By: James Balagna, Senior Geologist at Burgex Inc.
As the Senior Geologist for Burgex Mining Consultants I often get questions on how project management works and what does it mean for mineral exploration. Project Management is an important role of the mineral exploration process and a good project management team has experience in all phases of the process. The skilled team at Burgex has significant combined professional experience in land acquisition, geochemical sampling, permitting, modeling, database construction, drilling and more, making us a one-stop-shop for all of your project management needs. Bad or inexperienced project management has often sunk viable mineral projects, ranging from mistakes made during the claim staking process to poor sampling procedures.
Our geology department can provide you with comprehensive project management to get your exploration program accomplished economically, organized and streamlined. We can take your project from early stage exploration all the way to a prefeasibility stage.
Acquire the land
The Burgex geology team can provide comprehensive research to help identify areas of interest if your team is in the very early stages of exploration. If an area of interest has already been identified, our dedicated landman team can guide you through the land acquisition phase and obtain mineral rights for the property. Our claim-staking and internal auditing team have a proven track record of successful land acquisition projects across the country, helping you navigate the strict and often confusing claim laws and regulations that can vary state-by-state.
Once the property for your project is acquired, Burgex Claim Guard™ services will also make sure your claims remain up-to-date year after year. Claim Guard™ helps assure that your claims remain in your possession and all necessary paperwork and fees have been submitted to the BLM. This service frees your corporate personnel by letting Burgex handle the tedious yearly filing process.
Document your site before disturbance
When the project is being acquired or if a land position has already been established, our in-house licensed drone pilots can fly your property with our state-of-the-art drone camera to provide high resolution photo mosaics for digital topographic maps. This step aids in planning future geologic mapping, outcrop identification, and sample targeting activities.
Geochemical Sampling
Our geology team will plan and run your sampling program. We have successfully completed sampling programs for large gridded soil surveys and targeted rock-chip sampling focused on specific mineralization facies. We will take the time to understand the local geology and provide you with results you can rely on. We ensure this through our rigorous QA/QC practices, knowledgeable sampling method procedures, and in-field verification through portable XRF measurements. We can provide you with GIS data for your sampling program along with geo-located photos of samples and outcrops.
Burgex can help identify a geochemical lab for your sample analysis after the field program has been completed. When assay results have been returned, our geologists can help visualize and statistically analyze your data to help identify and recommend trends that can be further investigated with future sampling of priority areas or drilling. We specialize in creating professional images and maps your team can use for public communications.
Surveys
If geochemical anomalies or significant trends have been identified, other types of surveying might be required to assist with drill-hole targeting and modeling of the deposit. We have in-house expertise and capabilities for performing depth-to-bedrock studies for deposits under cover using seismic refraction methods. We also have a large network of geophysical contractors we can recommend for detailed subsurface electromagnetic, magnetic, or gravity surveys.
Modeling
Our geology team has decades of combined experience building geologic models that combine surface, structural, geochemical, geophysical, and drilling data to image your deposit in the 3D-space. We have in-house expertise to build and maintain databases that the model will pull information from. The model can then be updated with the most recent drilling information and geochemical data to provide you with a deposit-scale block model that can be used for future exploration drilling and production targeting.
Drilling & Permitting
Our geology staff can write and file any necessary permits for drilling activities at your project site, making sure you stay in compliance with local rules and regulations to avoid unnecessary fees, fines, and delays. We have connections with many drilling contractors or can find a project-local contractor or dirt-work company to execute your program as well as build necessary roads and drill pads. We will ensure that local supplies of water and drilling products are available to minimize expensive standby time.
Burgex geologists can provide drill-logging and sampling services as well. Our team has significant experience managing many types of drilling programs, including diamond core, RC and auger-boring. We can geotech, photograph, log, and sample your core or RC chips following client needs, industry-standard QA/QC, and best sampling practices. Our methods ensure that the drilling and assay results are dependable and accurate.
Reporting and Financial Instruments
Once the data for the deposit has reached a critical volume, Burgex staff can start to develop block modeled resources for your project. These can be simple resources calculations, or our engineering and consulting department can apply economic costs and analysis to produce prefeasibility resources. These reports can be used to generate funds to take the project to production or drive interest for M&A and JV interest.
Project management is essential for any project, and a qualified and experienced team can make all phases of the process more effective and economical. The geology team at Burgex can provide you with the skills, expertise, and boots on the ground to move your project to the next phase.