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British
Geological
Survey
EARTHWISE
Earthwise is
the official
magazine of
the British
Geological
Survey.
Earthwise is
published
twice a year
and describes
the role of the
BGS in
supporting
wealth
creation and
the quality of
life, through
earth science.
Issue 12
June 1998
A special issue in support of
Minerals '98 — Foresight
Foresight linked
Restored shale working.
£2.50
The BGS is proud to be associated with
Minerals ’98 and its objectives, particularly
as the initiative grew in part from the presentations and discussions at the BGS
Minerals Industry fora held over the last
few years.
Mineral resources are important natural
assets and it is in a nation’s best interests to
stimulate a greater understanding of its
indigenous mineral wealth. Information on
the extent, quality, distribution and economic potential of mineral resources is
essential for effective and informed decisionmaking. Informed decision-making is critical
to meeting the objectives of sustainable development.
The economic importance of putting geological data relating to mining on the Ordnance Survey maps of Devon and Cornwall was
recognised by Henry de la Beche in the early 1830s. This work led to the founding of the
Geological Survey in 1835, with de la Beche as its first Director. The British Geological
Survey continues to be Britain’s foremost repository of minerals-related information, with
responsibility for comprehensive data archives built up since de la Beche’s time. Much of
this information comes from our own geological survey work and our statutory roles, but
we also hold a great deal of information derived from the minerals industry, planning
authorities and a wide range of other organisations. In recent years, our commissioned
programme has included studies, funded by the DTI and the DETR, aimed at defining
mineral resources for land-use planning purposes and for stimulating mineral exploration.
The BGS has staff with an in-depth knowledge and experience that covers a wide range of
minerals-related disciplines from metalliferous minerals exploration and metallogenesis,
through commodity production and trade, to the management of waste materials and the
aftercare of land used for mining. This expertise, which is most powerful when integrated
into multidiscplinary teams aided by state-of-the-art IT methods, such as 3D modelling
and visualisation, is employed in Britain and internationally to the benefit of customers
who range from small, private-sector companies to international funding organisations
and governments. The contributions to this volume give some idea of the range, quality
and success of the work undertaken by these teams.
The role of the BGS is to provide sound, impartial advice and data that will enable policy
makers to reach conclusions and make informed decisions. We are very keen to develop our
mineral information systems to provide baseline data for our customers. This is reflected in
the BGS mission statement, and, through the core-funded MINGOL (MINerals GIS OnLine) project, we are using modern technology to make the minerals-related data we hold
more accessible to our customers in a fit-for-purpose form. It is my objective to ensure that
these developments continue into the next millennium.
Finally, I would like to express my thanks to John Mortimer for providing the excellent
keynote article for this issue of Earthwise.
David A Falvey, PhD
Director
Contents
4–5
John Mortimer
UK mineral production
6
David Highley
Britain’s mineral trade
7
Greg Chapman
8–9
Peter Simpson
Minerals ’98
Forever diamonds
Minerals in your backyard
10
David Highley & Andrew Bloodworth
After-use of quarries
11
Geoff Williams
Mitigation of minewater pollution
12 – 13
Steve Dumpleton
Minimising the impact of mine waste
14 – 15
Richard Metcalfe, Neil Breward
& Ben Klinck
The construction industry
16
David Highley
UK energy
17
Greg Chapman
Information on-line
18
Tim Colman
3D modelling
19
Gill Norton
Super deposits — super fluids?
20
Tom Shepherd
Minerals from space
21
David Greenbaum
New exploration techniques
22 – 23
Gus Gunn
Gold in Britain
24 – 25
Derek Cooper
Massive sulphides
26 – 27
Randall Parrish
Developing countries
28
Stan Coats
Minerals in Northern Ireland
29
Iain Legg
Mining and tourism
30
Tim Colman
Scottish gemstones
31
Graham Smith
Consultancy and training
32
David Morgan
Newsline
Building with fossils
Cover illustration
A restored shale working now used for
angling. Hope Cement Works, in the Peak
District National Park.
Photograph courtesy of Blue Circle
Industries PLC.
33 – 36
37
Ian Wilkinson & Graham Lott
British
Geological
Survey
Minerals ’98
John Mortimer,
Technical and
External Affairs
Director at ARC
and Chairman of
the CBI Minerals
Committee,
outlines the background and
purpose of
Minerals ’98
Institute of Quarrying
West Midlands
branch sponsored
dump truck drive
from John o' Groats
to Land's End for
charity.
industry, not only as professionals but
also as advocates of the case that the
objective is both vital and achievable.
John Mortimer
ARC, Chipping Sodbury
I
n 1993 palaeontologists working in a
disused gravel pit in Sussex discovered the shin bone of ‘Boxgrove
man’. At the time they were the oldest
human remains ever discovered in
Europe. They also found his perfectly
formed flint hand tools dating from a
period half a million years ago.
The discovery served as a reminder that
since man’s very beginning, we have
taken minerals from the Earth and used
them to make more of life.
Five hundred millennia have come and
gone and as we stand ready to enter yet
another it is an appropriate moment to
remind the nation that minerals
continue to be essential ingredients of
our civilisation.
Minerals ’98 addresses that task by
bringing together industry, professionals,
academics, politicians, teachers, children
and the wider community in a celebration of our mineral wealth and its contribution to society. More importantly,
Minerals ’98 seeks to advance the future
interests of British industry both at home
and abroad in order to ensure that we
maintain its significant economic and
social contribution to the nation.
“... minerals are the essential
ingredients that enable us to
make more of life ...”
Equally importantly, more than 70 000
people work directly in the British
minerals industry with many thousands
more relying indirectly on the industry
for their livelihoods.
British expertise in the minerals sector
is renowned around the world. The BGS
The minerals industry is one of the cornerstones of wealth creation within the
United Kingdom. The minerals produced
from indigenous sources are vital to
many of our manufacturing, processing
and construction industries. Almost every
aspect of our daily lives is dependent in
some way on the minerals we produce.
The new millennium brings with it
tremendous challenges. In an increasingly crowded world, the health of the
planet’s environment concerns us all. It
is more vital than ever that the minerals
industry demonstrates that it is and will
remain, part of the solution and not a
source of the problems which we face
as we look forward to the future.
The UK is fortunate in having an
abundant and varied supply of mineral
resources. In 1996 the value of mineral
production was £21.8 billion excluding
distribution costs. The UK maintains a
positive balance of payments in
minerals. It is self sufficient in construction materials and is a major exporter of
a number of industrial minerals such as
china clay and ball clay.
Reaching the goal of sustainable resource
utilisation will involve everyone in the
In reality, the output value of minerals
does not reflect their ultimate value to
4
the national economy. Minerals are the
basic raw materials for the manufacturing, power supply and construction
industries. When the value of these
sectors, which are almost entirely
minerals based, are also taken into
account, the figures show that minerals
provide the essential raw materials to
industrial sectors that contributed about
£100 billion, or 16 per cent to the total
United Kingdom GDP in 1996.
John Mortimer.
itself, the London Metal Exchange, UK
mining journalism, the number and
strength of UK minerals companies
operating overseas and the leading environmental consultancies, all bear
testimony to our global reputation.
However, the extraction, processing,
delivery and use of minerals have an
impact on the environment. Rightly,
society is placing increasing emphasis
on the environmental sustainability of
all human activity. The extraction of
minerals can be highly visible and is
increasingly the focus of attention for
many environmental pressure groups.
The danger is that the minerals industry
may come to be regarded as ‘unacceptable’ resulting in significantly reduced
activity, declining economic contribution and worsening balance of payments
as imports rise.
Of course, some environmental impacts
are positive — there is nothing environmentally friendly about inadequate
housing, schools, hospitals and
congested roads, and minerals are used
to solve all these problems.
The industry also plays a major role in
conservation. Over one hundred old
quarries are now designated as Sites of
Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).
Working hand in hand with conservation groups and local authorities, the
restoration of mineral workings
provides the opportunity to increase
local biodiversity and in some cases to
contribute to national biodiversity
targets. In particular sand and gravel
extraction is the major provider of
inland wetlands in Britain, replacing
Children visiting a
Grundon quarry at
Chieveley in Berkshire.
They are pictured with
quarry manager Colin
Scarlett.
A former quarry at Blue Circle’s Hope Works which has been restored as a nine-hole golf course.
habitats that have been lost to agriculture and urban development.
A sustainable future for the industry
requires that we harness technological
innovation, so achieving improved efficiency, competitiveness and reduced environmental impact. We will need to recruit
the best talents if we are to succeed.
Ours is an exciting, valuable and responsible industry. But it needs urgently to
address fundamental questions about its
future role in society.
Minerals ’98 is an ambitious initiative –
there has been nothing of its kind before
in the sector. It has evolved from a close
working partnership between a diverse
range of organisations, including minerals
companies, professional institutions and
academia, all of which have an interest in
the future of the minerals sector.
There are three central aims:
• to maintain and enhance the contribution of the UK mineral sector to a sustainable and growing national economy
and an improving quality of life;
• to ensure that the twin objectives of
meeting society’s need for minerals
and the achievement of a sustainable
environment are complementary and
not mutually exclusive;
• to enhance understanding in the
community of the minerals industry,
its role, expertise and relationship
with a sustainable environment.
Communication is a two way process. It
means listening to others as well as
explaining our own point of view. It also
means learning, and just as we hope that
Minerals ’98 will be educational for our
public audience we should learn
ourselves from what they say to us.
As the industry opens doors during
Minerals ’98, let us hope that it opens
minds too. Our message is important.
Minerals are the essential ingredient that
enable us to make more of life.
5
British
Geological
Survey
Minerals
in the
national
economy
UK mineral production
tonnes of saleable minerals worth about
£4 billion from over 2000 mineral sites.
The British coal industry has declined
significantly since the 1960s, initially due
to competition from oil but in recent
years from increasing use of natural gas
and coal imports in electricity generation.
Deep mine coal production was about
30.4 million tonnes in 1997, with an
additional 16.7 million tonnes being
produced from opencast operations.
“... the economy gains not only
from the value of mineral production but also from the much
greater value of the downstream
processing industries that
depend upon it ...”
