicit constraint suggests results may be untrustworthy. To investigate the first drawback, we took an approach using the magnetotelluric method (MT) as it has the property of uniqueness meaning the data collected, theoretically, are representative of a singular earth model. Working initially in 1D to easily meet the uniqueness requirements allows one to attribute deviation from the true model as failure in the AI methodology. To address the second drawback, we work with a convolutional neural network (CNN) as the convolution operator offers a smoothing factor in the workflow serving to filter out spurious structure. A suitably trained CNN was validated with independent synthetic datasets, and the predicted resistivity distribution displayed an acceptable resolution and reliability, seemingly surpassing traditional smoothed inversion even when artificial noise was introduced. Based on these successes, the CNN was also used to analyze real MT data and early work in 3D demonstrates the ability of CNNs to quickly and accurately model synthetic and real world data.


    Bio:

    Mr. Jim Craven has been working at the Geological Survey of Canada  as either a student, scientist or Section Head since 1987 after completing his Master’s degree looking at the effect of overburden on large loop UTEM responses across northern Ontario with Dick Bailey. His work at the GSC involves all aspects of magnetotelluric geophysics from data collection to analysis including co-supervising students working on Metal Earth and geothermal topics at Carleton and Laurentian Universities.

     
    Upcoming KEGS talks and events

    KEGS is currently looking for speakers for the Spring 2024 meetings. If you are interested to speak at a KEGS monthly talk, please contact any of the Executive.


    Upcoming talks and events:

    • February Talk - 13 February: Omid Bagherpour (BHP) - Title TBA. 
    • March Events - 2 March: KEGS PDAC Symposium - Abstracts closed. Further info here.

    Find out about more geoscientific events in GTA Geoscience calendar here.

     

    2024 New KEGS Executive Member

    A warm welcome to Emily Data who will be the new KEGS Secretary for 2024. 


    Emily is a geophysicist in the mineral exploration industry with experience working for leading geophysical companies in several countries world-wide. Her career started in the field, collecting and processing ground geophysical data, then transitioning to data processing management in both ground and airborne geophysics. Currently, Emily is the Data Processing Manager at Expert Geophysics Limited. 

    KEGS Ottawa

    The KEGS Ottawa group meets on the 3rd Monday of each month, usually at the GSC on Booth St. It is also possible to hold the presentations at other venues in Ottawa. We generally follow our presentation by adjourning socially to a nearby local establishment.


    Please note: In order to enter Harrison Hall, you will have to show some Canadian id: a passport, permanent resident card, driver license, or health card. If you are a foreign student and have a residency visa, that should work too. Send me an email if you are not Canadian and have some questions about whether your id will work. The reason for this extra complication is that Harrison Hall is inside the controlled area. Checking everyone's id documents might take time - please try to get on site with some time to spare for the extra security procedure.


    Upcoming KEGS Ottawa Presentations:

    • Monday, January 15: Taylor Tracy Kyryliuk, uOttawa, “The Aquarius Ocean Bottom Seismometer"
    • Monday, February 19: Chris Galley, uOttawa, “Satellite-derived gravity data: from ocean wide bathymetric mapping to crustal scale modelling"
    • Monday, March 18: Dennis Gamble, Notra Inc.,"UXO case history: From initial site assessment of the former Utopia, NB army base (370 km2) using a mineral exploration approach to develop an Unexploded Ordnance Site Model (SUM)".
    • Monday, April 21: Bob Grasty, GammaBob, “Experience building a worldwide network of calibration pads for ground and airborne gamma ray surveying"

    Please contact Luise Sander, SGL, luise@sgl.com, (613) 521 9626 for:

    • any upcoming KEGS Ottawa presentations
    • if you know anyone who might be interested in presenting to our KEGS Ottawa group
    • if you know anyone who should be included on the KEGS Ottawa email group
    • if you are on the KEGS email group and would like to unsubscribe from it
    KEGS PDAC Symposium 2024

    Mark your calendars - KEGS is excited to announce the return of the annual Symposium to be held the Saturday preceding the 2024 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, Canada. The event is planned to be held in person on March 2nd, 2024.


    Further information on the KEGS website. 

     

    SEG Mining and Mineral Exploration Committee


    SEG MME ROUNDUP MEETING

    The SEG Mining and Mineral Exploration Committee will host a hybrid meeting at the AME RoundUp on Thursday, January 25, 2024. 12:30-13:30 Pacific Time

    Location: UK Building, 409 Granville St, Vancouver

    Room: Boardroom on the 1st floor (same as BCGS meetings). Thank you to Mira Geoscience for use of this room again!


    SEGMIN CHANGES

    Earlier this fall, there were security concerns around the SEGMIN list server. Sadly, the list server is not an up-to-date modern way of communication and we have to make a change. We will be moving to an online community through Seequent that has been tested and behaves in a similar manner as the current list server, with some additional features. We will further discuss this change at the RoundUp meeting and tour the new platform. I know many like the emails that come in, and that feature will still be available (whether you like an email for each post, a weekly digest, etc). We expect the change to occur sometime early 2024.


    IMAGE24

    The call for abstracts will open in January for the IMAGE24 conference in August 2024 in Houston, TX. We have been working on pushing through special sessions and field trips to SEG. More to be shared at the RoundUp meeting.


    NEW SEG MME KEY CONTACT

    We are looking for a new key technical contact to start in August 2024 at the 2024 IMAGE meeting.  Jiajia Sun will become the new SEG MME chair, with Dan Hollis moving into the vice-chair position.  Please reach out to Sarah Devriese, Dan, or Jiajia if you are interested or have questions about the role.


    AMBIENT SEISMIC WORKSHOP

    SEG & AGU will be holding an Ambient Seismic Field Studies Workshop at Colorado School of Mines on July 31 to August 2, 2024.  The general technical program will contain content relevant to mineral exploration and develop, including a session focused on case studies using ambient seismic tomography for mineral exploration.  The Call for Abstracts opens in mid-January 2024.  More information can be found here. 

