Carrying Out of Different Prospecting Stages

Once the objectives have been fixed as well as the execution method of the prospection, with the help of a geochemical advisor, it will be the prospector, geologist, or engineer that will carry out the start of the workings on the terrain. No matter what the prospection state is, the workings will essentially consist in the following operations:

• Outlining of itineraries and positioning of the samples
• Taking and numbering of the samples
• Preparation and sending of the samples

Itineraries and positioning of the samples
In the exploration phase or general recognition, it will be important to cover the most amount of surface as is possible in the least amount of time, therefore the ways of communication that exist will try to be used such as land and fluvial. When these do not exist the profiles will be drawn with a compass. In the strategic phase the objective is that of locating abnormalities in which concentrating the means of more detailed prospection therefore the regularity of the samples is turned into a priority. The classical type of sampling is that of alluvial sediments. The most logical courses will be those done down the length of the secondary hydrographical net. With the purpose of conserving a continuous density of the samples it is suggested to pre select the sampling points on a topographical ground or on aerial photos. In the following it is important to position the most exact as possible sampling points over the terrain and be able to recognize them in the future. Due to this it will be necessary to leave next signals to each sampling point, that could be made up by a plastic bright colored tape and on which the sample number can be written on with paint in the closest outcrop. In the tactical phases, the objective is to delimit the exact outlines of the abnormality in order to deduce the localization and the most probable type of mineralization. The method consists in taking the sample in a regular mesh, according to a square or rectangular reticle that down the length of the parallel profiles, when the direction of the enlargement of the abnormality is known of. The sampled material is always a floor, or at the limit of the disaggregated rock.

The localization of the samples is united to the materialization on the prospecting terrain. With a theodolite or more simply with a compass it will be necessary to draw a base line and perpendicular to this, other lines in between them, according to the dimensions of the mesh. The sampling points will be marked with indications of which a card with a colored tape will need to have the number of the sample written on. In this phase it will also be necessary to carry out an efficient topographical lifting.