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Zawartość zarchiwizowana w dniu 2019-03-12

THE GEOCHEMISTRY OF LOWER CARBONIFEROUS SEDIMENTS IN IRELAND, ITS RELATIONSHIP TO BASE METAL DEPOSITS AND APPLICABILITY TO THE SEARCH FOR CONCEALED DEPOSITS.

Cel

TO ESTABLISH A METHOD CAPABLE OF DETECTING DEEP SEATED OREBODIES WITH NO SURFACE EXPRESSION AND WHICH DO NOT IN GENERAL DISPLAY PHYSICAL PROPERTIES SUITABLE FOR GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION.

TO INVESTIGATE THE SPATIAL VARIATIONS IN ELEMENTAL CONCENTRATIONS BOTH GEOGRAPHICALLY AND GEOLOGICALLY WITHIN THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS CARBONATE SUCCESSION.

IN PARTICULAR, THE FOLLOWING WILL BE INVESTIGATED:

A) ELEMENTAL VARIATIONS WITHIN THE NAVAN BEDS FM. FROM VARIOUS SEDIMENTARY-STRUCTURAL REGIMES WITH A VIEW TO DIFFERENTIATING, IF SUCH IS POSSIBLE, DEPLETION VECTORS WHICH MIGHT BE RELATED TO MINERALISATION.

B) ELEMENTAL VARIATIONS WITHIN THE NAVAN BEDS FM. WITH A VIEW TO DETECTING ENRICHMENT-DEPLETION VECTORS WHICH MIGHT BE RELATED TO MINERALISATION.

C) ELEMENTAL VARIATIONS WITHIN OTHER GEOLOGICAL FORMATIONS OF THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS CARBONATE SUCCESSION WITH A VIEW TO IDENTIFY POTENTIALLY PROSPECTIVE HORIZONS.

D) AS A FOLLOW-UP TO THE ABOVE, "FERTILE" REGIMES, SIGNIFICANT ENRICHMENT-DEPLETION VECTORS AND ANOMALOUS UNITS WILL BE STUDIED IN GREATER DETAIL WITH A VIEW TO IDENTIFYING TARGET AREAS PROSPECTIVE FOR MINERALISATION.

THE RESEARCH PROGRAMME WILL INVOLVE THE SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING OF DRILL CORE AND ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTANT SAMPLES FOR A RANGE OF ELEMENTS. IT IS INTENDED THAT TWO TYPES OF SAMPLES BE COLLECTED:

CONTINUOUS GROOVED SAMPLES FROM DRILL CORE OVER INTERVALS OF 5 - 10 FEET.
THIS METHOD WILL BE USED ONLY IN ONE OF THE SUB-PROJECT AREAS WHERE DRILL CORE KNOWN TO BE UNCONTAMINATED IS AVAILABLE.
HALF-CORE SAMPLING WILL BE USED AS THE STANDARD METHOD. THIS METHOD IS REQUIRED DUE TO THE CONTAMINATION PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED IN PREVIOUS RESEARCH.

SAMPLING WILL BE CARRIED OUT ON CORE FROM TWO MAIN AREAS: A) WEST AND NORTH-WEST MIDLANDS; B) SLANE-CLONABREANY.

ELEMENTS ANALYSED WILL INCLUDE: CU, PB, ZN, MN, AS, BA AND HG. IN SELECTED CASES, SR, K AND AL WILL ALSO BE ANALYSED.

BOTH OF THE STUDY AREAS/ENVIRONMENTS ARE AMONG THE MOST PROSPECTIVE FOR BASE METAL MINERALISATION IN THE LOWER CARBONIFEROUS CARBONATE SUCCESSION IN IRELAND.

THE FUTURE EXPLORATION OF THESE ENVIRONMENTS REQUIRES THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW TECHNIQUES DUE TO THE DEPTH OF BURIAL OF THE PROSPECTIVE HORIZON AND/OR THE THICK GLACIAL COVER. SINCE MINERALISED BODIES IN THE IRISH CARBONIFEROUS DO NOT IN GENERAL STRONGLY DISPLAY PHYSICAL PROPERTIES SUITABLE FOR GEOPHYSICAL EXPLORATION, IT IS IMPORTANT TO DEVELOP A NEW GEOCHEMICAL TECHNIQUE. RESULTS OF RESEARCH TO-DATE SUPPORT THE VIEW THAT ROCK GEOCHEMISTRY REPRESENTS A WAY FORWARD.

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System finansowania

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Koordynator

IRISH BASE METALS, LTD
Wkład UE
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Adres
CLONTARF ROAD 162
DUBLIN 3
Irlandia

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