David Highley
Keyworth
B
ritain is fortunate in being well
endowed with a great variety of
mineral resources, the nature and
distribution of which are related to the
complex geological history of the
British Isles and its adjacent continental
shelf. These resources are national
assets and their extraction and, more
importantly their use, make an essential
contribution to wealth creation, the
nation's infrastructure and the quality of
life of its population.
Mining and quarrying, including the
extraction of oil and gas, contributed
£18 068 million, or 2.8 per cent, to Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in 1996.
Expressed as sales of minerals, on an exmine or quarry basis, the total value is
estimated at £21 796 million in 1996.
Energy minerals, particularly oil and gas,
dominate the value of minerals production (natural gas overtook oil to become
the principal source of primary energy
consumed in Britain for the first time in
1996), and most of this output is from the
UK Continental Shelf. However, there is
a very important onshore extractive
industry producing coal and a wide range
of construction and industrial minerals. In
1996 the minerals industry (exclusive of
oil and gas) extracted some 360 million
6
The tonnage and value of construction
and industrial minerals exceeds that of
metals in most industrialised countries.
This is particularly the case in Britain,
where the last metal mine, the South
Crofty tin mine, closed in March 1998.
Production of metalliferous minerals is
now confined to minor output of lead
and zinc as by-products of the Pennines
fluorspar operations. There is also a
small production of gold in Wales.
Production of construction and industrial minerals has shown large increases
since the Second World War. The continuing strong, albeit cyclical, demand
for construction minerals, particularly
£ million
£170
£1206
aggregates — sand and gravel, and
crushed rock (limestone, igneous rock
and sandstone) — is driven by a continuing need for new roads, commercial
buildings, residential properties, schools
and hospitals. Production of natural
aggregates in Britain peaked at 300
million tonnes in 1989, but was some
215 million tonnes valued at £1206
million in 1996. The production of
industrial minerals, such as china clay,
ball clay, potash, baryte and salt, was
worth some £749 million in 1996.
The value of minerals on an ex-quarry
basis does not truly reflect their ultimate
value to the national economy. The difference between the ex-quarry price of a
mineral and its delivered price can be
considerable for large-volume, lowvalue minerals, and transporting them to
the market place supports an industry in
its own right. Moreover, many minerals
serve as essential raw materials for the
manufacturing sector, where the value
added may be many times the cost of
the raw material. The economy gains
not only from the value of mineral production but also from the much greater
value of the downstream processing
industries that depend upon it. The
extractive industry also provides a
market for a variety of goods and
services, supports other sectors of the
economy and reduces imports.
Information on minerals production,
consumption and trade are given in the
BGS publication United Kingdom
Minerals Yearbook.
£749
£9
Oil (including natural gas liquids)
Natural gas
£1768
Coal
Aggregates
Other Construction Minerals
£12599
£5295
Industrial minerals
Metallic minerals
Total £21 796 million
Value of UK mineral production, 1996.
British
Geological
Survey
Britain’s minerals
trade
Meeting
the needs
of British
industry
Petroleum
Natural gas
NET EXPORT VALUE
China clay
Ball clay
Sand & gravel
Tin
Dimension stone
Manganese
NET
IMPORT
VALUE
Zinc
Lead
Nickel
Iron ore
Copper
Aluminium
Coal
4000
Greg Chapman
Keyworth
W
ith the closure of South Crofty
tin mine in Cornwall, Britain is
now without a metal-mining
industry for the first time in 2000 years.
In fact, we have been dependent on
imports of metals, with the exception of
iron ore, and many other essential
minerals for most of the twentieth
century. The reason for this is not exhaustion of our native resources but the fact
that the demands of world industry can
now best be satisfied by the output from
the very large mining operations that are
found elsewhere in the world, whose
large size enables them to be worked
profitably.
Britain’s mineral-based trade is among
the largest in the world. Although the
total value of minerals and metals traded
is much less than that of consumer
goods, manufacturing still depends
crucially on an assured supply of raw
materials. During the 1970s and 1980s
the world political situation, particularly
in respect of the former communist bloc
and southern Africa, led to fears about
security of supply of commodities such
as chromium, cobalt and vanadium.
Several countries, including Britain,
maintained strategic stockpiles of these
and other commodities. These stockpiles
3500
3000
2500
2000
1500
£ Million
1000
500
0
-500
-1000
UK trade balance in selected minerals (all forms), 1996.
have now either been disposed of or are
being downsized. It remains true,
however, that the supply of many
minerals is concentrated in a small
number of countries. This, combined
with the modern industrial policy of
‘just-in-time’ supply of materials, which
saves the cost of physical stocks, means
that industry is conspicuously vulnerable
to any disruption of primary production
or trade.
Some imports come as crude
(unprocessed) mineral, such as iron ore,
titanium minerals and crude sulphur.
Others come as semi-processed mineral,
such as alumina (aluminium oxide) and
zinc concentrate or as refined metals
(e.g. most copper imports). There is a
well-established trend for the countries
where the minerals are mined to
develop their own processing facilities
and thus to benefit by adding value to
minerals rather than to export them in
their crude state. Imports of phosphate
rock, for example, have recently
declined sharply for this reason, and
Britain now imports manufactured fertiliser in place of the raw material.
Environmental constraints have also
contributed to the closure of processing
plant, especially metal smelters, and
commercial pressures have caused the
substitution of large-scale facilities for a
greater number of smaller plants.
Examples of the restricted number of
sources of mineral and mineral-based
imports are provided by iron ore (40%
from Australia), ferro-manganese (86%
from South Africa and Norway) and
unwrought aluminium (46% from
Russia, or about one quarter of total
consumption). Britain’s four aluminium
smelters rely on imported alumina, two
thirds of which come from Ireland
(based on raw-material imports from
Guinea) and one third from Jamaica.
Tungsten materials are imported from
several countries, but the primary world
supply is dominated by China and
Russia (85%). Coal imports supplied
about one quarter of consumption in
1996 and were chiefly from the USA
(37%), Australia, Colombia and South
Africa. In terms of value, coal was the
largest net mineral import in 1996.
The trade is not entirely one-way; the UK
is one of the top ten exporters of oil and is
the second largest kaolin (china clay)
exporter, after the USA. Among refined
metals produced from imported materials,
Britain is a leading exporter of lead,
silver, chromium and platinum-group
metals, in addition to a vast range of manufactured articles based on minerals from
all sources. The BGS annual publication
World Mineral Statistics gives details of
the production, imports and exports of
almost all traded mineral commodities.
7
British
Geological
Survey
The
unique
properties
of our
most
valued
gemstone
Peter Simpson
Keyworth
D
iamond is a very rare mineral. It
is the hardest substance known
in the universe and the oldest
known gemstone on planet Earth. It is
prized above all other gemstones for its
exceptionally high lustre, spectacular
fire and intrinsic hardness and durability. These characteristics ensure
diamond’s pride of place, as a highly
distinctive personal decoration and as a
convenient, portable storage of wealth.
Diamond is also the basis of many
industrial applications which underpin
crucial areas of modern science and
technology, ranging from space exploration to use as a die or as a tool for
working other hard materials (including
diamond itself). Without diamond,
modern industry would literally grind to
a halt.
History
The history of diamond as a gemstone
originated in India before the sixth
century AD — perhaps as early as the
fourth century BC. Natural, transparent
octahedra, which generated strong fire
were highly prized by monarchs. The
stones were imbued with a range of
mystical, magical and religious forces
which not only signified the status of
8
Forever diamonds
Luminescence of a polished diamond
plate (2.7 mm across) when
bombarded with electrons (cathodoluminescence). Viewed in ordinary
light, this stone would be colourless
and transparent, but the cathodoluminescence displays a series of zones
illustrating the complex growth
history of the diamond. The growth
zones relate to differential uptake of
nitrogen during growth, bright blue
zones being high in nitrogen and
green zones low in nitrogen. The
diamond is a natural one from
Bultfontein mine, Kimberley, South
Africa, formed at 150–200 km
below the Earth’s surface.
Photo: Ben Harte and Jeff Harris,
Universities of Edinburgh and
Glasgow.
the wearer but also had the power to
influence the ultimate fate of the wearer,
a quasi-spiritual status which has
attached to diamonds through the ages
and persists into the modern era.
Mineralogy of carbon
Carbon comes in many physical forms,
but when it is naturally subjected to
high temperatures and pressures (in
excess of 1000˚C and 50 kilobars) it
forms diamond. These conditions are
found in, and are characteristic of, the
upper mantle, deep beneath the Earth’s
continental crust. Diamond is the
cubic, high-pressure polymorph of
graphite, lonsdaleite and buckminsterfullerene, and is metastable at room
temperatures (beware — diamond will
burn when heated in air).
When the conditions of high temperature and high pressure are reproduced
in the laboratory it is possible to
produce synthetic diamond grit and
synthetic gem diamond from appropriate starting materials. These methods
are presently used to generate small
quantities of synthetic gem diamond.
More importantly, a high proportion of
the diamond abrasive and cutting
material used by industry is synthetic,
since the form of the diamond product
can be precisely controlled, replicated
and optimised for industrial use.
Geological setting of diamonds
Diamonds are found in vertical, discordant, pipe-like intrusions of rocks such
as kimberlite and lamproite, located in
cratons (areas of ancient, stable continental crust). Economically important
diamond-bearing kimberlites are mostly
located in archons, which are the oldest
(more than 2.5 billion years old) components of cratons (e.g. Kaapvaal, South
Africa). Protons (1.6–2.5 billion years
old) are less likely to contain diamond
pipes; such economic pipes as are
Photo: De Beers
Coloured diamond in the rough
Diamond occurs in nature in a wide
range of natural colours attributable to
the effect of chemical impurities which
cause differential absorption of white light
and hence colour. Yellow is a common
colour, but the most valuable gemstones
are generally pure white and flawless.
present are likely to be lamproite (e.g.
Argyle Mine, Australia). The younger
components of cratons (800 million to
1.6 billion years old) are called tectons
and probably contain neither kimberlites
nor lamproites.
Diamonds are usually redistributed from
pipes, by uplift, weathering, transport
and sedimentation, into secondary
placers, both on land and in near-coastal
zones (a good example of the latter is
on the Namibian coast).
with no equipment other than a good
quality x10 loupe or lens. The study of
gem diamonds is one of the few
remaining areas of mineral science where
a good eye and brain with relevant
knowledge, experience and qualifications, allied to a portable pocket instrument, is sufficient for most purposes of
identification and evaluation.
