Ground Penetrating Sonar

[musher169]

Hello Fellow Miners

I have done a fair amount of research about Ground Penetrating Sonar, but really curious to see if anyone has used this technology themselves. I am considering using this on some patented claims here in IdaHO, but unsure of the fine points of this technique.
I already know where the color is but think it might be good use of $ for the years to come. Thanks for all of your input.

 

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[specksandflecks]

I have been curious about GPS/GPR also. This might get more views in another section though.

 

[Goodyguy]

I'm familiar with gpr. The archaeology club I belong to has one. Good for finding disturbed ground and anomalies but I don't see how it would be useful for finding gold deposits.

However, I'm not familiar with ground penetrating sonar or the image it produces. guess I need to google it.

GG~

 

[Clay Diggins]

GPRS isn't going to tell you where a placer deposit is. It doesn't identify gold itself but it's a very well established method of geological mapping. With enough sampling it's possible to build up a pretty good 3D image of local geological formations.

In my experience (limited) I'd stay away from the simple thumpers and stick to the more traditional drill and pop techniques. It's not that thumpers don't work but they have nowhere near the quality of information. They don't work at all in several types of ground structure and some of the thumper machines are more associated with fake "science" scams than real world mining.

 

[Hoser John]

Computer enhanced colormetric side scan sonar provided the 16 to 1 mine with many millions. Have the taped video from a Discovery show about 10 years ago. Not new technology,tried and proven -John

 

[musher169]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I realize that this will not find the gold but will reveal the geology of the land and can make the appropriate decisions based on that.
Since I am not a geologist, just a learn as you go miner, thought it would help me find bedrock, faults, pressure zones, etc to make my decisions easier in the field.
I think I can read the land but I have come to learn that most everything I think, do or say is wrong. At least that's what my wife says.
Is there any geologist in this forum close to Idaho I could hire for the weekend for there take on the claims?
Thanks again for all your input.

 

[specksandflecks]

I was interested for the same reasons you mention. Specifically mapping bedrock contours/channels. My limited understanding is the tech can be useful in identifying Bedrock depth/features, but like Clay Diggins said, their penetration and resolution can vary greatly depending on soil and or groundwater presence/type.

There are several northwest companies that apparently rent this type of equipment. Google searching GPR rental gave a fair amount of hits. You are going to want to know at the very least what the various types of soil strata are to help you determine which specific tech and what configuration will be most effective.

My opinion (based only off a number of screen shots comparing like technologies) is that some software can do a significantly better job than others in making visual representations of the data.

How one goes about getting an unbiased assessment of the various hardware/software systems available to rent or as a service would probably be another issue altogether.

I believe there are a couple geophysicists on the Alaska gold forum who have experience with stuff like this.

 

[Seden]

What I do is use a GMT to find the area with the highest amount of black sand deposits. For the deeper stuff I use a Proton Magnetometer. In the late summer when it's very hot and dry look for ant hills and take the dirt off the top pan it and test it with the Gold Hunter test kit if the gold is not visible.