     


  • KEGS December Bulletin

    4 Dec 2023 8:46 AM | Peter Tschirhart (Administrator)


    KEGS Foundation Jerry Roth Student Symposium


    The link is live for the Jerry Roth Student Symposium! Please register your seat here:

    REGISTER

    Date: Tuesday, December 5th

    Time: 1:30 pm - 5 pm

    Location: University of Toronto, Earth Science Building, Room #2093 at Huron and Russell.

    Cost: Students - Free, Professionals - Donations appreciated. Donations above $25 will receive a charitable donation receipt.

    The KEGS Foundation would like to invite you to attend the inaugural symposium in honour of our late Chairman, Jerry Roth, who passed away in February 2023. Jerry was a champion of students and supported them through the formation of the KEGS Foundation, and awarding scholarships, but also by encouraging their participation in academic conferences, professional society presentations and general networking. Please join us on the afternoon of December 5th for student talks and networking. Let’s honour Jerry’s memory by encouraging the next generation of students in geophysics.


    All attendees are strongly encouraged to register and attend the KEGS Xmas party immediately following the event. All are welcome! Come out, support students and help us pay tribute to Jerry Roth.

     
    KEGS Holiday Social & Gathering

    Please join us for our annual Holiday Social on Tuesday, December 5th, 2023, at the Duke of York Pub.

    REGISTER

    The event will follow the Inaugural Jerry Roth Student Symposium to be held a short walk away at the University of Toronto, Earth Science Building, Room #2093 at Huron and Russell (1:30 pm to 5 pm)

    We'll toast the past year and celebrate the season as we catchup with friends and colleagues. 

    Date: Tuesday Dec 5th at 5:30 PM

    Location: Duke of York Pub, 39 Prince Arthur Ave, Toronto, ON M5R 1B2

     

    Upcoming KEGS talks and events

    KEGS is currently looking for speakers for the Spring 2024 meetings. If you are interested to speak at a KEGS monthly talk, please contact any of the Executive.

    Upcoming talks and events:

    • December Events - 5 December: KEGS Foundation Mini-Symposium (1:30pm to 5:00pm, U of T) & KEGS Christmas Party (5:00pm, Duke of York) - Details below
    • January Talk - 9 January: Jim Craven (Geological Survey of Canada) - A Conservative Approach to Inversion with AI.
    • February Talk - 13 February: Omid Bagherpour (BHP) - Title TBA. 
    • March Events - 2 March: KEGS PDAC Symposium - Abstract deadline is Friday 1 December, 2023. Further info here.

    Find out about more geoscientific events in GTA Geoscience calendar here.

     

    2024 New KEGS Executive Member

    Do you want to give back to Canadian Geophysics community? Do you have good ideas on how to grow the community and support geoscience students? Do you have a deep longing to be part of another committee? Well, KEGS has an open slot for a new executive member starting in January 2024. 

    If you have any interest, and want to find out more about what is involved, please reach out to any of the current executive (contact details below). 

     

    KEGS Ottawa

    Please join us for our final presentation of 2023 and some holiday social time at a pub afterwards. Spread the word; be sure invite anyone you think might be interested.

    KEGS Ottawa December Meeting

    Speaker: Marc Valée, Geo Data Solutions GDS Inc.

    Title: AEM interpretation with the sphere model

    Abstract: Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) data interpretation is a complex process. Physical property distribution inversion, which has been developed for other techniques such as magnetics and gravity, is difficult to apply to AEM data on a routine basis. Data noise and complexity of Maxwell equations make inversion process costly and ill-constrained, with the possibility of multiple solutions. An alternative method of interest in brown field exploration is the use of parametric models, such as a plate or a sphere. A sphere in free space is the oldest electromagnetic model used in mineral exploration. It can be integrated in a parametric inversion and automated to handle survey interpretation. However, it is not appropriate in situations where overburden or/and host rock are conductive. To address this problem, we developed a solution for a sphere in a layered earth. Original mathematical developments were used in this solution. Using field expansions resulting from derivative solutions of the cylindrical functions, which describe the fields propagating in the layered earth, and spherical functions, which describe the fields reflected by the sphere, we developed relationships between cylindrical and spherical functions. The secondary field originating from the sphere is estimated in the following way: the incident fields from the AEM transmitter are propagated with cylindrical functions using the Hankel transform to the surface of the sphere; the incident spherical field is estimated using spherical harmonic analysis; spherical reflection coefficients are applied to compute the spherical reflected fields; these reflected fields are transformed from spherical to cylindrical expansions using the spherical-function-cylindrical-function relationship; and the resulting field is propagated with cylindrical functions to the receiver using Hankel transform, while correcting for the reflection of the sphere on the layered earth. With appropriate layered earth reflection and transmission coefficients, the sphere can be located anywhere in the layered earth. This model has been linked to a SVD non-linear least square inversion using a modified Gauss-Newton-Marquardt method in order to invert for the sphere or/and the layered earth parameters. The model and the inversion have been tested on synthetic and field data, in particular data collected with the AirTEM system over Reid-Mahaffy, Ontario, test site. Results from these tests show the value of integrating the sphere in a layered earth model in the AEM interpretation toolbox.

    As we were concerned in the validity in our algorithm, we developed for magnetotelluric modelling a public domain program, available in Fortran and Python, using the same computer functions. This program allows a comparison of the results of our model with results of numerical solutions and is available on request.

    Bio: Marc Vallée graduated in geological engineering from Laval University, before completing a master’s degree in geophysics at the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in geophysics at École Polytechnique de Montréal. He has over 30 years of experience as a research scientist in applied geophysics, mainly for the Noranda Technology Center, then for Fugro Airborne Surveys and CGG companies. From 2015 to 2018, Marc was responsible for magnetic and gravity geophysical inversion as part of the NSERC-CMIC Footprints project. Since then, as AEM Expert & Marketing, he is responsible for geophysical research and development for Geo Data Solutions GDS. His expertise is mainly in the processing and interpretation of airborne electromagnetic, magnetics, gravity, and spectrometry surveys, as well as software development. Marc is the author or co-author of more that 50 scientific articles in applied geophysics.

    When: Monday, December 18, 4:30 pm

    Where: at the GSC, Harrison Hall, Room, Room 177, 601 Booth St, Ottawa

    Please note: In order to enter Harrison Hall, you will have to show some Canadian ID: a passport, permanent resident card, driver license, or health card. If you are a foreign student and have a residency visa, that should work too. Send me an email if you are not Canadian and have some questions about whether your id will work. The reason for this extra complication is that Harrison Hall is inside the controlled area. Checking everyone's id documents might take time - please try to get on site with some time to spare for the extra security procedure.


    Upcoming KEGS Ottawa Presentations:

    • Monday, December 18: Marc Vallee, Geodata Solutions, “Electromagnetic sphere in a layered earth model: theory and applications”
    • Monday, January 15: Taylor Tracy Kyryliuk, uOttawa, “The Aquarius Ocean Bottom Seismometer"
    • Monday, February 19: Chris Galley, uOttawa, “Satellite-derived gravity data: from ocean wide bathymetric mapping to crustal scale modelling"
    • Monday, March 18: Dennis Gamble, Notra Inc.,"UXO case history: From initial site assessment of the former Utopia, NB army base (370 km2) using a mineral exploration approach to develop an Unexploded Ordnance Site Model (SUM)".
    • Monday, April 21: Bob Grasty, GammaBob, “Experience building a worldwide network of calibration pads for ground and airborne gamma ray surveying"

    Please contact Luise Sander, SGL, luise@sgl.com, (613) 521 9626 for:

    • any upcoming KEGS Ottawa presentations
    • if you know anyone who might be interested in presenting to our KEGS Ottawa group
    • if you know anyone who should be included on the KEGS Ottawa email group
    • if you are on the KEGS email group and would like to unsubscribe from it
    KEGS PDAC Symposium 2024

    Mark your calendars - KEGS is excited to announce the return of the annual Symposium to be held the Saturday preceding the 2024 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, Canada. The event is planned to be held in person on March 2nd, 2024.

    Abstract submission deadline is the 1st of December!

    Further information and abstract submissions at the KEGS website. 

    KEGS Foundation Update

    1. The 5 à 7 event in Quebec City on November 22 attracted fifty people, including a number of students and professors, and was reportedly quite enjoyed by all. Thank you again to our sponsors: Géostack, Géophysique GPR, Abitibi Géophysique and Instrumentation GDD. And sincere thanks to the event organizers: Circé Malo Lalande, Christian Dupuis, Martin Blouin and Jean Legault.

    2. As the season of giving is upon us, please consider the KEGS Foundation. We thank family and friends of Jerry Roth, and Teck Resources Limited, for recent donations.

    Additional details can be on the Foundation’s website.

     


  • KEGS condolences on passing of Mr. Mario Meir Steiner

    22 Nov 2023 12:30 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Mr. Mario Meir Steiner on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. Mario was a pioneer in Geophysics in Canada, including a past president of the Canadian Exploration Geophysical Society (KEGS) and a colleague and friend to many of us. 

    KEGS executives express their deepest condolences to Mario's family and friends.

    There will be a visitation at Taylor Funeral Home, 524 Davis Drive in Newmarket, 647-951-4194, on Saturday, November 25, 2023 from 2:00pm – 4:00pm.

    https://www.newmarkettoday.ca/obituaries/steiner-mario-meir-7848439

    https://www.echovita.com/ca/obituaries/on/newmarket/mario-meir-steiner-17219067


  • KEGS November Bulletin

    2 Nov 2023 8:21 AM | Peter Tschirhart (Administrator)

    KEGS November Talk

    Details of the KEGS talk happening this month.

    Title: Advances in open-source 3D inversion of AFMAG data; A case study at the Méquillon deposit in Nunavik, Quebec

    Speaker: Stanislawa Hickey - Mira Geoscience

    Date: Tuesday Nov 14th at 4:00 PM

    Location: University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences, Room ES2093 (22 Ursula Franklin Street) and online. Register for the virtual session below:

    REGISTER

    Abstract:

    The Méquillon Deposit is part of the Nunavik Nickel Project, located within the Cape Smith Belt in Nunavik, Quebec and was acquired by Canadian Royalties (CRI) in 2001. Méquillon is a magmatic Ni-Cu-PGM deposit, related to a suite of mafic to ultramafic intrusions that occur throughout the Nunavik Nickel Project, and which have been explored since the 1950s. Méquillon consists of disseminated and net-textured sulfides at the base of a composite, steeply dipping ultramafic intrusive body. The body intruded near strongly conductive pyrrhotite- and graphite-rich argillites within the sedimentary country rock. The combination of disseminated sulfide mineralization, strongly resistive host intrusion, and highly conductive layers within the country rock results in a highly complex EM signature for the deposit.

    CRI’s mandate, to find new deposits and extend the limits of existing resources, led to testing new regional exploration tools to overcome some of the challenges posed by a deposit like Méquillon. Mira Geoscience was contracted to establish the feasibility of detecting the deposit within its geological environment with the ZTEM™ (Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic) airborne system using forward modelling exercise. After a conclusive investigative study, a ZTEM™ test survey was conducted by Geotech in 2021.

    Mira Geoscience was then mandated to perform a 3D inversion of the newly collected data to validate that the ore body has a clear signature in the inversion model. The UBC-GIF MTZ3D program was first used to perform the inversion but, due to limitations in model results related to the computational problem’s size with MTZ3D, it was decided to test the open-source Python package SimPEG (Heagy et al, 2017). This presentation will compare these 3D inversion results over the deposit and demonstrate that SimPEG 3D model results improved the characterisation of Méquillon’s signature in a complex geophysical environment.

