This Mining 101 section of our website is intended to define in layman’s language the different types of minerals HAWKEYE is exploring for, the hi-tech exploration techniques the Company is using to explore for these minerals and the mineral terminologies used in connection with geological reference to HAWKEYE’s properties. To navigate through the Minerals, Hi Tech Exploration and Mineral Terminology sections of our website, please click on the below links.
Gold has been treasured for thousands of years for its beauty and permanence. Until recently, most gold was used essentially for its monetary value, ending up in banks and government treasuries. Today, most gold produced is used for jewelry. It also has
superior conductivity and resistance to corrosion, making it ideal for use in computers, communications equipment, and aeronautics.
Most copper is used for electrical applications, with the remainder combined with other metals to produce alloys, such as brass and bronze. Its conductivity makes it ideal for use as telecommunications wire, cable and in electric motors. Its
non-corrosive quality accounts for its use in boat and ship building, chemical engineering, brewing and distilling, plumbing and construction. Copper, brass and bronze are also used for jewelry, ornaments and kitchenware, and copper has various uses in powder form.
Silver is one of the most romantic and sought after precious metals and was one of the earliest metals used to make coins. Although silver is relatively scarce, it is the most plentiful and least expensive of the precious metals. The major silver producing
countries are Mexico, Peru, the United States, Australia and Chile. Sources of silver include; silver mined directly, silver mined as a by-product of gold, copper, lead and zinc mining, and silver extracted from recycled materials. Silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of any metal. The demand for silver comes primarily from three areas; industrial uses, jewelry and silverware, and photography. These industries represent 95 per cent of annual silver consumption. Silver has a variety of uses in the health industry. For example, silver sulphadiazine is a very powerful compound used to treat burns. Sterling silver, an alloy of 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper, is tougher than pure silver, and is used to make cutlery, serving trays and other ornaments and decorative tableware.
The principal consumption of lead is for lead-acid batteries that are used in vehicles, and in emergency systems (e.g. hospitals) as well as in industrial batteries. Lead is essential to the production of many highly technical products, from fetal monitors
to fiber optics. It plays a vital role in space exploration, energy conservation and telecommunications. Lead-based materials are facilitating the development of hyper fast computers and high definition TV, as well as cathode ray tubes used in viewing screens for television, computers and radar. Because of its high density, capability and availability, lead is an outstanding material for radiation shielding. Major progress in the medical field’s use of radiation for imaging diagnostics such as CAT scans can be directly attributed to the use of sophisticated lead shielding.
Zinc is necessary to modern living, and, in tonnage produced, stands fourth among all metals in world production – being exceeded only by iron, aluminum, and copper. Zinc uses range from metal products to rubber and medicines. Zinc’s unique properties
also allow it to be cast into an array of precision parts for automobiles, airplanes and appliances. About three-fourths of zinc used is consumed as metal, mainly as a coating to protect iron and steel from corrosion (galvanized metal), as alloying metal to make bronze and brass, as zinc-based die casting alloy, and as rolled zinc. The remaining one-fourth is consumed as zinc compounds mainly by the rubber, chemical, paint, and agricultural industries. Zinc is also a necessary element for proper growth and development of humans, animals, and plants; it is the second most common trace metal, after iron, naturally found in the human body.
Cobalt is designated by the United States government as a strategic material for the aerospace and defense manufacturing industries. It has many applications, from a vitamin supplement to the manufacturing of aircraft engines. The major market
for cobalt is in super alloys, designed to resist stress and corrosion at high temperatures. These alloys can be found in a number of aircraft engine parts as well as cutting tools and other types of machinery that require very high strength and abrasion-resistant materials.
Modern day applications for this versatile mineral include its use on some video tapes, the recording on computer memory discs, dying additives in paints, magnets, portable phones and automobile airbags. Nearly half the bismuth produced worldwide is used
in the chemical industry, which includes pharmaceutical, medical, cosmetic, and industrial segments. Bismuth is also used as a metallurgical additive in steel and aluminum. When combined with other metals such as cadmium and tin, bismuth forms low-melting alloys that are used for fire detection and extinguishing systems.
Diamonds were originally formed under immense heat and pressure hundreds of miles below sea level. After 100 million years of formation, volcanic explosions forced them upwards exposing their natural beauty to the world. Diamonds were first mined in
India over 4000 years ago and over the last 500 years Diamonds have acquired their unique status as the ultimate gift of love which has grown stronger with each passing year. Today, diamonds are not only mined and sold through the multi-billion dollar retail jewelry trade but are also used in industrial applications. Due to the fact that Diamonds are the hardest substance known to man they are used in modern day industrial applications including saws, grinders and diamond tipped tools to name a few and are also used for diamond drilling in the mining industry because of its ability to cut through rock. There are 50 million carats of diamonds mined every year world wide resulting in a $5 billion per year industry with retail sales of diamonds in the region of US $40 billion per year..
