on Earth did I become a mining
geophysicist 34 years ago?
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I he studyof geology was a natural choice for me becauseit of-
fered the opportunity to be able to enjoy the great outdoorsand
make a living at it as well. However, just before registrationday
at the university, I discoveredI liked girls and so choseeconomics
instead. But, maybe becausemy father wanted me to be as far
away as possible, he took me to see the chairman of the geology
departmentwho assuredme that the average geologist was in the
bush only during the summer and that the rest of the year he was
back in his office massaginghis data and writing reports; so I
registeredin geology.
After receiving a degree in geology in 1953 at Western. I went
to Edmonton and became an Imperial Oil seismologist. I very
quickly became so bored correctinganalog seismicrecordsthat I
appliedto the University of Wisconsinfor graduatestudiesin min-
ing geophysicsunder ProfessorGeorge Woollard.
The thoughtthat I could have ended up as a seismologistin an
air-conditionedoffice and missedall the joys of bush work (c.g..
freezing in the dark in a wet sleepingbag; dragging an IP trans-
mitter through derriere-high swamp; mosquitoes buzzing and
biting ears, nose, and mouth; cold, wet boots and socks) leaves
me shivering!
I wanted a challenge and I got it but good. For 20 years 1
traveled close to 50 percent of the time If I had been clever. I
would be able to speak 150 languagesby now. Ive been in
earthquakesin Teheran, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and the Virgin Is-
lands; throughthe United Arab Republic uprising; floods in Rio;
coupsin Argentina and Ecuador;and the 1968 invasionof Prague,
Czechoslovakia.Ive been in planes that have been forced down
(a DC-7 on fire) in the Belgian Congo and (a 747) in Hawaii. In
Lagos, Nigeria, I was driven off into the suburbsand held up by
a cabby.
The world was literally my office. At Aero Service and later
at Scintrexand Noranda, we had offices or affiliates in Rio. Buenos
Aires, Santiago, Lima. Caracas, Mexico City, London. Dublin.
Paris, Madrid, Beirut, Teheran. Johannesburg,Salisbury (now
Harrari), New Delhi, Tokyo. Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.
H however back to my title. Maybe I became a mining
geophysicistby accident. I believe our paththroughlife is most-
ly determined by accident. Some of us were born by accidenr
(plannedparenthoodwasnt aroundin my day, its a Yuppy ideal.
We met our wives by accident (some call it luck!). And, believe
it or not, weve found most of our mines by accident.
The final point, consideringthe venue of this talk, would ap-
pear to be heresy. But the list is practically endless.It could even
be concludedthat the whole scienceof mineral explorationis noth-
ing but a series of accidents. Fortunately, we are very accident-
prone in mining geophysics.
l The Sudbury nickel deposits were found when the CPK
railway blasteda cut.
l The Cobalt silver camp when a fellow stopped for lunch
and threw his hammer at a rock.
l Steeprockiron mines when Jules Cross, after drilling the
Editors note: 7% article is excerptedfrom the addressut the
Mining Luncheonduring SEGS 1988 Annual International Meet-
ing in Anaheim, Culifornio.
30 GEOPHYSICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION NOVEMBER