    Bio:

    Stanislawa Hickey obtained a MSc in Geophysics, Resources and Environment from Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. After graduating she moved to Canada to start a career in the mining industry, where she spent her early years gathering experience in the field and in geophysical data acquisition working with Abitibi Geophysics and Frontier Geosciences. In 2010, she joined Mira Geoscience’s consulting team where she now works as a Senior Geophysicist. She is based in Montreal.

    Upcoming KEGS talks and events

    KEGS is currently looking for speakers for the Spring 2024 meetings. If you are interested to speak at a KEGS monthly talk, please contact any of the Executive.

    Upcoming talks and events:

    December Events - 5 December: KEGS Foundation Mini-Symposium (1:30pm to 5:00pm, U of T) & KEGS Christmas Party (5:00pm, Duke of York) - Details below

    January Talk - 9 January: Jim Craven (Geological Survey of Canada) - A Conservative Approach to Inversion with AI.

    February Talk - 13 February: Omid Bagherpour (BHP) - Title TBA.

    March Events - 2 March: KEGS PDAC Symposium - Abstract deadline is Friday 1 December, 2023. Further info here.

    Find out about more geoscientific events in GTA Geoscience calendar here.

    2024 New KEGS Executive Member

    Do you want to give back to Canadian Geophysics community? Do you have good ideas on how to grow the community and support geoscience students? Do you have a deep longing to be part of another committee? Well, KEGS has an open slot for a new executive member starting in January 2024.

    If you have any interest, and want to find out more about what is involved, please reach out to any of the current executive (contact details below).

    KEGS Ottawa

    The KEGS Ottawa group meets on the 3rd Monday of each month, usually at the GSC on Booth St. It is also possible to hold the presentations at other venues in Ottawa. We generally follow our presentation by adjourning socially to a nearby local establishment.

    KEGS Ottawa November Meeting

    Speaker: Calvin Klatt, NRCan

    Abstract: The Government of Canada has launched the development of a National Quantum Strategy, with an investment of $360M announced in the 2021 Federal Budget. The strategy is a seven year effort with three identified pillars: Research ($141M), Commercialization ($169M), and Talent ($45M). This strategy looks at the "new Quantum" - the newly developed ability to control single atom states and use this for practical applications.

    The stated objectives are as follows:

    Amplify Canada's significant strength in quantum research

    Grow our quantum-ready technologies, companies and talent

    Solidify Canada's global leadership in this area

    Quantum technologies can be broken down to three application areas: Quantum Sensing and Metrology Instruments, Quantum Communications, and Quantum Computing. While there are likely several emerging quantum technologies of interest we will look at quantum-enhanced Sensing and Metrology Instruments, notably gravimeters and magnetometers. We will provide (non-technical) summaries of geoscience applications of these instruments and seek input from the Geophysics community on actions we might take as a community to support the National Quantum Strategy and reap scientific benefits from the introduction of these instruments.

    Bio: Dr. Calvin Klatt is the Director of the Canadian Geodetic Survey and Chief Geodesist of the Government of Canada. As such, Calvin is one of Canada’s leaders in the areas of Positioning and Earth Sciences. The work of the Geodetic Survey is integrated into a wide range of scientific efforts and involves collaboration with a very wide range of stakeholders. Calvin is Canada’s representative to the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM) Subcommittee on Geodesy and serves on the Subcommittee’s leadership Bureau. Previously Calvin has held positions as Assistant Chief Scientist of the Earth Sciences Sector (Natural Resources Canada), Program Manager for Natural Hazards (Earthquake, Space Weather, Landslide, Tsunami, Volcano), and Director of the NRCan Chief Scientist’s Office. Calvin has a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, a Master’s degree in Engineering Physics (Radio Astronomy), and a Doctorate in Space Science/Astronomy. He is an avid amateur astronomer and has made significant volunteer contributions to Canada’s national mountaineering organization, the Alpine Club of Canada.

    When: Monday, November 20, 4:30 pm

    Where: at the GSC, Harrison Hall, Room, Room 177, 601 Booth St, Ottawa

    Please note: In order to enter Harrison Hall, you will have to show some Canadian id: a passport, permanent resident card, driver license, or health card. If you are a foreign student and have a residency visa, that should work too. Send me an email if you are not Canadian and have some questions about whether your id will work. The reason for this extra complication is that Harrison Hall is inside the controlled area. Checking everyone's id documents might take time - please try to get on site with some time to spare for the extra security procedure.

    Upcoming KEGS Ottawa Presentations:

    Monday, December 18: Marc Vallee, Geodata Solutions, “Electromagnetic sphere in a layered earth model: theory and applications”

    Monday, January 15: Taylor Tracy Kyryliuk, uOttawa, “The Aquarius Ocean Bottom Seismometer"

    Monday, February 19: Chris Galley, uOttawa, “Satellite-derived gravity data: from ocean wide bathymetric mapping to crustal scale modelling"

    Monday, March 18: Dennis Gamble, Notra Inc.,"UXO case history: From initial site assessment of the former Utopia, NB army base (370 km2) using a mineral exploration approach to develop an Unexploded Ordnance Site Model (SUM)".

    Monday, April 21: Bob Grasty, GammaBob, “Experience building a worldwide network of calibration pads for ground and airborne gamma ray surveying"

    Please contact Luise Sander, SGL, luise@sgl.com, (613) 521 9626 for:

    any upcoming KEGS Ottawa presentations

    if you know anyone who might be interested in presenting to our KEGS Ottawa group

    if you know anyone who should be included on the KEGS Ottawa email group

    if you are on the KEGS email group and would like to unsubscribe from it

    KEGS PDAC Symposium 2024

    Mark your calendars - KEGS is excited to announce the return of the annual Symposium to be held the Saturday preceding the 2024 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, Canada. The event is planned to be held in person on March 2nd, 2024.