Photo: De Beers
Rough diamond shapes
Photo: De Beers
Rough diamonds by the shovelfull
Photo: De Beers
Rough diamond octahedra
A packet of natural, rough octahedral
diamond crystals of the type which
first attracted the attention of man,
due to their well-formed crystal shape,
exceptionally high lustre, spectacular
fire and intrinsic hardness and durability combined with resistance to
wear. The earliest use of diamond as
a gemstone probably involved wearing
such stones uncut in their natural
form.
The world diamond market in rough
stones is managed in large part by the
Central Selling Organisation, which is
designed to ensure an orderly market
and smoothes out the swings between
supply, demand and prices of rough
stones. The market in cut stones is
however unregulated and therefore more
sensitive to market conditions.
A packet of natural rough sub-rounded
diamond crystals called ‘shapes’. The
curved faces of many of these stones are
attributable to resorption of the natural
octahedral faces, which occurs when
diamond is no longer stable. Geological
processes are responsible for controlling
the high-temperature and high-pressure
diamond stability field in the upper
mantle.
There are diamonds and
diamonds
The three separate packages of
natural uncut rough diamonds
are each valued at half a million
dollars (US), illustrating the
very wide range which exists in
the commercial value between
industrial-grade material and
top quality gemstones. Much of
the appraisal and classification
of rough diamonds into more
than 6000 categories is therefore
concerned with the evaluation of
each stone by carat weight,
colour and clarity.
Gem diamonds: the four Cs
In assessing the quality of a diamond,
there is no substitute for knowledge and
experience. Diamantaires (who are
experts in the visual evaluation of
diamonds) are often able to perform
much of what is required for a preliminary evaluation of a diamond, leading to
an assessment of its quality and price,
Photo: De Beers
The quality of polished gem diamonds is
assessed internationally using the
following independent criteria: carat
(weight), colour, clarity and cut. These
characteristics are well defined and form
a common basis for comparison throughout the world. They can be determined
directly on unmounted stones by visual
examination followed, where necessary,
by standard laboratory procedures.
9
British
Geological
Survey
Mineral
resources
maps
from the
BGS
David Highley
& Andrew Bloodworth
Keyworth
A
lthough most of us would
accept that minerals are
essential to our quality of life,
we are often unwilling to support a
proposal to work minerals in our own
backyard. Nevertheless, minerals can
be worked only where they occur, and
there are few parts of our islands where
any new development can take place
without disturbing some other legitimate and understandable interest in the
land.
Minerals in your
backyard
Achieving the right balance between
protection of the environment and
wealth creation through mineral development is one of the major issues facing
“... achieving the right balance
between protection of the environment and wealth creation
through mineral development is
one of the major issues facing
the minerals industry and
planning process today ...”
the minerals industry and planning
process today. Responsible resource
management is becoming of increasing
importance, particularly since many of
the easier options for mineral development have already been taken. Access
to reliable information on the extent,
quality and potential of our indigenous
mineral resources is an essential
element of effective decision-making in
the fields of resource management and
land-use planning. This includes safeguarding resources against sterilisation
by the use of land for other forms of
development.
Balancing the demand for minerals and
the need to protect the environment is
the task of the land-use planning
system. As a society, we require an
adequate supply of minerals, and we
also require that the environment should
be well cared for. This means that the
regulatory planning system must
provide the minerals necessary to
Part of the Cornwall
Mineral Resources
Map, showing
resources, planning
permissions and
planning constraints in
the St Austell china
clay area.
10
Fuller's earth quarry in Surrey.
sustain economic growth as well as to
control mineral development to ensure
that the environment is protected.
Although the planning system operates
within a national framework, it is local
authorities, usually at county level, who
must produce a mineral planning policy
in the form of a development plan. To
assist in the preparation of these plans,
the BGS is developing systems for the
display of information on mineral
resources, and the environmental constraints that may affect their extraction,
for selected areas in England and
Wales. Output is as mineral resource
maps, with accompanying reports. All
the data collected are in digital form,
enabling easy revision and customisation to meet individual user needs.
The project, entitled Mineral Resource
Information for Development Plans, is
funded by the Department of the
Environment, Transport and the
Regions (DETR). A primary objective
is to provide baseline information on
mineral resources in a consistent format
for the long term, allowing issues such
as ‘minerals in your backyard’ to be
considered in context. The maps and
associated reports are available from
the BGS.
British
Geological
Survey
Old mines
and
quarries
as a
valuable
resource
Geoff Williams
Keyworth
T
he space created by quarries and
mines exceeds the rate at which
we fill them, so there will always
be holes looking for uses.
Filling disused quarries with domestic
waste is a common way of restoring
them to previous ground level, but not all
sites are geologically suitable or near
enough to the places where waste is
produced to make this use economic.
Rain falling on domestic waste stimulates biodegradation, generating methane,
carbon dioxide, and a highly polluting
liquid known as leachate. If the geology
is permeable (e.g. sand, gravel or
fractured rock), this leachate may enter
and pollute groundwater. Landfill gas
may also migrate, causing an explosion
or suffocation if it enters housing. There
are many cases of groundwater pollution
and there have been several incidents of
methane explosions in the UK. Gas or
leachate can be prevented from escaping
by sealing the quarry with clay or very
tough impermeable plastic, but leachate
and gas are still produced within the site
and have to be removed. Fortunately,
landfill gas can be used to generate electricity, so many operators now control
gas emissions at the same time as recovering energy. Leachate, on the other
After-use of quarries
A flooded quarry used for scuba diving. Stoney Cove, Leicestershire.
hand, usually has to be pumped out,
treated and disposed of elsewhere.
Clearly, disposing of waste into quarries
can create major environmental problems
requiring costly engineering site preparation and on-going management. With
future legislation requiring recycling and
waste pretreatment prior to landfilling,
the volume of waste material will reduce
and alternative uses for quarries will be
increasingly sought by their owners, the
community and local planning authorities
working closely together.
“... quarries can still be an asset
to specific groups of people.
Recreational uses abound, if the
geology and hydrogeology
are right ...”
Abandoned quarries can be scenically
very attractive and can enhance the countryside, producing wonderful habitats for
birds, animals and plants, and providing
a haven for fish and fishermen. Even if
they are less attractive, quarries can still
be an asset to specific groups of people.
Recreational uses abound, if the geology
and hydrogeology are right. They include
water sports such as boating, water
skiing, canoeing, rowing, sailing and
scuba diving or off-roading for Land
Rovers, motorbikes and mountain bikes.
In addition rock climbing, horse riding,
shooting clubs, caravan and picnic sites,
film sets, geological trails, rock festival
sites, firework and bonfire sites and
wilderness play grounds are all possible
uses for abandoned quarries, the list
appears endless. There is even a plan to
convert a huge china clay quarry near St
Austell in Cornwall into the world’s
largest green-house. It will be 200 ft high
and half a mile long, creating four
different climates in which to conserve
endangered plants, and which will cost
£1 billion. Alternatively, industrial developments, supermarkets and car parks are
often possible, and some quarries are
known to be used for explosives and ballistics research.
Just like quarries, underground mines or
spaces purposely excavated can be put to
use, especially if they are dry. Storage
(oil, liquefied petroleum gas, wine, art
treasures, ordnance), mushroom growing,
mountain biking, industrial archaeology
museums and research facilities for the
detection of elementary particles are all
examples of diverse uses for underground space. In the future we may well
be living underground in artificial
habitats beneath our overcrowded cities,
or even beneath the countryside.
Remember to watch this space. . .
11
British
Geological
Survey
The need
for
research,
monitoring
and
prevention
Mitigation of
minewater pollution
Ochrous discharge into the
River Loxley at Loxley
Bottom, Malin Bridge,
Sheffield. The discharge
comes from an obscured
water adit from Woodend
Colliery, Stannington, and
has a significant impact on
the water quality and aquatic
life. Some 21 000 m2 of river
bed is affected, over a
distance of 3 km downstream
from the discharge. The
discharge is acidic (pH 4.9 –
6.3). As well as causing an
ochrous precipitate of ferric
hydroxide on the river bed,
the minewater also has significantly elevated concentrations of zinc and manganese.
Steve Dumpleton
Keyworth
I
n April 1993, with no warning,
highly ferruginous and acidic
minewater began to emerge from old
coal mine workings at Lower
Ynysarwed near Neath, in the South
Wales Coalfield. Although mining had
ceased here as long ago as 1938, the
water had been controlled by pumps at
the adjacent Blaenant colliery until they
were switched off in 1991. By the end
of 1993, the discharge had more than
doubled in volume, and a 12 km section
of the Neath Canal had become grossly
polluted, coating the canal bed with an
orange precipitate of ferric hydroxide
and killing most of the aquatic life.
This incident illustrates the environmental
effects of polluted water discharge from
abandoned collieries. It is not a new
problem. Coal mining is the most
extensive activity in the long history of
British mineral exploitation. Local
ochrous discharges into rivers and streams
from long abandoned, generally smallscale mine workings, are known from the
older parts of many coalfields. However,
with the recent closure of many coal
mines, and sometimes the abandonment
of entire coalfields, minewater has now
become a significant cause of freshwater
pollution in these areas.
12
Mining has always had to contend with
underground water. Historically, the
development of the steam engine
enabled large volumes of water to be
pumped from the mines, making
“... coal mining is the most
extensive activity in the long
history of British mineral
exploitation. Local ochrous discharges into rivers and streams
from long abandoned, generally
small-scale mine workings, are
known from the older parts of
many coalfields ...”
possible the rapid growth of the industry
in the nineteenth century. On abandonment, the workings are liable to
flooding unless pumping is continued.
Because coal workings are often
complexly interlinked underground,
often from one colliery to another, it is
necessary to maintain a network of
pumping stations to de-water abandoned
mines, in order to prevent the flooding
of currently operating collieries.
Coal and coal-bearing rocks commonly
contain the mineral pyrite (ferrous
sulphide FeS2). During mining operations, air comes into contact with pyrite
in damp conditions. Bacterial action
assists oxidation to soluble ferrous
sulphate, and this is accompanied by the
release of sulphuric acid. The speed of
this process is enhanced by the increased
surface area caused by mining-induced
fractures. When the last mine has closed
and pumping has stopped, water levels
recover, dissolving the pyrite oxidation
products, resulting in contaminated
minewater rising towards ground level. If
this reaches a surface water course,
further oxidation and hydrolysis occurs,
leading to yet more acidity and the precipitation of ochre on the stream bed.