An airborne geophysical survey is executed from an aircraft using a magnetometer that can be carried on board or towed behind the aircraft and measures the physical properties of rock formations. Common properties investigated include magnetism, specific gravity, electrical conductivity and radioactivity. An airborne geophysical survey can be followed up by a ground geophysical survey.
More commonly referred to as an EM survey, it is a geophysical survey method which measures the electromagnetic properties of rocks. An alternating current is fed into a wire coil held in a prescribed direction, either parallel or perpendicular to the ground surface. This current produces an alternating magneticfield, which induces a current in any nearby electrical conductors. The method detects conductive bodies, not mineralization. A conductor could be
an economic deposit of metal sulphides, but also could be a zone of conductive graphite. VLF (very-low-frequency) is one method of EM, which uses the signals from marine-navigation radio stations as a primary field source. Because EM surveys do not require electrical contact with the ground, they are among the most useful techniques in airborne geophysics and are usually followed up by ground EM work.
A method of ground geophysical surveying employing an electrical current to determine indications of mineralization. An electrical current is sent through the ground and the surfaces of metallic minerals become charged. An over voltage has to be applied to drive the current across these barriers. When the current is switched off, the over voltage decays – in other words, there is a brief storage of energy that can be measured even after the
current is switched off. The IP effect is particularly useful in detecting disseminated sulphide minerals, which may be economic in themselves or may serve as pathfinders to other mineral deposits.
A geophysical technique used to measure the resistance of a rock formation to an electric current. An Electric current is generated and forced into the ground from widely spaced electrodes. The current flows through the earth to complete the circuit, and the amount of current that flows depends on the resistance the rock offers. A conductive orebody containing economic metallic sulphides will cause an anomalously low resistance. Resistivity and IP are normally done as a single survey.
A Gravity survey measures the gravitational attraction of the earth. The force of gravity is not uniform over the whole surface of the earth; it is actually slightly stronger where the underlying rocks are more dense, and slightly weaker where they are less dense. The difference is tiny, but it can be measured and mapped. Gravity surveys use extremely sensitive balances to detect the variations in density of the underlying rocks. They can be useful in conducting
a rapid reconnaissance (initial) survey of an area to delineate major rock types. This information can help to indicate areas favorable to exploration by other methods i.e. IP, EM, Resistivity etc. It can also be used in more detailed exploration to detect mineral deposits, which are commonly denser than the rocks that surround them.
A radiometric ground survey detects the presence of radioactive elements through use of electronic equipment These instruments measure the energy released during the process of radioactive decay. As a uranium molecule decays three kinds of rays are given off: alpha, beta and gamma rays. The most advanced electronic equipment can distinguish between radiation of the three main radioactive elements that occur in nature – uranium, potassium and
thorium – by measuring the energy of the radiation. Ground radiometric surveys are used to detect the showing of radioactive minerals directly, whereas, airborne radiometric surveys are used for geological mapping because radioactive elements are more common in granitic rocks.
GPR is a nondestructive geophysical method that produces a continuous cross-sectional profile or record of subsurface features, without drilling, probing, or digging. Ground penetrating radar profiles are used for evaluating the location and depth of buried objects and to investigate the presence and continuity of natural subsurface conditions and features.Ground penetrating radar operates by transmitting pulses of ultra high frequency radio
waves (microwave electromagnetic energy) down into the ground through a transducer or antenna. The transmitted energy is reflected from various buried objects or distinct contacts between different earth materials. The antenna then receives the reflected waves and stores them in the digital control unit.The depth of penetration of GPR is highly site specific and is limited by attenuation of the outgoing pulse. The GPR system is more effective in seeing through insulators to conductors. Greater penetration is obtained in dry, sandy, and rocky soils and little penetration is obtained from moist, clayey conductive soils. Penetration generally ranges from one to ten metres although penetrations of more than 30 metres have been achieved under certain ideal conditions.
Geologists have used aerial photographs for decades to serve as databases from which they can do the following: pick out rock units (stratigraphy), study the expression and modes of the origin of landforms (geomorphology), determine the structural arrangements of disturbed strata (folds and faults), evaluate dynamic changes from natural events (e.g., floods; volcanic eruptions), seek surface clues (such as alteration and other signs of mineralization)
to subsurface deposits of ore minerals, oil and gas, and groundwater. Function as a visual base on which a geologic map is drawn either directly or on a transparent overlay.
