Show surveying by air not As accurate as reported airborne radiation surveying survey lne has proved a rapid cheap and effective method for uranium uranium exploration the technique Is 4 relatively simple when applied as a su supporting af pf rt function of a general ex exploration pora program and can be in managed caged and financed with a small staff staff and capital investment airborne surveying can also be done on a contract oasis basis and several corn commercial erceal survey companies her offer this service the effective bess mess of the technique can be measure in terms of millions of dollars worth orth 0 of f u uranium ore that tas has b been e en detected fr from 0 in th the e a air ir and ad that has resulted from mine production 1 in the last three years il bally valuable has been the extension of mineralized areas and the information 0 supplied by airborne work ork used in guiding ground reconnaissance uranium ore on the ground can be located from the air by detec le ling he the radiation that is a al ways gen g en n off by natural uranium ore this is generally true but se secial ei al qualifications are in order amborne an borne surveying sun sur eying can re sult alt ni ki the detection and location of uranium ore only if the outcrop is large enough or hish high enough in grade the actual sue size and grade that can be detected depends upon the altitude e of the buiey the speed at aich which the aircraft flies and the type of instrument utilized zed at ft or less the cioper technique a survey bould be able to de detect te et an outcrop several hundred square feet fee t I 1 in area of an average grade of 01 percent generally speaking a smaller area can be detected if the grade is higher at between and ft a survey should hould detect all outcrops with an area larger than 1000 sq ft and a grade of around 0 2 or 0 3 percent these are very general estimates and are offered only to give an idea as to what might be expected certain other factors must be considered in the evaluation of the technique production of radiation a is not unique to uranium ore there is radiation present at any location on the earth and what to look for is an increase in rate of radiation and not just the detection of radiation the indication of n natural radiation by an instrument I 1 is called the background reading and all indications of additional radiation or are measured in terms of increase 0 over ver the background reading there must be enough uranium re outcropping out cropping at the stir surface face to supply enough radiation for a re readable ad increase with the aIrL aircraft raft flying at some particular altitude there may be small amounts of uranium outcrop ping below that cannot be detected the ore must be exposed at the surface for all practical purposes because a foot or so of barren overburden will render undetectable the gamma radiation from the ore beneath it the grade of out cropping ore cannot be determined by an airborne survey although the general extent of a deposit can be determined ter mined in special cases where something is known of the geological control and it is possible to fly close enough to the outcrop 2050 20 50 feet it is necessary to fly close joany to any outcrop or above any area because the radiation given off by uranium decreases in intensity as you get farther away aay from it flying at altitudes above feet many small areas of will not be detected even with the best instruments men s outcrops that are detected d at t or above feet will be difficult to locate on the ground and difficult to partially evaluate by an observer from the air to be effective an airborne survey ey must be planned on the basis of geologic guidance the probability of success is greatly increased by flying not merely geographical areas but areas selected on geologic favor ability some examples of effective application would be surN surveying eying of areas that might be extensions of already existing deposits extension of structures known to be favorable or extensions of sed sedimentary horizons know to be favorable on the colorado plateau the nature of terrain and outcrops makes it a very favorable area for the application pit of low level airborne surveying A two year contract for the sale of copper was a a in santiago on nov 27 be between teen medium sized and small chilean copper producers and the Nord deutsche Affine ne rie of hamburg |