Mining permanently alters the state of
the ground. In many coalfields, several
coal seams have been extracted in
extensive, overlapping ‘stacks’ of
workings. Subsidence fractures extend
upwards, not only causing damage to
property on the surface, but also
creating pathways for minewater
movement. Although disused mine
shafts may be filled and sealed, underground workings, especially access
In the recently abandoned Durham
coalfield, pumping stations still control
water levels in the east of the exposed
coalfield. To the west of the pumping
stations, however, several uncontrolled
ferruginous minewater discharges occur
as a result of rising water levels.
Research carried out at Newcastle
University indicates that if pumping
ceases, serious pollution is likely, especially in the River Wear, building up
over a period of 40 years or so.
“... due to exhaustion, or to
economic or political factors, the
mines will eventually close ...”
roadways, may remain open long after
abandonment, providing many miles of
interlinked conduits through which large
volumes of minewater may flow.
Barriers of unworked coal are
sometimes left as a protection against
flooding from adjacent waterlogged old
workings. However, cessation of
pumping may cause such a build up of
water that these barriers fail, resulting in
sudden surges in minewater flow. This
is thought to be the cause of the incident
at Ynysarwed.
The Yorkshire–Nottinghamshire coalfield is Britain’s largest, now with only
a very few working collieries
remaining. The present-day mine
workings lie at the deep, eastern
extremities of a network of interconnected old workings which extend
westwards, rising up to the surface.
These form several ‘ponds’ in which a
group of pumping stations control
underground water at carefully maintained levels, thus protecting the
working mines.
Due to exhaustion, or to economic or
political factors, the mines will eventually close. The situation closely
resembles that at the Durham coalfield,
and decisions will have to be made
about whether or not to continue
pumping. Recent work carried out at
the BGS suggests that minewater
pollution would be inevitable if
“... more research is needed to
assess the rates at which
minewater will rise, where the
worst impacts will be, and what
remediation or prevention
measures can be taken ...”
pumping were to cease, not only
affecting surface water courses but also
posing a possible risk to the PermoTriassic water-supply aquifers which
overlie the concealed coalfield.
More research is needed to assess the
rates at which minewater will rise,
where the worst impacts will be, and
what remediation or prevention
measures can be taken. Co-operation
between the Environment Agency, the
Coal Authority, the mining companies
and the considerable hydrogeological,
environmental and mining expertise of
universities and the BGS is essential in
order to understand and minimise the
risks from this potential environmental
problem.
Working mines, currently pumping.
Recently abandoned mines,
beginning to flood.
Old abandoned mines,
mostly flooded
Surface
AQUIFER
Spill-over point
Critical Zone
(potential spill-over point)
Barrier weakened by subsidence
and water erosion
Barrier weakened by subsidence
Envelope volume of mine workings
Zone of subsidence
Extent of flooded mine workings
Coal seams
Water Table
‘Leaky bucket’ conceptual model of minewater movement.
13
British
Geological
Survey
Strategies
to reduce the
effect on the
environment
Richard Metcalfe,
Neil Breward
& Ben Klinck
Minimising the
impact of mine waste
where it will constitute a lower hazard,
or containing it using engineered
barriers such as tailings dams, reed
beds, geomembranes or clay barriers.
“... there are many strategies that
can reduce the environmental
hazards posed by metalliferous
mine waste ...”
These measures may not be feasible
where wastes arise from large-scale,
historical mining in developing
countries with scarce resources. In these
circumstances, the most appropriate
way to minimise the hazard may be
suitable land-use planning, so as to
restrict the use of the contaminated site.
This approach will be most effective
where the hazard will diminish naturally
with time.
In practice, the resources available to
minimise the hazard posed by any given
mine waste are always finite. Therefore,
available resources must be deployed in
a manner appropriate to the size of the
hazard and the risk to health that it represents. To quantify the risks, in the
present and the future, it is necessary to
predict the concentrations of potentially
toxic elements at any point between the
source (mine waste) and receptor
(human populations, livestock, vegetation etc) at any time from the present
onwards. These concentrations depend
upon: the physical and chemical characteristics of the solid mine wastes themselves; the hydraulic conditions within
and around these wastes; and the
chemical processes which reduce or
concentrate toxins after they have been
Keyworth
H
istorically, mining to extract
metals has produced wastes
which contain toxic chemicals.
For example, water leaching from the
wastes may be highly acidic or alkaline,
and might carry many toxic heavy
metals, such as lead, copper, zinc and
cadmium. Such wastes often pose a significant risk to the health of vegetation,
animals and humans. In most developed
countries, such as the UK, the hazards
represented by these wastes mainly
reflect historical mining activities.
Nevertheless, the wastes can limit the
ways in which surrounding land can be
used, and in extreme cases can cause
major pollution incidents (e.g. from the
flooding of disused mine workings, as at
Wheal Jane in Cornwall in 1992).
There are many strategies that can
reduce the environmental hazards posed
by metalliferous mine waste. Current
mines can be planned to minimise the
amounts of hazardous wastes they
produce, but for historical mines, where
waste already exists, some kind of
remedial action may be required.
Hazards from such existing wastes can
be reduced by using one or more of
many strategies. These strategies
include removing the waste to a locality
14
Tailings at a lead-zinc-silver mine in southern Peru.
leached from mine workings and solid
waste deposits. To predict the risk
arising from these contaminants, we
need to know their partitioning between
solid and aqueous phases, the migration
pathways, and the rates of migration. It
is necessary to quantify the metal pollutants’ distributions between different
dissolved forms (chemical speciation),
and the nature and rates of reactions in
which they take part (including adsorption, precipitation, and dissolution
reactions). We must also constrain the
directions and rates of movement of the
transporting media, most importantly
water. Thus, the estimation of risks
from mine wastes draws upon the disciplines of hydrogeology, geochemistry,
mineralogy and petrology.
“... available resources must be
deployed in a manner appropriate
to the size of the hazard and the
risk to health that it represents ...”
The BGS is currently developing such a
holistic approach. The approach builds
on experience gained by the BGS during
its involvement, over several years, in
projects aimed at evaluating the hazards
represented by different kinds of mine
waste. Past studies include projects
funded by the DFID, entitled
‘Environmental impacts of gold and
complex sulphide mining’ and ‘Hazard
ranking system for solid waste disposal.’
The approach being adopted is novel in
that it takes account of all the major
interrelated chemical and physical
processes and their associated uncertainties. This is achieved by conducting
Monte Carlo simulations in which
values of all the key parameters such as
groundwater pH, oxidation state and
concentration of chloride are chosen at
random between limits suggested by the
uncertainties on their measured values.
Theoretical simulations of the mobility
of each toxin are then undertaken for
each set of parameters. This approach
builds up a set of predictions of the
mobility of each toxin, and enables an
estimate to be made of the probability
that any toxin will be mobile. This information is then used to estimate risk,
using computer codes such as the US
,
,
,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,,,,
,,,,,,
Recharge
A
'Young', polluted
water
Tailings
pond
During Mining
Risk from surface mine water
Risk from tailings leachate
Mine
dewatering
Flo
w
B
Drinking water
abstraction well
w
Flo
Recharge
Tailings
pond
'Young', polluted
water
Water
Table
'Old', unpolluted
water abstraction
Post-Mining
Risk from tailings leachate
Flo
w
Mixing (dispersion) of
pollutant
Drinking water
abstraction well
Water
Table
Risk from abstraction of mixed
polluted water and 'old',
unpolluted water
Schematic diagrams illustrating some potential variations in risk from hazardous mine wastes
after a metal mine is closed. In A, water from mine pumping and a tailings pond pose a
hazard, but groundwater that is abstracted near a population centre is unpolluted. In B, water
from mine pumping is no longer a hazard, but water from the tailings pond continues to be
hazardous; water from the disused mine has now polluted the groundwater that is abstracted for
domestic use.
EPA-approved Risk Assistant™. The
aim is to identify which parameters are
particularly important for estimating
risks under any given waste management scenario. This information will be
used to devise a method for ranking the
hazards posed by a specific metalliferous
mine waste, using easily acquired information such as the identities of the
minerals in the wastes, the levels of
local water tables, and the local topography. Such a method will enable appro-
priate hazard remediation or avoidance
strategies to be chosen. Because the
approach adopted will allow a quantitative estimate of risk to be made, it will
be possible to compare risks arising
from hazardous mine wastes with other
environmental risks. The approach will,
in turn, enable resources to be targeted
at the greatest risk, in accordance with
the principles of BATNEEC (Best
Available Technology Not Entailing
Excessive Cost).
15
British
Geological
Survey
A major
consumer
of mineral
raw
materials
The construction
industry
Tonnes
100
90
80
70
60
sand & gravel,
crushed rock
for foundations
& concrete blocks
50
40
mortar,
concrete
roof tiles
30
20
bricks
mortar,
ready-mix concrete,
roof tiles
Brick clay
Cement
10
0
Sand
Aggregates
Some of the materials used in the construction of a small-detached house with garage. These
figures do not include minerals used in the ground work to the house and services, including
concrete paving slabs, bituminous mixes for the drive and access roads, gravel for bedding
drains, and indeed the drains themselves. These minerals are derived from indigenous sources.
David Highley
Keyworth
A
wide range of buildings and construction facilities are required by
modern society, including our
transport infrastructure. The construction
industry is a major sector of the
economy, with an annual output of
around £50 billion. It is a very large
consumer of mineral-based materials
ranging from aggregates, cement, bricks
and tiles to structural steel, glass and
ceramic bathroom fittings. These raw
materials have been estimated to make up
around 40 per cent of the total value of
construction output, or some £20 billion.
Volumetrically, aggregates constitute the
main raw material used in construction,
and about 4 tonnes of aggregates are used
per £1000 of construction output. Most of
the crushed rock (limestone, igneous rock
and sandstone) and sand and gravel
produced in Britain (215 million tonnes
in 1996) is used in construction. There
has been a proportional shift in primary
aggregates consumption from sand and
gravel to crushed rock: in 1996 sand and
gravel accounted for 38 per cent of total
production, compared with 52 per cent in
1970. The Government wishes to see a
reduction in the consumption of land-won
sand and gravel and increasing use of
secondary and recycled materials.
