Geo Services
My work experience and professional skills will be beneficial for all phases of your project:
Evaluation
Literature research, data collection, as well as database design and management are just a few services J.M.W. Geo-Consulting can offer for your projects in economic geology, mineral exploration, and geochemistry.
I look at your project and decide which steps have to be taken and which analyses should be done. This first step also includes data mining and literature research.
Example of a literature study
Example of a availability study
Sampling
I am frequently involved in exploration campaigns for different commodities. The campaigns differ in financial volume as well as in the sizes of the used drill rigs – hand drilling for soil, small trucks for coring up to several 100 m, until work on medium rigs for retrieving cuttings and drill cores from up to 2000 m depth.
Tasks during projects with core retrieval:
- drilling supervision (material and staff)
- technical depth control and geological depth assignment of core pieces
- core recovery record
- low-level core logging at well site
- high-level core evaluation and photographic documentation at core storage
- determination of sample intervals for chemical analysis and sorting tests
- development and adjustment of SOPs (standard operation procedures)
- data collection and management for the development of drill logs
Tasks during projects with cuttings retrieval
- sampling of cuttings
- depth assignment of cuttings (lag-time)
- manual preparation of cuttings for description, storage and shipping
- petrographic / microscopic description of cuttings
- photographic documentation of cuttings
- sample determination for chemical analysis
- supervision of junior staff
Tasks during detailed logging:
- high-level core logging / evaluation
- photographic documentation
- determination of sample intervals for chemical analysis and sorting tests
- cutting of samples for tests
- data preparation and management for the mineral resource estimation
Analysis
I analyse the samples with in-house equipment (polarising microscope, ore microsocope) or let the measurements / analysis be done by one of my affiliated companies and research institutions, and evaluate the generated data afterwards.
My standard analyses are:
- Petrographic and microscopic examination of rocks
- Microscopic examination of ores and metallurgical products
- X-ray diffraction analyses and calculation of the quantitative composition of geomaterials uing Rietveld refinement
- X-ray fluorescence to analyse chemical compositions
Microscopic examination
Microscopic analyses are essential for many issues in the context of geomaterials like natural stones, concrete and slate. The mineral identification with a magnifying glass or a stereo microscope is still the first step of many mineralogical studies. The exact description of the mineral composition and the fabric plays an important role. In the laboratory, thinsections or polished samples analysed under a polarization microscope/ore microscope provide additional petrographic information. I perform petrographic analyses of geo-materials, such as rocks, ores, minerals, soils or loose rocks, mortars and concrete samples.
I carry on petrographic investigations of
- thin sections
- polished sections
- hand specimen
- loose rock samples
When the microscopic examination of geo-materials is performed on thin sections, I identify:
- mineral composition
- fabric
- if necessary, degree of weathering
- quantitative mineralogical composition (modal analysis)
- on request also a complete petrographic examination according to EN 12407
Depending on the question, the determination of the fine-crystalline mineral fraction by the use of x-ray diffraction (XRD) may be useful.
X-ray diffraction (XRD)
X-ray diffraction allows determining the structure of crystalline substances, even if they are very small and not clearly visible under a microscope. The x-ray powder diffraction (often short XRPD) is a special type of X-ray diffraction for structure analysis of polycrystalline samples. A diffractogram (or diffraction pattern) can be recorded with this procedure to identify the phases by comparing the peaks with an electronic database. Using the Rietveld refinement, it is also possible to calculate the quantitative composition of the sample.
The instrumental measurements are currently carried out by external partners.
I advise X-ray diffraction analysis, when it is obvious that the sample is too fine to be analysed with the polarizing microscope. In this case, the X-ray diffraction is the faster method.
Presentation and advice (reporting)
I summarise and present the generated data in form of reports, lectures or publications and give advice, if required.
Presentation can be as:
- report
- presentation, workshop or lecture
- scientific publication
- drill logs
I will be happy to hear from you!
If you have questions for one of my services or to schedule your appointment, send me an inquiry using the contact form.
Address:
J.M.W. Geo-Consulting
Bouwerij 92
1185 XX Amstelveen
The Netherlands
E-Mail: