BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 29
By Nargiz Sadikhova - Trend:
Methods of remote Earth sensing are to be introduced in Kazakhstan in order to introduce modern methods of geological exploration, Qazqeology Chairman of the Board Anvar Boranbayev told Trend.
Boranbayev said that innovations, both in the field of exploring for minerals and in data processing, greatly facilitate and speed up the work of geologists.
“The use of new effective methods of geological exploration is a real step towards reducing the geological, and therefore financial risks of investors. The entire methodology of exploration is aimed to minimize the risks with each exploration stage,” Boranbayev said.
Boranbayev noted, with the introduction of remote sensing and airborne geophysics space methods, the total time and cost for prospecting and exploration of mineral resources has significantly decreased.
“By culling unpromising areas from satellites or helicopters at the very first stage (regional, when vast territories of 5,000-10,000 square kilometers or more are studied), ground exploration will explore only those areas where mineralization zones or oil-bearing structures were traced. Thus, the ground exploration methods will not be carried out over the entire licensed area, but only within the identified promising areas. Instead of carrying out a 2D seismic survey on an area of 1,000 square kilometers, it can be done on 50-100 square kilometers, which accordingly significantly reduces financial costs,” Boranbayev said.
In this regard, he said, the new ‘State program of geological exploration of Kazakhstan for 2021 – 2025’ draft includes application of the methods of remote sensing of the Earth, geochemical mapping by the method of mobile forms, airborne geophysical methods, aeromagnetic and airborne gamma spectrometric surveys with the aim of introducing modern methods of geological study.
“These methods will be used both as advanced research methods and as independent exploration methods,” he said.
Commenting on the introduction of digital technologies in geological exploration, Boranbayev also noted that elements of artificial intelligence are being introduced to identify promising oil structures, uranium-containing provinces and others within the framework of country’s state programs.
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