16
Decent housing contributes much to the
quality of our lives. A wide range of
minerals is used in the construction of the
average house. Copper is used in wiring
and pipes; stainless steel, which includes
significant amounts of chromium, is used
in sinks and cutlery; china clay, ball clay,
quartz and feldspar are used in ceramic
fittings such as tiles and sanitaryware;
and quartz, limestone and salt, in the
form soda ash, are the essential components of window glass and bottles.
However, these are greatly overshadowed
by those minerals, such as aggregates and
brick clay, used in the construction of the
fabric of the house. There are nearly 25
million households in Britain and an extra
4.4 million have been projected for
England alone between 1991 and 2016.
These will require prodigious quantities
of mineral raw materials, mainly aggregates for foundations and concrete
blocks, sand for mortar and concrete roof
tiles, and brick clay for facing bricks.
Gypsum is used in the production of
plaster and plasterboard, and roof and
cavity insulation materials are based on
silica sand, dolerite (rock wool), or lightweight aggregates such as perlite and vermiculite.
Index 1955 = 100
350
Aggregates
consumption
Value of all
construction work
300
250
200
150
100
UK GDP
GDP and construction output
indices in 1990 constant prices
50
0
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
Year
Aggregates consumption, the value of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the value of
construction output (in constant 1990 prices), 1955 – 1996.
The consumption of aggregates, unlike many other minerals consumed in Britain has generally
increased with rising GDP over many years. Aggregates consumption, although highly cyclical,
correlates well with construction activity and investment in the expanding services sector of the economy.
British
Geological
Survey
Changing
patterns of
power
generation
UK energy
when nuclear power first contributed
more than 20 per cent of total electricity
generation, and 1996 when natural gas
first attained 20 per cent and coal contributed only 43 per cent. The gas share
of electricity generation has since risen to
some 28 per cent in 1997, and total
natural gas production has more than
doubled since 1989.
Continued concern about the effects on
world climate of ‘greenhouse gases’
will be one of the factors that decides
the future pattern of energy supply in
the UK and throughout the world.
Burning coal in power stations causes
emissions of, in particular, sulphur
dioxide and carbon dioxide, which will
be increasingly constrained by international agreements. In the UK, opencast
coal mining, while more profitable than
underground mining, is widely opposed
on local environmental grounds. Purely
economic factors have caused the
closure of most deep mines so that coal
production in the UK has dropped even
faster than consumption and the country
that was once the world’s leading coal
exporter now finds that coal is, by
value, its largest mineral net import.
Natural gas, with lower carbon dioxide
emissions per unit of energy generated
and negligible sulphur content, is the
favoured fuel for new power stations. It
has been the largest component of
primary energy consumption in the UK
since 1996 and its second largest
mineral net export. Its use will continue
to grow, but the size of world coal
resources indicates that coal will
maintain its global position as a source
of energy. How much of that market
can be claimed by UK coal production
remains to be seen.
“... early predictions that North
Sea oil output would decline
after the nineteen eighties have
been proven wrong ...”
Keyworth
I
n the past half-century the mineral
basis of Britain’s energy supply has
changed profoundly. In 1948, when
the coal industry was nationalised, coal
provided almost all the country’s electrical power, the only exception being a
small contribution from hydroelectricity. Mechanical steam power, fuelled by
coal, was still widely used in industry.
Almost all domestic heating was by coal
or coal-derivatives, notably coal gas,
and the rail transport network depended
entirely on coal, either directly for locomotives, or indirectly for electrified
lines.
The advent of relatively cheap imported
oil and, later, of oil and natural gas from
the North Sea, with an additional contribution from nuclear power, has caused a
collapse in the demand for coal for industrial and domestic use. However, while
other uses declined, coal consumption for
electricity generation continued to rise
slowly until 1991. Then it too fell steeply
as the the EC ‘Gas Burn’ directive was
repealed, the electricity supply industry
was privatised and the power generation
companies began to build gas-fired plants
with lower capital costs and more
efficient operation. Particular milestones
in the past twenty years have been 1983,
Source: Department of Trade and Industry
160
140
million tonnes oil equivalent
Greg Chapman
Oil was first produced from the North
Sea fields in 1975 and production built
up quickly, reaching a peak of of 122.5
million tonnes in 1985. Production then
fell, due to falling oil prices, but early
predictions that North Sea oil output
would decline after the nineteen eighties
have been proven wrong and production
peaked again at 130.3 million tonnes in
1995. Onshore fields, although
producing less than 5 per cent of the
national total, have also shown a
dramatic increase in production, from
77 900 tonnes in 1976 to 5.3 million
tonnes in 1996, with most of the recent
production coming from the Wytch
Farm field in Dorset.
120
100
Oil
80
Coal
60
40
20
Natural gas
0
1950
Hydro and nuclear
1960
1970
1980
1990
Production of primary fuels in the UK, 1950–1996 (energy supplied basis).
17
British
Geological
Survey
MINGOL:
interactive
minerals
GIS
Information on-line
External
Data
Topography
Input
Geology
BGS Data
Mineral
Occurrences
Mines and
Quarries
Infrastructure
Mineral
Statistics
Planning
Constraints
Mineral
Planning
Permissions
Tim Colman
Keyworth
M
INGOL (Minerals GIS OnLine) is a Geographical
Information System (GIS)
providing minerals information in Britain
for a wide range of customer applications
into the twenty-first century. At its centre
is a state-of-the-art GIS on the nature and
distribution of metallic, industrial and
construction mineral deposits, within the
context of current planning and environmental constraints. MINGOL forms an
easily accessible minerals information
system, based on the capture and integration of BGS mineral resource datasets,
from which value-added products can be
developed to meet customer needs.
The MINGOL system continues to
develop. The current display integrates
national topographic and geological data
with information on active mines and
quarries from the BGS BRITPITS
dataset. Mineral exploration information
from the private sector and the BGS
Minerals Programme can also be shown
and interrogated.
The MINGOL system is now being
developed in a regional context at a scale
of 1:250 000 to cover the whole of Britain,
starting with the English Lake District, an
area which encompasses a variety of
18
Directory of
Mines and
Quarries
MINGOL
GIS
Mineral
Exploration
DETR Mineral
Resource Planning
Maps
1:250 000
Mineral
Resources Maps
Customer-specified
Products
Output
Design and integration of the BGS MINGOL system.
working quarries, mineral deposits and
local planning constraints. Data from the
County Mineral Resource map series,
being produced for the Department of the
Environment, Transport and the Regions
(DETR) is being incorporated into the
MINGOL system.
Several commercial contracts have
already been completed by the BGS
using data from MINGOL and the capabilities of the system are being demonstrated to potential customers in a wide
range of governmental and industrial
fields.
A typical MINGOL
query, showing
limestone quarries
(red) within 1 km of
a railway, selected
from all limestone
quarries (blue),
selected from all
quarries in the
BRITPITS database
of active mines and
quarries (black).
British
Geological
Survey
Visualising
and
assessing
complex
mineral
deposits
3D modelling
Gill Norton
Keyworth
3
D-visualisation and virtual-reality
models are being used increasingly
in all areas of life, from architecture to fighter pilot training, and current
applications include mineral exploration
and mine development. The BGS has
the capability for 3D mineral deposit
modelling and reserve calculation using
VULCAN software. VULCAN is a
dynamic, 3D geological modelling and
mine-planning system, which has been
used in applications as diverse as visual
impact assessment for new mines,
modelling the distribution of noise
pollution around mine sites, and ongoing calculation of ore reserves of
worked deposits.
BGS staff have used the system to
create a model of the structurally
complex orebody at Foss Mine,
Aberfeldy, Scotland on a project under
the Technology Access Programme of
the Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI). Data were provided by the mine
personnel in the form of mine plans,
mine sections, surface geology, and
geophysical, soil and borehole data.
These data were integrated into a single
model showing the proven extent of the
orebody, and the current mine design,
with driveages, declines and stopes.
3D view of a block model of part of the Parys Mountain deposit, seen from the south-east. The
blocks are coloured according to the copper assay value.
From this model, reserves can be calculated, and the future mine development
can be planned. The 3D model helps to
optimise the extraction of ore.
Under another DTI Technology Access
project, BGS staff have worked with
Anglesey Mining plc and KRJA
Systems Ltd on a model of the geology
and mineralisation at Parys Mountain on
“... 3D modelling is also
becoming extremely important
in assessing the environmental
impact of new developments ...”
Anglesey, North Wales, so that the
underground geology can be better
understood and new exploration can be
targeted. A large number of boreholes
have been loaded into the model, so that
lithological, geochemical and PIMA
(Portable Infrared Mineral Analyser)
data can be displayed in 3D together
with existing mine shafts, topographic
data and structural surfaces. A preliminary block model of geochemical data
in part of the mine property has been
produced to indicate the distribution of
ore elements in this potential zinc, with
lead and copper, mine.
3D modelling is also becoming
extremely important in assessing the
environmental impact of new developments. For example, it is possible to
create a model of an open pit before it is
dug, with appropriate landscaping to
enable planning authorities to visualise
the appearance of the site before, during
and after working, from any possible
angle. VULCAN software has also been
used by the BGS in non-mining contexts.
For example, the geology around the
potential nuclear repository site at
Sellafield in west Cumbria is complex
and a full 3D structural model of the area
was required, so that a better understanding of the hydrogeology and movement
of groundwater could be gained. The
model was constructed by integrating
seismic reflection profile interpretations
with lithological data from boreholes and
surface outcrop mapping.
3D visualisation has always been an
essential component of a geologist’s
interpretive skills. Now it is possible to
develop rigorous computer models to aid
the geologist in providing sound advice.
19
British
Geological
Survey
Super deposits —
super fluids?
Studying
minute
amounts
of oreforming
fluids
class of deposit. These resources now
account for more than 75 per cent of the
world’s supply of non-ferrous metals and
yet we are unable to explain or predict
their phenomenal metal endowment.
Olympic Dam, South Australia, one of
the best known examples, has estimated
reserves of 2000 million tons of ore, containing 1.6 per cent copper, 0.06 per cent
uranium oxide, 3.5 grams per tonne gold
and 0.6 grams per tonne silver.
