VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - June 24, 2015) - Geoscience BC is pleased to announce the launch of a new multi-year minerals project in BC's west-central region. Named "SeArch" to highlight the region's unique geology -- an area arching two of the province's mineral-rich geological terranes -- this project will gather new, high-resolution data that will help geologists and land-users alike gain a better understanding of the ground beneath their feet. To date, the Geoscience BC Board has approved $2.4 million in funding to support Phase I of the SeArch project and this year's primary activity will be flying an airborne magnetic survey. Additional activities in 2015 will include community outreach and potentially some geochemical work.
The Phase I SeArch project area is still in the planning stages, and roughly extends south from Terrace to Kitimat and west to Smithers. The area was surveyed in 2008 with airborne gravity and electromagnetic (EM) survey technology as part of Geoscience BC's QUEST-West project, which was done in partnership with the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako and the Northern Development Initiative Trust. The new SeArch project will utilize magnetic sensor technology and gather regional data at a line spacing of 250 metres, a much higher resolution than what currently exists in the public domain. The magnetic survey will passively read the natural magnetic signature of the earth using a magnetometer, while the surveys flown in 2008 measured the resistivity and conductivity (EM) and gravity responses of the earth at 2- and 4-kilometre line spacings.
Robin Archdekin, Geoscience BC's president & CEO said, "The SeArch project will generate high-resolution earth science information to support investment and opportunities for First Nations and communities in British Columbia's central northwest. This new data will also equip mineral explorers in B.C. with great tools for the eventual market recovery."
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Contact Information:
For more information, please contact:
Bruce Madu
Vice President, Minerals and Mining
Geoscience BC
(604) 662-4147