    Further information and abstract submissions at the KEGS website.

    SEG Mining and Mineral Exploration Committee

    Special Sessions (SS) and Post-Convention Workshops (PCW) are an integral and crucial part of the Annual Meeting Technical Program. SEG is now asking for proposals to be prepared and submitted.

    For the Mining and Mineral Exploration Committee, please send an email of interest to Sarah Devriese and Dan Hollis by Wednesday November 15th and full proposals will be due to us by Monday December 4th. This gives us some time to review and edit before submitting to SEG.

    For Special Session proposals, please provide title, sufficient synopsis, keywords, key contact name and email, tentative list of invited speakers. Note that Special Sessions are sessions exclusively for invited speakers.

    For Post-Convention Workshop proposals, please provide title, sufficient synopsis (why, what, format), key contact name and email, duration (full day or ½ day). Please be reminded that PCWs are expected to cover different topics (or with different emphasis) from the regular technical program sessions.

    Any questions, please reach out to Sarah (sarah.gr.devriese@gmail.com) and Dan (dan@telephysical.com)

    KEGS Foundation Update

    1. In August/September, the KEGS Foundation circulated three announcements describing the 2023/24 scholarship awards to 28 students studying at thirteen universities across Canada, comprising nine undergraduate, ten M.Sc. and nine Ph.D. students. A record amount of $50,100 was awarded. As always, donations are encouraged so that we can continue to increase the scholarship awards in the coming years, and support student participation in conferences and workshops.

    2. Scholarship awards are scheduled to be presented by Foundation directors and colleagues at:

    CIM Mineral Resources Review, St. John’s, November 2

    Women in Mining event at CCMEC, Winnipeg, November 6

    KEGS Meeting, Toronto, November 14

    KEGS Ottawa Meeting, November 20

    Fondation KEGS 5 à 7, Québec City, November 22, details and registration below.

    Stay tuned for additional announcements regarding presentations in Vancouver, Edmonton, Windsor, London, Sudbury, Kingston and Montréal.

    3. The KEGS Foundation is pleased to announce the Inaugural Jerry Roth Student Symposium

    Date: Tuesday, December 5th

    Time: 1:30 pm to 5:00 pm

    Location: University of Toronto, Earth Science Building, Room #2093 at Huron and Russell.

    Cost: Students - Free, Professionals - Donations appreciated. Donations above $25 will receive a charitable donation receipt.

    The KEGS Foundation would like to invite you to attend the inaugural symposium in honour of our late Chairman, Jerry Roth, who passed away in February 2023. Jerry was a champion of students and supported them through the formation of the KEGS Foundation, and awarding scholarships, but also by encouraging their participation in academic conferences, professional society presentations and general networking. Please join us on the afternoon of December 5th for student talks and networking. Let’s honour Jerry’s memory by encouraging the next generation of students in geophysics.

    The Foundation is seeking sponsorship to subsidize student travel costs and coffee breaks.

    All attendees are strongly encouraged to register and attend the KEGS Xmas party immediately following the event.

    4. Students and faculty are reminded that the deadline to apply for a CSEG Foundation Scholarship, offered by the Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists, is November 1. More details and online application available here: https://cseg.ca/foundation/scholarships/

    5. La fondation KEGS et ses fières partenaires invitent la communauté géoscientifique au 5 à 7 de la Fondation KEGS le 22 novembre prochain. Cette activité nous permettra de souligner les bourses d'excellence de la fondation KEGS remise aux étudiants québécois.

    Quand: Le 22 novembre à partir de 17h00

    Où: Le Ninkasi Bar & Bistro (811 Rue Saint-Jean, Québec, QC, G1R 1R2)

    Pour participer: Inscription gratuite sur eventbrite (voir le code QR ci-dessous)

    L'événement est commandité par la fondation du KEGS, Géostack, Géophysique GPR, Abitibi Géophysique et Instrumentation GDD.

    On vous y attend en grand nombre pour célébrer la relève en géophysique


  • KEGS 2024 SYMPOSIUM - CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

    27 Sep 2023 4:42 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Mark your calendars - KEGS is excited to announce the return of the annual Symposium to be held the Saturday preceding the 2024 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, Canada. The event is planned to be held in person on March 2nd, 2024.

    KEGS invites you to submit an abstract on the following suggested topics: 

    • Geophysical Case Studies for Mineral Exploration Under Cover, or at Depth (500m or more)
    • Use of Legacy Geophysical Data in Mineral Exploration
    • Mineral Systems Analysis using Geophysics
    • New Developments (Data Acquisition, Processing, and Interpretation)
    • Petrophysical or Geological Data Integration with Geophysics
    Abstract Submissions 
    Short abstracts are to have a 400-word limit. An abstract template is available     here.
    The deadline for submission is Friday, December 1st     , 2023.  
    Please submit your abstract     here, and include "KEGS 2024 Symposium Abstract" in the subject line.


  • KEGS-SEG Student Symposium

    25 Aug 2023 11:42 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)


    Explore the future of geoscience with the KEGS-SEG Student Symposium! This groundbreaking event has been designed for geoscience students  providing a unique opportunity to acquire valuable insights into the diverseand dynamic world of mining, mineral exploration, and geophysics.

    For more information please click here


  • KEGS May Bulletin

    8 May 2023 9:03 AM | Peter Tschirhart (Administrator)


    KEGS May Talks - Triple Threat!

    We have three KEGS talks happening this month. Two in Toronto and one in Ottawa.

