| LNG Energy Ltd. announced last month that it commenced the acquisition of High Resolution Airborne Magnetic (“HRAM”) and Gravity data over its southern licenses in Papua New Guinea, PPL 319 and PRL 13, in mid-February 2010. Sander Geophysics Limited (“SGL”) of Ottawa, Ontario (http://www.sgl.com) is conducting the fixed-wing acquisition of this high resolution survey at a minimum drape altitude of 150m, with an 800m normal traverse and 3200m control line spacing. In-field Quality Control and Project Management is being provided by Erwin Ebner of ELS Consulting Inc. out of Calgary, Alberta.
Once the southern licenses have been completed in early April, 2010, SGL will move onto LNG’s northern licenses; PPL 320, PPL 321 & PPL 322 to complete the remainder of the HRAM and Gravity program, using similar data acquisition parameters. Based upon current estimates the acquisition of the data over the entire 25,000 km of the northern and southern licenses should be completed by June 2010.
LNG has entered into a contract with Integrated Geophysics Corporation (“IGC”) of Houston, Texas (http://igcworld.com) to interpret the HRAM and Gravity dataset. IGC’s proprietary analysis incorporates existing seismic, wells and all available surface geological control with the recently acquired HRAM and Gravity dataset, to provide a comprehensive and fully integrated interpretation. IGC’s deliverables will include maps of Magnetic Basement Structure, Gravity Residual, Structural Models and Migratory Pathway. IGC’s interpretation will provide LNG with a proprietary prospect inventory, encompassing varying levels of exploration maturity.
“The aeromag and gravity program will provide basin definition to be followed up with 2D seismic and structural mapping for selecting drilling locations. A number of recent exploration successes in PNG have been based off targets generated by gravity and geophysical information. This fundamental, bottoms-up, exploration approach will provide LNG a clear understanding of the potential of our 100% working interest in the 5.5 million acres of our Papua New Guinean assets. We are very pleased with the initial quality of the data acquired to date. Based upon very preliminary data, we see indications of exciting anomalies that have been identified within the contiguous 540,000 acres of PRL 13 and PPL 319.” said Dave Afseth, President of LNG. |
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LNG Energy Ltd. announced as well that it has entered into an agreement with InterOil Corporation (“InterOil”) to acquire 2D seismic on LNG’s 100% working interest PPL 319 in Papua New Guinea. PPL 319 lies between InterOil’s PPL 237 and the PDLs/PRLs that collectively comprise the licenses of ExxonMobil’s US$15Billion LNG export development infrastructure announced on December 7, 2009. The seismic program includes the acquisition and interpretation of a 27km north-south line that is located 50m west of the boundary between PPL 319 and InterOil’s PPL 237. The program will be managed by InterOil and logistics have recently commenced, with final data acquisition expected in June 2010. |
Darnley Bay Resources releases preliminary results from the recently completed Geotech VTEM and Sander AirGRAV surveys over a large portion of its properties near Paulatuk, NT. Darnley, with the assistance of Paterson, Grant & Watson Limited, consulting geophysicists of Toronto, Canada, has prepared a series of images and commentary from the field data, which will be downloaded from the Company’s website under the “Current Activities” heading on the home page (www.darnleybay.com) by the end of April. We stress that this material was prepared from the field data. The final data will have several standard processes applied by the contractors to make corrections, improve data resolution and remove topographic effects, level errors and noise. From these final data, 2D and 3D models will be prepared, and drill targets located and prioritized.
About the exploration of Paulatuk gravity anomaly: http://explorationgeophysics.info/?s=darnley
Darnley Bay Resources has outlined its 2010 exploration plans for its properties in the Paulatuk NT area. It has completed permitting for airborne surveys to take place in March-April 2010.
Sander Geophysics is preparing to mobilize to Paulatuk for a 5,980 line-km airborne
gravity and magnetic survey covering all of the Darnley’s Bay properties where they encompass the Darnley Bay Gravity Anomaly. The purpose of the survey is to significantly improve the resolution of the previous ground gravity surveys over the Anomaly and to locate targets for drilling.
Geotech Ltd. is preparing to mobilize to Paulatuk for a 2,600 line-km airborne
VTEM time-domain
electromagnetic and magnetic survey covering all of the eastern and northeastern portion of the Company’s properties, where previous sampling and airborne surveys indicate the presence of gabbro sills and dykes.
outline its 2010 exploration plans for its properties in the Paulatuk NT area. It has completed permitting for airborne surveys to take place in March-April 2010.