With the advent of space imagery, geoscientists now can extend that use in three important ways: 1) The advantage of large area or synoptic coverage allows them to examine in single scenes (or in mosaics) the geological portrayal of Earth on a regional basis, 2) The ability to analyze multispectral bands quantitatively in terms of numbers (DNs) permits them to apply special computer processing routines to discern and enhance certain compositional properties of Earth materials, 3) The capability of merging different types of remote sensing products (e.g., reflectance images with radar or with thermal imagery) or combining these with topographic elevation data and with other kinds of information bases (e.g., thematic maps; geophysical measurements and chemical sampling surveys) enables new solutions to determining interrelations among various natural properties of earth phenomena.
While these new space-driven approaches have not yet revolutionized the ways in which geoscientists conduct their field studies, they have proven to be indispensable techniques for improving the geologic mapping process and carrying out practical exploration for mineral and energy resources on a grand scale.
It is a map earmarking locations and assay values taken from a property during exploration providing a picture of the property’s geological layout for follow up work.
Assessment costs on a mining property are expenses that must be incurred yearly to maintain legal control over the mining claims. Generally, these expenses include costs of prospecting, sampling, drilling, property reports etc. and are registered with the mining recorders office in applicable jurisdictions.
Bulk sampling is the removing of large mineralized rock typically over fifty tonnes, selected to be representative of the potential orebody, in order to do mineral processing tests.
A claim is a mining right that grants the holder the exclusive right to search within a given territory for any mineral substance and is generally subject to minimum exploration expenditures and assessment costs to legally retain these rights.
Concentrate is the separation of economically valuable minerals from the gangue.
Gangue is the rock surrounding a mineral or precious gem in its natural state.
It is a cylindrical sample of rock taken from the ground by drilling and is used for assay, research and exploration purposes.
A cross-cut is a horizontal underground passageway that provides access to mining operations and is usually bored from the mining shaft at near right angles to the strike of a vein or orebody.
It is a company at a phase of activity ranging from confirmation of a mineral deposit to the decision to build a mine. Development includes all geological, engineering and economic work necessary to ensure profitable mining and compliance with applicable laws.
A diamond drill is a mining drill equipped with diamond tips. Diamonds are used with diamond drills because they are the hardest and most resilient of all precious gems and capable of cutting through rock in the drilling process.
Dip is a measurement outlining the angle of incline of a vein measured from a horizontal surface and at right angles to the strike.
A drift is an a horizontal underground passageway that provides access to mining operations and typically follows along strike of a vein or rock formation.
In general, drilling is the process of boring a hole in a rock for the purpose of taking rock samples in exploration and for the insertion of explosives in rock for blasting in mining.
A long and relatively thin mass of eruptive rock that while in its molten state intruded and created cracks in other rock and may contain mineral deposits located between the rocks.
In the broad sense, the whole range of mining activity from searching for and developing mineral deposits to developing the mine. In the strict sense, the search for mineral deposits up to discovery and includes the delineation of the deposit by means of drilling and sampling.
A break in the earth’s crust caused by tectonic (plate) movement that has forced rock to split in different directions.
A feasibility study is the planning stage of a mine usually prepared for a mining company by a professional mine engineering firm. A mining company will proceed with the cost of a feasibility study generally once it has proved continuity of its ore deposits confirmed by samplings and or drilling on a relatively detailed grid that allows for fairly precise determination of tonnage, density, mineral and metal content and is that part of the orebody that economic viability has been demonstrated.
A feasibility study typically includes opinions on land claims and legal titles, reports on regional geology, the exploration program, mineral reserves, ore treatment, infrastructure, resources, labour-investment-operation costs, marketing, scheduling, service facilities, the environment and finally a financial analysis.
Upon completion and interpretation of the feasibility study a mining company will make a decision to either cancel, postpone or proceed with the funding and development of its mine.
Geochemistry is the study of the chemical components of the earth’s crust and mantle. Geochemistry is applied to mining exploration for the discovery of areas with abnormal concentrations of elements and or minerals. In general, depending on circumstances, geochemical exploration involves a prospector taking samples of soils, rock, lake and stream sediments, or something else entirely, and then having the samples analyzed chemically for their elements. The results are then plotted and mapped for follow up work and the information is useful in other methods of exploration.
Geology is science devoted to the study of the structure and evolution of the earth’s crust.
A grid is a set of horizontal and perpendicular lines laid out over a property or area for the purpose of locating and mapping drilling and other work programs carried out on the property during exploration.
Infrastructure refers to the components of mining that must exist in order for a mine to operate efficiently including roads, gas pipes, water lines, sewage and water systems, telephone cables, buildings, reservoirs and may also require the need for railways, airports, bridges, electrical cables and transmission lines and transformers.