ea5t arm of the lake and coming up with nothing, turned his drill
180degreesto drill the west arm which was thoughtto have noth-
mg but did!
l Gulfs Rabbit Lake uranium in Saskatchewanwhich was
found using the wrong geologic model. Right for the wrong
reasons!
l The first aeromagneticsurvey flown in Canada, in 1948by
Aero Service for the GeologicalSurvey, locatedBethlehems Mar-
mom non depositunder IO0 ft of Paleozoic limestonewhich was
not supposedto have been included in the survey, but was!
l The 1953 discovery of BM&S No. 12s 200 million ton
deposit of base metals in New Brunswick was a classic accident.
The smaller No. 6 deposit. found the year before. was thoughtto
be the key to further discoveriesin the area. However, the rest of
the magneticfeaturesnever came to anythingand the No. I2 was
found hy ;I vertical loop EM survey which was drilled only be-
cause it was close to some magneticfeaturesbeing drilled in the
area.
l The 1962 Kidd Creek discoveryby TGS was the sameEM
conductorInto had used for years to test their airborne system,
but had never drilled becauseit was nonmagneticand thoughtto
be graphite.
l Franc Jouhins initial efforts to discover uranium at Blind
River. basedon his Witwatersrandmodel, were unsuccessfuluntil
he accidentally overheard a conversation in Europe on the
solubilityof uranium. This led him to believe that perhapsthe near
surface uranium at Blind River had been leached out which we
now all know is what happenedbecauseFranc went back, drilled
some deeper holes, and discovereda major uranium camp.
l Noranda and Gettys new tundra gold deposit in the
Northwest Territories, which is beautifully outlined by IP, would
never have been found if a frost-heavedboulder had not been as-
sayed for gold too when Noranda was. many years earlier, pre-
viously prospectingthis belt for base metals.
l Would we ever have found the Hemlo gold depositsif the
Tram Canada Highway No. 17 hadnt gone within spitting dis-
tance ot the three head frames now standingthere?
l Would Carlin and the host of other gold depositsin north-
east Nevada he tn productiontoday had not Ralph Roberts of the
USGS publishedhis 1960 Paper 400-B on the Alignmenrofmin-
ing districtsin north-centralNevadawherein he hypothesizedthat
the districts were controlledby major strncturesin exposedlower
plate carbonates,especially where the Roberts Mountain thrust
was exposed?Surely it was by accident that a very busy Robert
Fulton, VP at Newmont, even read this paper and selected(along
with John Livermore and Alan Coope, who took that geochemi-
cal sampleon top of that big hill at Carlin) the Lynn window for
examination. I was at Carlin recently and believe me, when you
seethat famousRobertsMountain thrust zone. its hard to imagine
how anyone could pick it out as being a principal thrust-espe-
cially with all the other similar structurescutting through the
deporrts at a myriad angles. There are some well informed
geologist\ along the trend who simply do not believe it even ex-
ists. So you can see why I say Carlin was discoveredeither by ac-
cident or divine intervention.
Our geophysicalcontributionsto finding gold directly these
days are pretty well zip. For that matter, the sameis true of geol-
ogy (The ore from the Carlin belt is so uninterestingI wouldnt
(why on Earth continuedon p. 32)
19X0
 (My on Earth continuedfromp. 30)