Paulatuk gravity anomaly: The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) conducted a regional gravity survey in 1969 as part of its national gravity coverage providing readings at 2.5 km (1.55 miles) to 20 km (12.4 miles) intervals over and surrounding the area of Paulatuk; it discovered the gravity anomaly. In 1970 the Dominion Observatory published the Inuvik-Horton River map sheet. Northgate Exploration Limited flew a helicopter-borne magnetic survey over the most intensive part of the gravity anomaly and detected a coincident magnetic anomaly. A number of seismic profiles were surveyed in the early 1970’s on the western portion of the AMI, most of these are located on the western sedimentary platform. They identified a deep 6-800 metres trough (NW) along the west margin of the dyke swarm, the significance of which is still unknown. The GSC undertook an aeromagnetic survey over the positive gravity anomaly. The survey was flown along north-south oriented flight lines spaced 2 km apart, at a constant height of 610 metres (2,000 feet) above sea level. It defined the positive magnetic anomaly (detected by Northgate in 1970) at 1200 nT amplitude, coincident with the gravity anomaly. The GSC collected samples from a number of basic sills east of the anomaly that contained minor amounts of nickel, copper, platinum, gold, silver and cobalt. These rocks and metallics may be genetically associated with the anomaly. The GSC suggests that the cause of the anomaly (130mGal) may be an igneous intrusive similar to that in the Sudbury Basin, Ontario (30 mGals), Norilsk in Russia (25 mGals), and the Bushveld Complex in South Africa (65 mGals). Ref: GSC Open File Report 2789. The DBR 1997 aeromagnetic survey indicated that the main intrusive has 4 upward extending feeder pipes. The feeder pipes give way to 9 laterally trending shallow magnetic zones, which are referred to as “offshoots” being drill targets for mineral deposits. The aeromagnetic survey in the central portion of the Anomaly, revealed a number of kimberlite targets. These targets could have conveyed diamonds and also fragments of sulphide mineralization to the surface revealing the composition of the Anomaly and the possible presence of Ni, Cu, PGE. DBR carried out ground geophysical surveys on the Thrasher Zone, which revealed 5 electromagnetic conductors within 250 metres of the surface that have coincident gravity and magnetic responses, 3 of the conductors are horizontal and 2 are vertical. The 2 vertical conductors are along fault structures that represent conductive shear zones and possible associated mineralization. They have strike lengths of 1,500 metres, widths of 450-800 metres and are centered 250 metres below surface. (Source http://www.darnleybay.com)
QUEST-South Project in British Columbia includes a new airborne gravity survey (Sander Geophysics) which covers 45,000 square kilometers between Williams Lake and the USA border. The airborne gravity digital data, grids and final technical report can be downloaded at Geoscience BC QUEST Project Data Releases. This gravity survey involved more than 25,000 line kilometeres of data at a 2 km line spacing.
The QUEST-South Project is focused on the Quesnel Terrane, south of Williams Lake, and will provide new geoscience information over an area of 130 000 km2. The QUEST-South airborne gravity survey was under taken by Sander Geophysics using their aiborne inertially referenced gravimeter (AIRGrav). This region of the province has been explored and mined for decades and remains one of the most actively explored and prospective areas for discovery of new Cu, Mo and Au resources in British Columbia.
The Sander Geophysics AIRGrav system developed in Ottawa, Canada was successfully used in the 2008/2009 AGAP field season in East Antarctica. This high resolution data can be collected while flying a constant elevation over the landscape in a technique called ‘drape flying’. ‘Drape flying’ in useful for the laser data collection, but poses difficult challenges for traditional gravity systems that must be carefully stabilized due to their sensitivity to movement. How gravity works for the task you can read here.
December 2009 The 2009 ICE Bridge project over Antarctica has wrapped up successfully. Designed to provide vital information about ice at the poles, ICE Bridge is a NASA project to bridge the gap between the retirement of ICESat I (2009) and the launch of ICESat II (expected in 2014-15). The project used a specially modified NASA DC-8 mounted with various pieces of equipment from multiple agencies, including Sander Geophysics’ AIRGrav system. This season, 21 missions were flown over Antarctica from a base in southern Chile, totalling 155,000 km and 227 flight hours. This exceeded the original plan of a 17 flight mission, with some of those additional flights designed specifically to take advantage of the high resolution and accuracy of Sander Geophysics’ AIRGrav system. Highlights include the acquisition of detailed gravity maps covering the floating ice shelves associated with major West Antarctic outlet glaciers, which is expected to contribute to a better understanding of ice sheet mass balance and its relation to the changes in the polar climate.