     

    Talk 1 - May 9th


    Title: History of the discovery of two undercover VMS deposits near Flin-Flon

    Speaker: Bob Lo

    Date: Tuesday May 9th at 4:00 PM

    Location: University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences, Room ES2093 (22 Ursula Franklin Street) and online. Register for the virtual session below:






    Abstract:  The exploration history of the discovery of two VMS deposits beneath the Phanerozoic cover of the Flin Flon – Snow Lake volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) Belt in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is presented. Due to a lack of outcrops of the host rocks, geophysical exploration techniques were key to the discoveries. Both discoveries are attributed to geophysical techniques and both used arguably the best airborne electromagnetic technology at the time to detect the sulphide mineralization for ground follow-up and then drill testing. But it took many tries or near misses over a long period of time, either by other companies or by the discoverers in the same area before the discovery hole was drilled. The exploration history of the McIlvenna Bay Deposit and of the Reed Mine Deposit are presented to show the perseverance and geophysics required to find these deposits.

     

    Talk 2 - May 23rd


    Title: A Short History of HeliTEM

    Speaker: Ken Witherly

    Date: Tuesday May 23rd at 4:00 PM

    Location: University of Toronto, Department of Earth Sciences, Room ES2093 (22 Ursula Franklin Street) and online. Register for the virtual session below:






    Abstract: While helicopter-supported TEM systems are now the dominant airborne EM technology for minerals exploration, this technology was a relative late comer to the constellation of airborne EM platforms. The first functional AEM systems appeared in the early 1950s and while some ambiguity has persisted to the present as to which technology was ‘first’, the first technically ‘capable’ system was built by Hans Lundberg in 1949 and the first commercially deployed system was the INCO-McPhar system that arrived in 1951. Both of these were frequency domain systems. The first helicopter frequency domain system was built by McPhar and was commissioned in 1955. Barringer then produced the first time domain system in 1959, which was of a fixed wing configuration. The first heli-TEM system was built in the USSR, with design and testing carried out in the late 1960s, followed by over a decade of operational use for minerals and petroleum exploration. The first Canadian system was built by Questor Ltd. in the early 1980s and was called Heli INPUT in recognition that the core EM technology was drawn from the INPUT technology first designed by Barringer. Heli INPUT operated for 4-5 years before technical issues and economic headwinds at the time forced Questor to terminate the Heli INPUT program. In the mid-later part of the 1980s, Aerodat worked on a multi-component system with the nickname “Truth’. With only limited test flying, in the late 1980s, the system was scrapped due to changing company priorities.  Ironically, a very similar program was re-started in 1994 at Aerodat but this time with the support of a major mining company, MIM. Following a test flight of the HeliTEM system in 1997, again corporate challenges forced the sale of Aerodat to a competitor High-Sense and the HeliTEM program was terminated. Several years later, a tsunami of acquisitions occurred when Fugro bought up the majority of the global airborne survey businesses. However, three relatively small companies avoided being ‘shallowed’ and its turned out these three groups were the source of a ‘Burgess Shale’ event where in a short period from 1997-2002, three heli-TEM systems appeared in Canada and shortly thereafter in Denmark. As well, three proprietary systems appeared as the result of efforts by Newmont, Anglo American and Normandy. Now, 25 years later, the market has matured but new systems are still coming to market offering generally minor changes/improvements.  While the heli-system market is basically stable, the fixed wing technology which dominated the industry for the first sixty years, has basically vanished. What the next 25/50 years (Third Wave) will offer remains unclear. However, the expectation is that like the first two waves, a few individuals will likely be the key innovators.

    Talk 3 - May 29th

    Title: What lies beneath? What geophysics can contribute to the porphyry copper model

    Speaker: Ken Witherly

    Date: Monday May 29th at 4:30pm

    Location: TBD.




    Abstract: Electrical methods have been applied to the search for porphyry copper and IOCG deposits since the early 1950s. While there is a generally accepted model of disseminated sulfides giving rise to a chargeability response, no clear association has been attached to what EM surveys may be responding to. Work in the early 1990s (Nickson 1993) showed the well-developed supergene blankets over a porphyry copper could be conductive; this observation was however, never applied formally to generally accepted porphyry targeting models. The presence of other conductive zones associated with porphyry copper deposits is even less well studied. On the geological side, while there is a vast body of literature describing porphyry copper deposits and how to discover them, in very few cases do these studies even speculate if anomalous concentrations of sulfides could be conductive. On the geophysical side, observations of unexpected conductivity associated with porphyry systems is sometimes noted but these observations typically stop short of suggesting that there could be a more general observation made that a new class of geophysical feature should be defined. The present study is felt to have gathered a sufficient number of case studies which show that a significant number of porphyry copper deposits possess a mineralogical character which can be identified with EM techniques. This thesis can have significant implications as to how porphyry copper are explored for, especially those at depths >500 m, a generally accepted cut-off for IP techniques. This presentation is based on a similar talk given in AEGC 2019 in Australia. The talk has been updated several times since. The abstract from the 2019 talk can be downloaded here and forms a good summary.

     

    Upcoming KEGS talks and events

    The KEGS Summer BBQ is back, and will be held on Tuesday, June 20th at the National Yacht Club. Details to follow.

    KEGS is currently looking for speakers for the Fall 2023 meetings. If you are interested to speak at a KEGS monthly talk, please contact any of the Executive.

    Find out about more geoscientific events in GTA Geoscience calendar here.

     
    KEGS Ottawa

    We are planning a KEGS Ottawa presentation in May and thinking about starting up regular monthly meetings again in September. We are not yet sure if we will be able to get back in to the GSC buildings for our meeting, but for now our back-up plan is to hold the May meeting at the SGL office on Hunt Club Rd.

    We are starting our search for speaker suggestions and/or presentation volunteers for the 2023/2024 season. This is a great opportunity to try out or reprise a talk that you have given somewhere else. We are also always interested in student presentations. We can have either one 45 minute presentation or two 20 minute presentations per meeting.