Descriptions of Olympic Dam and other
‘super’ deposits often refer to multi-stage
mineralisation as a mechanism for metal
enrichment (i.e. hydrothermal reworking,
with concomitant upgrading of the ore).
However, although this idea is conceptually attractive, similar features are shown
by much smaller or lower-grade deposits.
For the geochemist, this raises the
exciting possibility that ‘super’ deposits
may owe their origin to the activity of
anomalously rich metalliferous fluids.
Tom Shepherd
To investigate this hypothesis, the BGS
has developed the analytical capability for
determining the metal content of individual fluid inclusions in a wide range of ore
and gangue minerals. Known as LAMPICP-MS (Laser Ablation Inductively
Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry), the
technique utilises a powerful, ultra-fine
laser beam to drill into selected inclusions
Keyworth
I
ncreasing interest by the minerals
industry in ‘super’ deposits and the
critical importance of such deposits to
national economies has highlighted our
very poor scientific understanding of this
and vaporise the contents for ICP-MS
analysis. Preliminary data for several
world-class copper-molybdenum-gold
porphyry deposits confirm that the ore
fluids contained exceptionally high levels
“... the evidence acquired is
consistent with the hypothesis
that ‘super’ fluids may have
played an important role ...”
of metal (100 ppm to several 1000 ppm);
in some instances an order of magnitude
greater than predicted theoretically. The
figure shows the LAMP-ICP-MS signals
for copper, zinc, silver and lead for a 50micron-diameter fluid inclusion in vein
quartz from a well known porphyry
copper-gold deposit.
From a practical point of view, metal
enrichment vectors for the ore fluids offer
a new approach to the ranking of prospects
and can be considered complementary to
drill core assays — ‘high metal content,
high prospectivity’. At present our
database is too small to be truly predictive,
but the evidence acquired is consistent
with the hypothesis that ‘super’ fluids may
have played an important role in the
formation of ‘super’ deposits.
4000
Laser-ablation analysis
of a fluid inclusion
from a porphyry
copper-gold deposit.
3500
copper 500 ppm
Signal intensity (acu)
3000
zinc 4000 ppm
2500
Metal
concentrations
in ore fluid
2000
silver 10 ppm
lead 1500 ppm
1500
1000
500
0
0
20
20
40
60
80
100
120
Laser Ablation time (secs)
140
160
180
200
British
Geological
Survey
The use of
remote
sensing to
identify
mineral
deposits
Minerals from space
show some differences from laboratory
spectra, caused by atmospheric effects
and by the fact that the ground surface
is typically a mixture of minerals, rocks,
soils and vegetation. However, software
(and experience) allows the unmixing of
the signal and the identification of individual minerals and their relative abundances.
David Greenbaum
Keyworth
I
t is now more than a quarter of a
century since the launch of the first
earth-observation satellite. Although
there have been several advances in
sensor design and sensitivity in this
period, the suite of current satellites
(e.g. Landsat, SPOT, IRS, JERS-1) is
still rather inadequate to meet the needs
of the exploration geologist. Despite
this, remote sensing from space, especially in arid regions, has provided
some spectacular successes in mapping
structure, discriminating lithologies and,
significantly, detecting rock alteration
associated with hydrothermal mineral
deposits.
The latter possibility derives from the
reflectance properties of minerals such
as clays, carbonates and sulphates,
common in alteration assemblages,
which typically have absorptions in the
2.1–2.3 µm wavelength region
(shortwave infrared) and of iron oxides
which absorb in the 0.4 – 0.6 µm
region (visible to nearest infrared).
Using Landsat Thematic Mapper data,
an image incorporating ratios of bands
5 & 7 and bands 1 & 3 will highlight
areas where concentrations of these
minerals occur, thereby discriminating
altered from unaltered ground. These
Simulated ARIES data from Oatman,
Arizona, showing abundances of alunite
(red), kaolinite (green) and muscovite
(blue) on a panchromatic image base
(courtesy of CSIRO and the ARIES
Consortium).
techniques have been successfully used
by mining companies to target areas of
potential mineralisation for subsequent
ground follow-up.
Now at long last a new generation of
high-spectral-resolution (‘hyperspectral’) sensors is set to advance these
techniques from mere discrimination to
the remote identification of individual
mineral species. Aircraft sensors are
already being used operationally by
exploration companies, and the first
space sensors will soon be deployed.
Hyperspectral sensors have tens to
hundreds of spectral channels in the 0.4
to 2.5 µm region, which allow a nearly
complete reflectance spectrum to be
produced for each ground element in the
image. For many minerals, laboratory
spectra show features that are unique
and therefore diagnostic. These minerals
include aluminium and magnesium
hydroxides, amphiboles, micas, clays
(smectites and kandites), carbonates,
sulphates, arsenates, iron oxides,
ammonia-bearing minerals and
chlorites. The spectra collected remotely
One satellite of particular relevance to
geologists is ARIES (Australian
Resource Information and
Environment Satellite) scheduled for
launch in the year 2000. This is
designed for the minerals industry and
will provide users with a range of
high-level image products including
quantitative mineral abundance maps.
Simulation studies have already shown
that it will be possible to map the
chemistry of a range of important
minerals even in areas of moderate
vegetation. The image displays an
example of simulated ARIES data
showing abundances of alunite,
kaolinite and muscovite on a panchromatic image base.
Other developments in spectral
geology involve the use of hand-held
portable spectrometers, such as the
PIMA (Portable Infrared Mineral
Analyser), which can be used for the
rapid field identification of both alteration and industrial minerals. This
method has fewer complications than
the spaceborne systems, and it also has
the advantages that the samples can
include outcrop and drill core, and no
preparation is required. The BGS is
actively engaged in developing new
applications in this area.
PIMA being used to measure a reflectance
spectrum at an outcrop.
21
British
Geological
Survey
Advanced
instruments
and
information
technology
Gus Gunn
Keyworth
N
ew search techniques are needed
to discover buried mineral
deposits in urbanised and highly
developed countries with a long history
of mining such as Britain. The BGS has
been addressing this problem through
the development and application of new
methods and technologies.
50 µm
Au
New exploration
techniques
Study of gold grains
An exciting new tool for gold exploration has been developed at the BGS in
recent years. This technique involves
the microchemical characterisation of
alluvial (river sediment) gold grains
using an electron microprobe. Alluvial
gold grains frequently show internal
chemical heterogeneity, and they also
contain minute inclusions of other
minerals. These features are usually
inherited from the bedrock source and
are preserved throughout the processes
of weathering and transport.
Examination of alluvial grains can thus
provide important information which
can be used to deduce the geological
and structural setting of the source from
which the gold was derived. Multiple
sources for alluvial gold can be recognised, and the most appropriate
pathfinder elements for use in exploration can be identified. This method
has attracted considerable interest from
mining companies worldwide and has
been applied to the study of alluvial
gold in various geological environments
in South America, southern Africa,
south-east Asia and Europe.
Alteration around mineral
deposits
Mineral deposits are commonly associated with hydrothermal alteration of the
surrounding rocks, the style and extent
of the alteration reflecting the type of
mineral deposit. Such alteration
commonly forms a halo around the mineralisation, providing an exploration
target considerably larger than the
deposit itself. The delineation and characterisation of hydrothermal alteration
can therefore be of great value in
mineral exploration, for the identification and assessment of new targets.
Until recently, assessment of alteration
assemblages was often very difficult,
because of the fine grain-size of the
minerals, and could only be accomplished by expensive and timeconsuming laboratory techniques such
as X-ray diffraction. However, this
problem can now be addressed in the
field using an instrument known as a
Portable Infrared Mineral Analyser
(PIMA). The PIMA is a compact,
portable, hand-held spectrometer which
can provide the field geologist with
important mineralogical information on
rocks, minerals and soils. The instrument is capable of detecting many of
the minerals commonly found in
hydrothermal alteration systems, such as
clays, carbonates and sulphates.
The PIMA, originally developed in
Australia, is increasingly being used
worldwide in mineral exploration and in
the evaluation of mineral resources. The
BGS has used it in studies of ore
deposits in the UK and internationally.
Ag
Microchemical maps showing the distribution of gold (Au), silver (Ag) and copper (Cu) in a single gold grain.
22
Cu
A recent project, supported by the
Department of Trade and Industry, the
BGS and commercial companies,
examined the nature and distribution of
alteration in the volcanogenic massive
sulphide base-metal deposit at Parys
Mountain in Anglesey, North Wales.
Spectral features derived from PIMA
analysis of drillcore were incorporated
in a three-dimensional model of the
deposit using the VULCAN software
package and provided important new
insights into the relationship between
alteration patterns, geology and mineralisation.
Advanced IT
The increased availability of geoscience
information in digital form and major
improvements in information technology have had a significant impact on
mineral exploration in the last decade.
Above: Multi-dataset map for the south
Loch Tay area of the Grampian
Highlands.
Left: Derived gold prospectivity map of
the same area. Zones of highest
prospectivity are coloured red.
tested, by changing the weighting
attached to each feature relevant to the
targetted deposit type.
Geographical Information Systems
(GIS) are being used to examine
datasets of many different types
(geology, geochemistry, etc.) in order to
identify combinations of key features
which are consistently associated with
mineralisation. Recognition of these
associations, or deposit signatures,
allows new targets to be identified and
prioritised. This approach of multi-
dataset analysis has recently been taken
a step further by the BGS, through the
development of a prospectivity mapping
system in which the datasets are
searched for the various components of
the deposit signature to produce a
prospectivity map showing the potential
for a mineral deposit of a particular type
within the search area. The system is
flexible and allows various models to be
The BGS prototype system has been used
to map the prospectivity of the Dalradian
terrane of the Scottish Highlands for lode
gold mineralisation. Regional datasets,
including geology, structure, geophysics
and geochemistry, were integrated to
produce a multi-dataset map for the south
Loch Tay area of Perthshire.
The application of advanced information technology using a GIS platform
linked to a knowledge-based prospectivity mapping system offers considerable
potential for assessing the likelihood of
the discovery of new mineral deposits in
an area. The use of these methodologies
can also assist government departments
in land-use planning worldwide.
