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Mineracao de Alta Tecnologia LTDA In May 1997 we arrived in Minas Gerais Brazil with a SIR GPR unit and began scanning operations the same month. Our first project was the famous Cruzeiro tourmaline mine, working in conjunction with Sr. Eustaquio Neves. This is probably the largest producing tourmaline mine in Minas Gerais, possibly the world. In its many decades of existence it has produced tons of fine gem grade tourmaline. After many weeks of collecting data throughout a vastly tunneled system, we learned that saturated and wet, weathered matrix is not conducive to GPR analysis. The water content distorts the data to an unrecognizable interference pattern. The center photo below shows us collecting data at the Cruzeiro Mine
We left the Cruzeiro Mine with a new perspective on GPR application capabilities and limits, but with inconclusive results. We moved north to the dryer areas of the famous Santa Rosa Tourmaline Mine, near Itambacuri Minas Gerais. Here is where we had our first successes. We identified our first pocket (called a “vug”) at a tunnel system called The Mutuca/Santa Rosa. For a period of 15 months we scanned various tunnel systems in this area, and eventually opened over 30 pockets.
Since that time, we have operated throughout Minas Gerais at sites such as: Coroa de Ouro, Come Kalado, Feijao de Bode, Eni, Limeira, and numerous nameless sites. We also scanned some pegmatites as far north as Ceara: the Candado and the Dr. Joao tourmaline mines.
We feel that we are now experts at identifying vugs within pegmatites. It is a tremendous advantage in mining techniques to entirely map the areas around existing tunnel systems to help avoid missing any nearby producing zones. We are currently applying our technology to our own mining projects, but are willing to discuss providing our subsurface mapping service on a contractual basis for any colored gemstone mining operation… anywhere in the world. You can find an article about us here. Give us a call or e-mail us for more information. |
