DRILLCORE ORIENTING KIT

This device is a vehicle for the rapid orientation and measurement of geological structures in drillcore. The kit has gained widespread application in mineral, coal & petroleum exploration, mining, and site engineering. The kit is a fundamental advance on previous core goniometers in its carefully designed simplicity, and its efficient accumulation of structural information and understanding.

The kit was developed by Dr Ken Lawrie, Mr Paul Givney and Dr Bill Laing, and is produced by the Economic Geology Research Unit (EGRU), James Cook University, Australia. The kit is marketed by James Cook University and Laing Exploration Pty Ltd in partnership.

Over 230 kits have been sold to date in 19 countries including Australia, New Zealand,Canada, USA, South Africa, Namibia, Bolivia, Japan, Costa Rica, Indonesia and South America. The kit is in use in exploration around some of the world's large mines: Getchell, Carlin, Kalgoorlie, Telfer, Bronzewing, Cadia, Mount Isa and Broken Hill. The kit is finding road engineering application with the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority. Tests of the kit against a borehole image processing system (the Raax system; Choi and Saul, 1995) demonstrate that the kit possesses a superior capacity to capture fracture/vein data.

PRINCIPLE OF THE KIT

Once placed in the kit, the drillcore is rotated into its true position, either via an oriented core survey mark, or via a selected reference structure whose orientation is known from a location outside the core. The core is now an outcrop, and structural orientations are determined directly without intermediate computer processing. All information, structural and otherwise, can now be used in the same way as in outcrop. We no longer "log" drillcore, we map drillcore. The user becomes immersed in the geology as with surface exposure. The geologist focusses on the geological issues and selects the most "fertile" drillcore for mapping. Where an absolute core orientation is not available from oriented core or via a reference structure, the core can be rotated to investigate the range of possible and "not possible" orientations for its contained structures. The kit becomes an invaluable ally in general drillcore logging. It is light, robust, waterproof, and easily set up in the coreyard or on the ground at your prospect. It has been refined over a decade of on-site industry applications.

Core mapping in this manner is as rapid as surface mapping, with the advantage that the outcrop is 100% and instantly accessible. A set of instructions is supplied, and a phone/fax service is provided free of charge to help users tailor the application of the kit to local conditions. Application of the kit is described in full in Laing "Structural geology and ore-finding in drillcore" (Cambridge University Press, in press).

Supplied with the kit are accessories to further facilitate mapping: devices including small metal extension planes and lines to "bring out" or "actualise" rock structures which may be "covert" within the drillcore. These may for example be the intersection line of two planes. The extensions make structural mapping considerably simpler and more "real". They are instantly attachable to and detachable from the drillcore.

Purchase price: $900 plus GST if Australian-bought, plus freight Purchase enquiries: EGRU, Townsville Technical enquiries: Laing Exploration Pty Ltd

Phone 61 7 4781 4596 Fax 61 7 4725 1501 Phone 61 7 4789 1401 Fax 61 7 4789 1451 Email bill@laingex.com