Slow passage of a solvent through a layer of porous or crushed material in order to extract valuable components. For example, gold can be extracted by heap leaching a porous ore or pulverized tailings.
A mill is a surface plant facilitating ore treatment that allows for the recovery and removal of metals or the concentration of valuable minerals for smelting and refining.
A mineral deposit is a mineralized mass that may be economically valuable, but whose characteristics require more detailed information. An ore body being mined may be called a deposit.
The process of extraction and concentration of economic minerals contained in ore. Mineral processing includes various procedures that rely on the mineral’s gravimetric and magnetic characteristics, on its color, on reagents to make target particles float to the surface (flotation).
A mineral resource is a concentration or occurrence of natural, solid, inorganic or fossilized organic material in or on the earth’s crust in such form and quantity and of such a grade of quality that it has reasonable prospects for economic extraction. The location, quantity, grade, geological characteristics and continuity of a mineral resource are known, estimated or interpreted for specific geological evidence and knowledge. There are three categories of mineral resources that were adopted by CIM (The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) and were incorporated into the rules by the CSA (Canadian Securities Association) under National Instrument 43-101 to establish uniformed standards for mineral resources and reserves throughout Canada. The three categories adopted by CIM for application throughout Canada is defined as inferred, indicated and measured reserves.
An inferred mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity and grade or quality can be estimated on the basis of geological evidence and limited sampling and reasonably assumed, but not verified, geological grade and continuity. The estimate is based on limited information and sampling gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes.s.
An indicated mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics, can be estimated with a level of confidence sufficient to allow the appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support mine planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. The estimate is based on detailed and reliable exploration and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that are spaced closely enough for geological and grade continuity to be reasonably assumed.
A measured mineral resource is that part of a mineral resource for which quantity, grade or quality, densities, shape and physical characteristics are so well established that they can be estimated with confidence sufficient to allow the appropriate application of technical and economic parameters, to support production planning and evaluation of the economic viability of the deposit. The estimate is based on detailed and reliable exploration, sampling and testing information gathered through appropriate techniques from locations such as outcrops, trenches, pits, workings and drill holes that are spaced closely enough to confirm both geological and grade continuity.
A mineral reserve is the economically mineable part of a measured or indicted mineral resource demonstrated by at least a preliminary feasibility study. This study must include adequate information on mining, processing, metallurgical, economic and other relevant factors that demonstrate, at the time of reporting, that economic extraction can be justified. A mineral reserve includes diluting materials and allowances for losses that may occur when the material is mined. There are two categories of mineral reserves that were adopted by CIM (The Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum) and were incorporated into the rules by the CSA (Canadian Securities Association) under National Instrument 43-101 to establish uniformed standards for mineral resources and reserves throughout Canada. The two categories adopted by CIM for application throughout Canada are defined as a probable mineral reserve and a proven mineral reserve.
A probable mineral reserve is the economically mineable part of an indicated, and in some circumstances, a measured mineral resource demonstrated by at least a preliminary feasibility study. This study must include adequate information on mining, processing, metallurgical, economic and other relevant factors that demonstrate, at the time of reporting, that economic extraction can be justified.
A proven mineral reserve is the economically mineable part of a measured mineral resource demonstrated by at least a preliminary feasibility study. This study must include adequate information on mining, processing, metallurgical, economic, and other relevant factors that demonstrate, at the time of reporting, that economic extraction is justified.
Ore is a natural aggregate of one or more minerals that can be mined and profitably sold under current conditions, or from which one or more minerals can be profitably extracted.
An orebody is a mineralized mass whose characteristics have been determined and deemed commercially viable. The term orebody is used once the economic limits of the mineralized mass and its grade have been examined.
A deposit consisting of many metals. Polymetallic is derived from the Greek words – poly (many) and metallic (metals).
Prospecting is typically performed by prospectors at the grass roots stage of exploration and is the search for surface mineralization or showings.
Purifying the matte or impure metal undertaken to obtain a pure metal or mixture with specific properties.
The formation of a sediment. A sediment is a natural deposit created by the action of dynamic external agents such as water, wind, and ice.
A showing is a surface indication of mineralization in which the extent and economic value are unknown.
A smelter is a plant where concentrate is chemically reduced in order to extract the metal or metals it contains.
Strike length is the length and direction of a vein or rock formation measured on a horizontal surface.
Tonnage refers to the quantity of ore contained within an ore body or the rate at which ore is extracted from the earth.
A zone is the section of a property or area with distinct mineralization.
A vein is a fault or crack in a rock filled by minerals that have traveled upwards from deep below the earth’s surface.