Locating the Orebodies Using Regional 3D Seismic Reflection Approach in the Gawler Cration, South Australia

Ore bodies such as iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) remain important sources of copper and gold in Australia especially since the discovery of the giant Olympic Dam deposits in 1975. They are consider to be meta-somatic expression of large crustal-scale alteration events driven by intrusive activity and are associated with felsic igneous rocks in most cases. Due to these unique features, the deposits become a prime target for exploration by the mining industry. Potential methods that are typically used to detect both the major structures that lead to the location of prospective targets have poor resolution at depth and are limited to either directly detecting shallow targets or very large deposits with sufficient contrast in areas with significant cover, such as the Gawlar Craton hence another another method such as seismic reflection is proposed.early application of the seismic reflection method in mineral provinces proved relatively expensive and the results were not often encouraging. However, recent research in this area provides greater promise in the ability to delineate ore-bodies and for mine planing especially in complex hard rock environment.