    For more information about:

    • any upcoming KEGS Ottawa presentations,
    • if you know anyone who might be interested in presenting to our KEGS Ottawa group,
    • if you know anyone who should be included on the KEGS Ottawa email group,
    • if you are on the KEGS email group and would like to unsubscribe from it,

    please contact Luise Sander, SGL, luise@sgl.com, (613)-521-9626.

     

    Job Posting - Lundin Mining

    Lundin Mining is hiring a Geophysicist based out of the Corporate Head Office in Vancouver, BC.

    The successful candidate will engage in all aspects of geophysical exploration in North America and Europe, while collaborating with geoscientists to ensure project success! Further details can be found here.

     

    SEGMIN - IMAGE 2023 Houston - Final Details

    The Mining and Mineral Exploration technical program for the IMAGE 2023 Meeting in Houston on August 27 through September 1, 2023, has been finalized.

    The MME technical program will consist of 24 MME presentations in four oral sessions, one poster session, and one special session.  The four oral and one poster session are grouped as Integrated Studies for Mineral Prospectivity and Innovative Mineral Exploration Concepts and Technologies.  The Special Session is focused on Use of Seismic Data for Critical Mineral Exploration.

    The MME technical program will also include a workshop titled Advances in the Ground and Airborne Induced Polarization Methods for Mineral Exploration.

    Finally, in addition to the above MME content, the EM and Potential Fields (EMP) technical program will consist of 24 presentations and the Near Surface (NS) technical program will consist of 40 presentations.

     

    KEGS Foundation Update

    Key Items:

    • Students and faculty are reminded that the deadline to apply for a KEGS Foundation Scholarship is April 30, 2023. Application forms and details are found at: www.kegsfoundation.org/application.
    • We have had a good response but are still looking for scholarship applications, especially from undergraduates. If you are buried in exams and end-of-term assignments, please contact Stephen Reford to ask for an extension at sreford@kegsfoundation.org.
    • Jerry Roth, co-founder and longtime chair of the KEGS Foundation, passed away in late February. Jerry's obituary is available here: everloved.com/life-of/jeremy-roth/obituary. Jerry kindly left a sizeable bequest to the Foundation and has requested memoriams be collected on behalf of the KEGS Foundation.

    Additional details can be on the Foundation’s website.

     




  • Condolences on passing away Jerry Roth

    3 Mar 2023 1:38 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    KEGS executives would like to express their deepest sorrow and sadness after passing away Jerry Roth last Thursday on February 23rd. We pass on our sincerest condolences to his family and friends. Jerry was a great industry colleague and the founder and the first Chair of the KEGS Foundation for more than two decades. He was a champion and great advocate in supporting students through his enormous contribution to KEGS Foundation. May he rest in Peace.

    Please check here for a note about Jerry. There will be a remembrance of a number of KEGS community members before we break for lunch at the KEGS symposium on Saturday March 4th please join us to honor them.



  • KEGS February Bulletin

    3 Feb 2023 8:49 AM | Peter Tschirhart (Administrator)

    KEGS February Talk

    Our next KEGS talk is happening on February 14th at 4:00 PM. The talk will be hosted online. 

    Title: Introducing Geonics EM38-4 for environmental studies and geophysical explorations

    Speaker: Farzad Shirzaditabar

    Authors: Farzad Shirzaditabar, Richard Heck, and Mike Catalano

    Date: Tuesday February 14th at 4:00 PM

    Location: Online. Register for the virtual session below:

    REGISTER


    Abstract:  Geonics Ltd. has recently designed and manufactured EM38-4; a new version of the most popular handheld electromagnetic (EM) instrument EM38. This new instrument has one transmitter and four receiver coils at distances of 0.5, 0.75, 0.88 and 1 m apart from transmitter. Transmitter coil is energized by an alternating electric current of 14.5 kHz and produces an alternating primary electromagnetic field. The magnetic component of this EM field penetrates to the subsurface and induces electric currents in it. These currents are proportional to electrical conductivity (EC) and magnetic susceptibility (MS) of the subsurface materials. All receivers have the ability to sense, simultaneously, in-phase and out of phase components of secondary magnetic field created by the induced currents. The instrument is connected to a tablet, which works in windows operating system and has a built-in GPS, via a cable where the data and position of each data point are recorded together. Although there are manual adjusting knobs on the instrument, calibration of all receivers can be automatically done using an appropriate software when the instrument is placed on a monopod 1.5 m above surface. Since the transmitter-receiver separations in EM38-4 are much less than skin depth of the electromagnetic wave of the transmitter, the in-phase and out of phase components are directly proportional to MS and EC of subsurface materials. Each receiver has also its own depth of penetration. So, the instrument can reveal apparent MS and EC of the ground under the measuring point at four different depths. This feature makes the instrument a proper and efficient tool for environmental and agricultural studies as well as archaeological and even near surface geophysical explorations. Inversion of recorded data are also possible where details of the subsurface are required.

    We had the chance to borrow the instrument from Geonics Ltd., in September 2022 and test it over an agricultural land, located at Haldimand County in southern Ontario, to map variations of both MS and EC of soil by depth. Plotting the maps of measured MS and EC revealed a depressional area having high EC and low MS at all receivers. We also inverted the data using nonlinear Occam’s inversion method to calculate EC and MS variations with depth. Results of inverting the data showed that EM38-4 is more sensitive to EC than MS of materials under the instrument.

    Upcoming KEGS talks and events

    KEGS is pleased to announce a list of confirmed talks and events going forward:                   

    March 4th, 2023: KEGS PDAC Symposium

    KEGS is currently looking for speakers for the Fall 2023 meetings. If you are interested to speak at a KEGS monthly talk, please contact any of the Executive.

    Find out about more geoscientific events in GTA Geoscience calendar here.

    KEGS PDAC Symposium Registration is OPEN

    The KEGS Symposium is back, in person, on March 4th, 2023 - the Saturday preceding the 2023 Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention in Toronto, Canada. This is our first, full-length, in-person symposium held in three years! The preliminary program can be downloaded below. A reception will follow the days talks.