have used it as crushedstoneon my driveway!) These epigenetic

gold depositsare really something.Thank God for chemistry, not
for the geologistor geophysicist.

C ontemporaryearth scientistslove models. However, when it

comesto theoriesand models, youve got to have a senseof humor
and not believe in them too much. Its importantto bear in mind
that we are so disciplined to certain set patternsof thinking that
we are like the SpanishInquisition-i.e.. nothinghas any validity
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except the prescribeddogma of that particulartime Some current

examples:
l IP and controlled-sourcemagnetotellurics(CSMT) measure Computer models

exactly the sameparameters,apparentresistivity as a function ot

frequency. Yet IP largely ascribesthe effect to polarization(inclu-
ding some inductivecoupling)while CSMT interpretsit by resisti-
vity layering. Both sidesignore eachother. Signal for one is noise
for the other. The ignoranceof the other may make the resultsof Crude diagnostic toots Further misunderstanding

either meaningless,particularly after computer inversion.

. In aeromagnetics,we presumethat the time fluctuationsof
magnetic field are spatially consistent(do not have local spatial
gradient) and could be correctedby a base station located within
the survey area. We are blissfully ignoring the (electro)magnetic
field of telluric currents which is indistinguishablefrom a Iow-
level aeromagneticsignal. Magnetometric sounding(a variety of
MT) infers resistivitydistributionwith depthfrom exactly the same
phenomena.
l When seismologistsinterpret stacked sectionsonly. they
often do not have a clue whether they are looking at a primary
reflection, a multiple, or a combinationof both-all amplified or
attenuateddependingon the selectionof stackingvelocities. Yet
one can often get an answer by simply looking at prestackdls-
plays. (Consider, too, that petroleumdrill holesare 100-1000times
more expensivethan those in mining. A further considerationis
that many a large oil field was found drilling a multiple.)
These are examplesof our rigid, compartmentalizedthinking
combinedwith lack of curiosity and uncritical acceptanceof any-
thing presentedon computer printout. Figure 1 is a magnificent
graphic illustration.
We make errors in our observationsand interpretationsand,
becauseof this, theres no way we can conjure up a reasonable
theory explainingthe original phenomenon.This leads, of course,
to oversimplified models which are argued about, refined, com-
bined, and computer-processedwith an added input of errors and
asinine assumptionsto produce perfect confusionwhich. in final
desperation.resultsin a completely imbecilic agreementbetween
theory and observation...upon which a drill target is selected,the
frightful resultsof which must be covered up if we are not to be
fired! (Note: The importantrole of managementdirectiveswhich.
althoughthey have no impact on results. also ensuresuitabledi\-
tance from the consequences.)
You know we mining geophysicistsare getting to be a rare
species.Our ranks have been decimated;weve either been fired
or retired. Mining geophysicsis so important in the US that it
didnt even makeMining EngineeringsAnnualReviewfor 1987--
but geochemistrydid!
So whats next? Our ranks have been decimatedand enroll-
ment at the graduateand undergraduatelevels is a fraction of what
it was a few years ago. And very few of these are in exploration
geophysics.However. I do think were at the bottom of a very
deep cycle.
Norman Keevil. chairman of Cominco and presidentof Teck.
summed it up during his recent term as chairman of the Mining
Associationof Canada: The biggestchallengefacing us today 1s
to replaceour waningproductionbase,which is our reserves.This
is a different sort of challengethan mining companiesfaced early
in this decade-the challenge to survive, brought about by low
basemetal prices and excessivelyhigh interest rateson high debt
loads. Some costcuttingproducedlarge increasesin productivity:
Colncldental agreement between
theory and observatww
Figure 1. The courseof geologyand geophysics.
other cost cutting meant a lapse in exploration-a piper that has
yet to be paid. Exploration is the researchin our business,every
bit as vital as researchis to an electronicscompany. Canadawill
run out of basemetal reservesby 1994 at presentrates. As it takes
an averageof sevenyerrs from discoveryto production,you can
seethe fix were already in.
The US scene, I believe, is worse and explorationin the third
world countrieshas been minimal for the last four years as well.
So 1 set a large increasecoming in the demandfor exploration
geophysicists.The supplyright now is very low. So, thoseof you
with most of your professionalcareers still ahead,think positive-
ly. There are new technologicaldevelopmentsin explorationcon-
cepts. models. instrumentation,applications,and interpretations.
We will find new discoveriesin old establishedmining campsbe-
causeof new explorationapproachesand we will explore success-
fully m new areas, which up to now have been poorly prospected
due to limiting factors which now have been overcomeby recent
technologicaldevelopments.
s o whdt
, hdve 1 really been trying to tell you? As you have un-
doubtedly observed, I have exaggerateda little and used a fair
amountof hyperbole. I neverthelessbelieve that geophysicshas
beengood to me. I have made a lot of friends in many places(not
necessarilyhigh places) and Ive acquireda broad perspectiveon
the mternatmnalscenewhich one has to have to appreciateones
one backyard.
Yes. our profession is exciting, dynamic, and challenging; I
have really liked it and I guessthats really why I becamea min-
ing geophysicist34 years ago. g
Ro,qcrH. Pembertonis a graduateof the Universiv of Western
Ontari~~m hotzorsgeologyand obtainedan MS. in geophysics
(1954) from the iJni~lersit\:
of Wisconsin.He has workedfor Im-
perial Oil, CanadianArro Service,Aero ServiceDivision of Lit-
ton industries, ScintrexLimited, and since 1973 has been with
Noranda Explorationas director of geophysics.Pembertonis a
memberof a numberof professionalsocieties,includingthe On-
tario Associationof ProfessionalEngineersand the SEG.

32 GEOPHYSICS: THE LEADING EDGE OF EXPLORATION NOVEMBtK 198Y