    When: Saturday, March 4, 2023

    • Breakfast: 8:30 – 9:00
    • Symposium: 9:00 – 16:50 ​
    • Reception: 16:50 – 18:00 ​

    Where:  InterContinental Hotel, 225 Front St W, Toronto, ON M5V 2X3.

    Cost:

    $300.00 CAD for Members 

    $375.00 CAD for Non-Members 

    $50.00 CAD for Students 

    Registration includes breakfast, coffee, lunch and one drink ticket at the reception. 

    REGISTER

    Passing of Yves Lamontange

    KEGS Executives extend their condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Dr. Yves Lamontange. President of Lamontagne Geophysics, an important innovator in ground EM and BHEM instrumentation and applications that enabled (inter alia) discovery of multiple deep Ni-Cu deposits in the Sudbury camp. Yves was also a founding Director of the KEGS Foundation and a very generous sustaining supporter. Various tributes and memorials are in preparation or being actively considered by former colleagues. They will begin with a talk on UTEM and its history by Bruce McMonnies of Lamontagne Geophysics at Queen’s University, on February 8 at 2:30 pm in Miller Hall, which will also be livestreamed, and can be accessed via the link below.

    UTEM and its History

     


    2023 J. Tuzo Wilson Lecture

    Please join us for this exciting lecture, celebrate the distinguished contributions and achievements by the late Prof. J. Tuzo Wilson, and meet old/new friends in-person (after 3.5 years). Refreshments will be provided after the lecture. Further Information here.

    Title: 2022-2023 J. Tuzo Wilson Lecture: Carbon Capture and Sequestration: Panacea or Indulgence?

    Date/Time:Feb 28 2023, 7:30-9 pm (also live-streamed)

    Location: Isabel Bader Theatre, Victoria University

    Speaker: Prof. Roel Snieder (W.M. Keck Distinguished Chair of Professional Development Education at CSM)

    Affiliations: Colorado School of Mines

    Abstract: Current events show that climate change is upon us. The mechanism of global warming was already explained fairly accurately by Arrhenius in 1896. An alternative to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by burning less fossil fuels is to capture CO2 and then store it in the subsurface. This technology relies on our expertise in injecting fluids in the subsurface and to monitor the fluids and their fate in the subsurface. This technology has been presented as "a well-accepted leading mitigation strategy against climate change.” In order to understand to what extent this optimism is warranted one needs to consider the following factors: (1) the amount of CO2 that needs to be captured and sequestered to have a significant impact on climate change, (2) the cost of CO2 capture and sequestration compared with other technologies for avoiding CO2 emissions, (3) the reason why CO2 capture is expensive and energy-intensive, and (4) the extreme accuracy with which CO2 in the subsurface needs to be monitored. As with many complicated problems, the devil is in the details, and we need to understand these details to assess the impact of carbon capture and storage that can be expected. This determines whether this technology is a panacea or an indulgence.

     

    Seequent: Airborne Magnetic Levelling & QC Workshop - In-Person - PDAC March 2023

    New to airborne magnetic quality control and levelling or just looking for a refresher? Join us in this workshop to learn a comprehensive workflow for quality control and levelling of airborne magnetic geophysical survey data in Oasis montaj.

    Registration includes complimentary access to everything you need for the course, including Oasis montaj, Geophysics, Airborne QC and Levelling. Further information here.

     

    Membership Renewal

    Don't forget to renew your KEGS membership for 2023! The membership costs remains unchanged at $50 + HST for regular members and $25 + HST for students. While at it, why not consider a donation the KEGS Foundation to help foster and support geophysical education at Canadian Universities. Renew your membership here. We thank you for your continued support.

     

    KEGS Foundation Update

    Key Items:

    • The Directors express their deep sadness at the recent unexpected passing of Dr. Yves Lamontagne, President of Lamontagne Geophysics, an important innovator in ground EM and BHEM instrumentation and applications that enabled (inter alia) discovery of multiple deep Ni-Cu deposits in the Sudbury camp. Yves was also a founding Director of the KEGS Foundation and a very generous sustaining supporter. Various tributes and memorials are in preparation or being actively considered by former colleagues. They will begin with a talk on UTEM and its history by Bruce McMonnies of Lamontagne Geophysics at Queen’s University, on February 8 at 2:30 pm in Miller Hall, which will also be livestreamed.
    • Scholarship award presentations continued in January, with four awards presented at Western University by Rob Hearst on Jan 17 together with a KF Special Lecture.
    • The final presentation of the remaining six 2022-23 scholarships will occur at Queen’s University by Bruce McMonnies on Feb 8 at 2:30pm in Miller Hall.
    • Renewal of the scholarship program for 2023-24 has been informally announced, with at least 20 scholarship awards anticipated. Updated application forms will be ready shortly and posted at the KEGS Foundation website.
    • Thanks to a major gift, the Foundation is in the process of establishing several new geophysical scholarships directed at fostering advances in geophysical methods and their utilization for environmental, hydrogeological, geo-engineering and humanitarian applications. Details to be provided in a subsequent announcement at the PDAC.
    • Directors have enjoyed various opportunities to meeting current and past awardees and supporters at revived in-person meetings, most recently at the very busy AME RoundUp and the related BCGS Breakfast.
    • The KEGS Foundation looks forward to welcoming the geophysical community at the annual PDAC Reunion Party at Grace O’Malley’s on Saturday, March 4 following the KEGS Symposium. Details will be circulated shortly.
    • To help fund next year’s scholarship awards, additional donations are encouraged. Individual donors are reminded that their donations (up to $250) can be doubled thanks to matching programs generously supported by Phoenix Geophysics, Discovery International and Dias Geophysics. 
    • Governance: The annual BOD and Counselors meeting, and AGM, are being organized.

    Additional details can be on the Foundation’s website.

     

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