23
British
Geological
Survey
Gold in Britain
New
prospecting
methods
and new
discoveries
Derek Cooper
Adit at Cononish mine.
used in jewellery. Welsh gold is famous
for being used in the wedding rings of
the royal family, while alluvial gold
from the Leadhills area of southern
Scotland was used in the Scottish
Regalia. All of these old gold workings
were either in streams, where grains of
gold were found in the stream gravels,
or veins (lodes), usually of white quartz
with other minerals.
Keyworth
G
old is known to occur widely in
Britain in very small amounts
and has been worked from a few
areas, notably in southern and northern
Scotland, near Dogellau in Wales and in
south-west England. In the eighteen
sixties, following the excitement of the
Californian gold rush, northern Scotland
experienced its own gold rush, initiated
by the discovery of alluvial gold in the
Helmsdale River by a miner recently
returned from Australia. A village of
tents and huts sprang up and gold
licences were issued by the Estate of the
Duke of Sutherland on whose property
the gold-bearing streams occurred. The
alluvial workings were, however, shortlived and the bedrock source not identified. Only a relatively small amount of
gold is believed to have been extracted.
About 90 per cent of Britain’s recorded
gold production of nearly 4 tonnes since
1861 comes from the Dolgellau area of
North Wales. Here, several underground
mines worked gold in the nineteenth
century and the two largest and most
famous mines, Clogau – St Davids and
Gwynfynydd, have continued to
produce small amounts intermittently
until the present day. Gwynfynydd
currently operates as a mining and
tourist attraction with the gold extracted
24
“... companies have also been
active in applying new concepts
to the search for gold in Britain,
and BGS base-line data have
been used extensively by them
as a starting point ...”
During the last thirty years there have
been great scientific advances in the
understanding of how gold deposits are
formed, and this has led to the
discovery of new deposits. In Britain,
the DTI-sponsored BGS Minerals
Programme has applied this new geological understanding to the search for
The village at Baile an
Or during the Kildonan
gold rush.
Permission for reproduction on the internet
not given. Please refer
to printed magazine.
gold and, assisted by BGS regionalscale geochemical, geological and geophysical datasets, made new discoveries
of gold, some in areas where gold was
never thought or known to occur.
Companies have also been active in
applying new concepts to the search for
gold in Britain, and BGS base-line data
have been used extensively by them as a
starting point. Their exploration has led
to the discovery of two new economic
deposits, near Omagh in Northern
Ireland and at Cononish in the southwest Highlands of Scotland. In both
localities planning permission has been
granted to mine.
Some recent discoveries in Britain
Cononish and the south-west Highlands
The Cononish gold-silver deposit is
situated in the historic Tyndrum lead
mining district of the Scottish
Highlands. Modern precious metal
exploration, involving the use of heavymineral concentrates led to the
discovery of the deposit, which
comprises a steeply dipping quartz vein
structure up to 6 m wide cutting
Loch Fyne
Stronchullin
Distribution of gold in
panned heavy-mineral
concentrates, South
Knapdale area,
Scotland.
Meall Mor
Tarbert
gold licence was obtained by Crediton
Minerals plc, a subsidiary of the Dublinbased company MinMet plc, to carry out
further exploration work. The company
has drilled one borehole that intersected
buried gold-bearing rocks and is now
engaged on a further programme of
drilling to find out more about the extent
of the mineralisation.
“... although Britain has a long
history of mining, there are still
hidden deposits to be found and
technological advances will assist
greatly in their discovery ...”
Southern Uplands, Scotland
Precambrian metasedimentary rocks of
the Dalradian Supergroup. The auriferous structure can be traced along strike
for over 1 km and through a vertical
distance of over 250 m. An extensive
exploration programme involving over
3000 m of drilling and a 1 km long
exploratory adit has defined mineable
reserves of 440 000 tonnes grading 11.3
grams per tonne gold and 60.1 grams
per tonne of silver. The operator,
Caledonia Mining Corporation, has
started underground mine development.
Since the early 1980s, several other
important new prospects have been
found in the Dalradian rocks of the
central and south-west Highlands. There
are many recorded occurrences of gold
in bedrock and alluvium in the area to
the south of Loch Tay, between
Aberfeldy and Comrie. Follow-up of
anomalous values of gold in panned
heavy-mineral concentrates reported by
the BGS led to the discovery in the late
1980s of gold-bearing veins at
Calliachar Burn, 4 km south-west of
Aberfeldy, from which a small amount
of gold has been extracted. More recent
studies by the BGS, based on a
mesothemal gold mineralisation model
and using integrated dataset analysis,
have drawn attention to the potential for
gold in the Dalradian metasediments of
the Knapdale area. Gold has been found
in panned heavy-mineral concentrates
and in veins at Cruach Mheadonach,
Castleton and Stronchullin.
Crediton Trough
In this area the BGS discovered gold in
streams associated with Permian rocks.
Subsequent rock sampling showed the
gold to be commonly, but not uniformly,
associated with alkaline basalt volcanic
rocks and sedimentary breccias of
Permian age. The discovery resulted from
the application of new ideas concerning
the transport and deposition of gold in
rocks of this age, developed during work
in South Devon for the DTI-sponsored
BGS Minerals Programme. Following the
publication of the BGS’s discoveries, a
A regional assessment of the potential for
gold mineralisation in the Southern
Uplands was carried out by the BGS
Minerals Programme using advanced
computer-based techniques for data integration and evaluation of multiple
datasets. The conjunction of selected geophysical features, satellite lineations,
regional geochemical anomalies and the
location of known gold occurrences was
used to identify prospective areas.
Follow-up work in some of these areas
revealed new evidence of gold mineralisation, suggesting strongly that the
features used in the analysis were correct.
Shetland
Recent work by the BGS in collaboration
with Shetland Islands Council has
revealed indications of gold mineralisation in the islands, notably in the Muness
area of Unst where gold occurs within a
pyritic phyllite horizon 2–12 m wide.
Other indications of gold mineralisation
in the islands occur in Dalradian rocks of
similar age to gold occurrences in the
central Highlands of Scotland that have
attracted considerable interest during the
last 20 years. Further exploration of these
rocks may well lead to the discovery of
prospects with economic potential.
Conclusions
Photo: Tim Cuff
Jeremy Metcalfe, Chairman of
Crediton Minerals plc, holding goldbearing core from Permo-Triassic
basaltic rocks of the Crediton Trough.
These discoveries all illustrate well the
fact that although Britain has a long
history of mining, there are still hidden
deposits to be found and technological
advances will assist greatly in their
discovery.
25
British
Geological
Survey
Radioisotope
dating
sheds light
on ancient
deposits
Massive sulphides
tonnes of copper-zinc-lead-silver ore.
More often than not, these deposits have
been strongly deformed by tectonic
processes, and consequently they have
very complicated stratigraphical and
structural relationships which obscure
their original shape, form and size. In the
Precambrian deposits like Kidd Creek,
where there are no fossils, determining
the age and duration of hydrothermal and
volcanic activity and elucidating many of
the complex stratigraphical relationships
relies strongly on radioisotope
geochronology. This is mainly the very
high-precision method of uranium-lead
“... more often than not these
deposits have been strongly
deformed by tectonic processes ...”
Randall Parrish
Keyworth
V
olcanogenic massive sulphide
deposits, termed VMS in the
trade, host some of the most
important sources of the metals copper,
lead, zinc and silver on the earth. For
the most part, they have formed in the
vicinity of large submarine volcanic
centres with associated hydrothermal
systems. The discovery and documentation of the spectacular submarine vents,
hot springs, and metalliferous ‘black
smokers’, with their very unusual associated colonies of life forms, has
focussed widespread public attention on
these submarine volcanic environments.
The rates of formation of mineral
sulphide deposits on the ocean floor has
been studied using these active modern
examples.
These types of deposit are found
throughout the geological record, with
some of the largest systems ever
recorded being the oldest. One of the
best preserved and largest, a real giant in
its class with 150 million tonnes of ore,
is the Kidd Creek Deposit, which is
found in the Abitibi Greenstone Belt of
Ontario, Canada. The largest deposit of
this type in the United Kingdom is the
Parys Mountain deposit in Anglesey,
North Wales, which has up to 10 million
26
dating of the mineral zircon. It is interesting to ask whether such giant deposits
like Kidd Creek are unique to the
Precambrian, and whether the rates of
volcanic and hydrothermal processes
were different in the distant past.
The Kidd Creek deposit, like many
other VMS deposits, is characterised by
a bimodal rhyolite-basalt volcanic association, with important breaks in
volcanic activity occupied by deposition
of sedimentary material. Current interpretations of the tectonic setting of this
volcanic belt invoke a plume origin for
many of the volcanic rocks, which
include the world-famous spinifex
olivine-bearing komatiites. Plumerelated volcanism is thought to have
occurred in a back-arc environment and
was certainly accompanied by significant crustal extension and rifting in the
submarine environment.
Rhyolitic volcanic rocks contain zircon,
a mineral which crystallises from the
magma and which is used for highprecision geochronology. Because of the
unique attributes of the uranium-lead
decay system which has two coupled
radioactive decay schemes (238U-206Pb
and 235U-207Pb), it is currently possible
to date rocks to ± 500 000 years when
the rocks are 2 700 million years old.
Analytical precision at this level permits
the dating of individual lava flows,
enabling geochronology to resolve
complex stratigraphical relationships.
The technique has only recently been
comprehensively applied to deposits of
this type, but its impact has far-reaching
consequences for our understanding of
the genesis of these ore bodies and the
development of strategies which mineral
exploration consortia use in locating new
ore reserves.
The figure shows the presently understood age and original stratigraphical
relationships of the Kidd Creek deposit.
Several new insights arose from a recent
very detailed isotopic dating
programme. The main ore bodies, which
occur in distinct centres over an original
area of at least 2 km2, developed in
distinct episodes of time from 2716.0 ±
0.5 to 2711.5 ± 1.2 million years ago. It
is possible to calculate that the rate of
deposition of massive sulphides was
about 10–100 tonnes per year, which is
quite similar to the ore deposition rate
Black Smoker, Main Endeavour
Hydrothermal Vent Field on the
Endeavour Segment of the mid-ocean
ridge at 47˚57’N, 129˚6’W. The
sulphide minerals that precipitate from
hydrothermal solutions venting from
black smokers are metal bearing, with
copper, zinc, manganese, etc.
© Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, J R Delaney, principal
investigator, University of Washington;
picture taken by camera mounted on
hull of the ALVIN.
Black smoker at 9˚50’ N on the East
Pacific Rise. It consists of a sulphide
mound with several actively venting
chimneys. © Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, Deep
Submergence Operations Group, Dan
Fornari.
of the 50 000-year-old, five-milliontonne deposit discovered recently on the
Mid-Atlantic Ridge under several kilometres of sea water. Such conclusions
strengthen the notion that similar
hydrothermal processes have operated
on the Earth for billions of years.
Because individual rhyolitic lava flows
can be precisely dated, several volcanic
layers have been identified in the
outlying region which are the same age
as the mineralised ones at the ore
deposit. The identification of these
layers may help to steer future exploration activity to those stratigraphic
horizons known to contain ore nearby, a
potentially valuable strategic tool for
exploration companies. The dating work
at Kidd Creek has also resolved two
long-standing controversies. Firstly, the
sedimentary greywackes which underlie
the south side of the ore body are
younger, not older than the Kidd Creek
ore body. Secondly, previous dating
results (using other radioactive decay
systems and minerals) which suggested
that the VMS ore deposition might be
younger than 2690 million years are
now known to be incorrect.
Similar controversies surround many of
the VMS deposits of the world, not the
least of which is the Parys Mountain
deposit in North Wales. By comparison
with the significant cost of drilling new
exploration holes, the cost of the
programme of work outlined above for
the Kidd Creek deposit was quite
modest. In surprising ways, the
isotopic dating programme solved
definitively some very controversial
issues which had been the subject of
debate for decades.
“... by comparison with the
significant cost of drilling new
exploration holes, the cost of the
programme of work outlined
above for the Kidd Creek deposit
was quite modest. In surprising
ways, the isotopic dating
programme solved definitively
some very controversial issues
which had been the subject of
debate for decades ...”
Turbiditic greywacke
U
nc
on
fo
rm
ity
Younger than
2699 My
High TiO2,low TiO2 basalts
Gabbro sills
Quartz porphyry
2711.5 ± 1.2 My
KIDD CREEK
ORE BODIES
2715.8 ± 1.2 My
Fragmental rhyolite
Flow banded rhyolite
2717.0 ± 2.5 My
2716.5 ± 0.5 My
2714.6 ± 1.0 My
Gabbro
Komatiitic volcanic rocks
Schematic profile showing stratigraphical relationships at the Kidd Creek deposit.
27
British
Geological
Survey
Databases
and
training to
boost local
mining
industries
Stan Coats
Keyworth
S
taff from the BGS have been
actively working on Information
Technology (IT)-related projects in
several countries around the world. Most
of this work has been in collaboration
with the Department of Mines and/or the
Geological Survey of the host country.
Sources of funding include the World
Developing countries
Bank, Asian Development Bank and the
British Government’s Department for
International Development (DFID). The
main aim of the donor is to strengthen
the government institutions by providing
funds for new equipment, training and
technical assistance.
In many countries, the Government
Departments with responsibility for
mining and mineral development suffer
from lack of investment, shortage of
foreign currency and lack of trained
staff. This is especially true in the IT
field, where technological change is so
rapid. Other pressures on these departments stem from the increased exploration activities of mining companies,
following the recent world-wide trend
for liberalisation of mining legislation.
An active and profitable mining industry
can provide a kick start to development
for a country; Botswana, for example,
derives about one third of its GDP from
mining, mostly for diamonds.
The main role of the BGS has been to set
up databases and related Geographical
Information Systems (GIS), and this has
usually entailed installing new hardware
such as computers, digitisers, printers,
plotters and associated peripherals. The
subjects covered by the databases vary
widely. In Zambia, the requirement was
for the design of a database for mine
safety, which involved such features as
blasting and explosives licences and
Jordan
Guyana
Ecuador
Suriname
Ghana
Angola
Zambia
accident records. However, the most
common application is a mining cadaster.
The expansion of exploration by
companies under the newly liberalised
mining codes has resulted in a much larger
number of prospecting, exploration and
mining licences. Handling this increased
number has put a strain on existing manual
systems, and a move to computer-based
cadaster is almost inevitable. Drawing
licence boundaries by hand and manually
checking for overlap is possible when
there are less than 100 licences, but not for
several hundred. Companies need to have
secure entitlement to areas before they will
invest money, and a poorly run and inefficient administration may turn away
potential investors.
Another common requirement is for a
mineral occurrence database and GIS.
Most countries have a wealth of information on the occurrence of economic
minerals, but getting access to this may
involve many days of effort in libraries
and archives. A computer database can
speed up this process and be an essential
part of the promotional activities of the
Mines Department or Geological
Survey. An attractive mineral occurrence
map and a series of promotional
brochures can attract attention to a
country’s mineral resources. Mineral
exploration is a global activity, and all
countries are in competition with each
other to attract inward investment.
Lao Pdr
Malaysia
Namibia
Botswana
Locations of some recent BGS
minerals-related worldwide
database activities.
28
British
Geological
Survey
A prime
target for
exploration
Minerals in
Northern Ireland
Coleraine
GOLD
Number of grains
observed
Londonderry
>10
6 - 10
3-5
1-2
Omagh
No grains
observed
Enniskillen
Armagh
Absent
Data
Iain Legg
Belfast
T
he Geological Survey of Northern
Ireland (GSNI), which is staffed
by BGS employees, was established in 1947 and aims to assist the
promotion of economic growth, especially in relation to minerals. It is an
integral part of the Department of
Economic Development and acts as
technical advisor to the Minerals and
Petroleum Unit who are responsible for
licensing under the Mineral
Development Act (NI) 1969.
There are currently 17 licences held for
minerals, covering 20 per cent of Northern
Ireland. They include the gold prospect at
Cavanacaw, County Tyrone, owned by
Omagh Minerals. Soil and deep overburden sampling have delineated a resource
estimated at 2 million tonnes grading at
6.9 grams per tonne gold, for which
planning permission has been granted. At
Curraghinalt, County Tyrone, Ulster
Minerals Ltd have a multi-vein prospect,
discovered in 1983 as a result of prospecting a shallow soil arsenic anomaly. The
resource totals 900 000 tonnes grading
11.66 grams per tonne gold.
Other licences for gold exploration have
been issued to Billiton (UK) Resources
BV in the Dalradian rocks of the Sperrin
Predicted distribution of gold from observations made in heavy-mineral concentrates.
Mountains, and to Conroy Diamonds and
Gold plc in the Down-Longford massif.
In 1816 the Brookeborough diamond
was discovered in County Fermanagh by
a child looking for pebbles, and was
mounted in Irish gold. More recently,
licences to explore for diamonds have
been issued to Poplar Resources Ltd over
large areas in the west of the Province.
“... Northern Ireland has a
diverse geology and has great
potential for a wide range of
mineral deposits ...”
Base metal mineralisation in the Clogher
Valley is being searched for by Ivernia
West plc, largely as a result of a mineral
reconnaissance programme carried out in
the area for GSNI. Industrial minerals are
are also important. In County Antrim,
rock salt is mined at Kilroot, and bauxite
at Clinty Quarry, while planning permission has been sought to exploit the sole
UK source of perlite at Sandy Braes.
Lignite occurs in three distinct areas:
Ballymoney, County Antrim (licensed to
Meekatharra (NI) Ltd); at Crumlin,
County Antrim (licensed to Antrim Coal
Co. Ltd) and in east County Tyrone. A
total lignite resource of about 1 billion
tonnes has been estimated.
The production of aggregates is
important for the economy of Northern
Ireland. In 1996, 259 operating quarries
produced 25 million tonnes of rock,
valued at £63 million, and employed
1460 people.
The GSNI has commissioned work to
investigate the mineral potential of
Northern Ireland. Work has included
studies of industrial minerals in
Cavan/Fermanagh (jointly with the
Geological Survey of Ireland); characterisation of the alluvial gold in the Mourne
Mountains; the gold metallogeny of northwest Northern Ireland, and the regional
geochemistry of western Northern Ireland.
A Geophysical Image Atlas has recently
been published, with gravity and aeromagnetic anomaly images providing
important insights into the structural
elements of Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland has a diverse geology
and has great potential for a wide range
of mineral deposits. This, taken with an
efficient licensing regime, makes it a
prime target for exploration.
29
British
Geological
Survey
Tim Colman
Keyworth
M
ining has been a very significant
part of the British economy
since the industrial revolution.
At times, mining for lead, copper, tin,
iron, coal, salt, gypsum, potash, aggregates, slate and stone have been of worldscale significance. The famous Cornish
tin and copper mines flourished for over
200 years in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As these mines declined,
with competition from newer, richer
overseas sources, they provided skilled
miners and managers for hard-rock mines
all over the world. Domestic coal and
iron ore formed the basis of the industrial
development of Britain, and whole communities grew up around a single
commodity. Welsh slate roofed most of
Victorian London and the chemical
complexes of Cheshire and Teesside were
situated on near-surface salt deposits
adjacent to coalfields. Coincident with the
development of the mining industry, large
numbers of supporting companies flourished, supplying pumps, steelwork,
boilers and specialised machinery of all
kinds. They go back to the Boulton and
Watt steam engines which used to pump
the Cornish copper mines and include
Ruston excavators, Anderson-Strathclyde
coal conveyors and Holman compressors.
30
With the notable exceptions of the
aggregate, china clay, salt, potash and
gypsum industries, which contribute
strongly to Britain’s prosperity, mining
is now a shadow of its former self.
However, with the decline of coal and
metal mining has come a surge in
interest in the history of the mining
industry. Mining tourism now forms a
significant sector of the tourism industry
in Britain. Although much has been lost,
large numbers of artefacts still remain.
These include engine houses,
machinery, pits, dwellings and
documents, of interest to researchers
and tourists alike. In many parts of the
country there are now mining museums,
tourist mines and trails, as well as
societies dedicated to the preservation,
interpretation and restoration of
Britain’s mining heritage. Sites range
from the prehistoric, such as the Grimes
Graves flint mines in Norfolk, to
recently closed coal mines such as the
Big Pit in South Wales. Many diverse
organisations are now brought together
by the National Association of Mining
History Organisations (NAMHO).
Disused quarries are often transformed
into country parks for public recreation,
while others become Sites of Special
Scientific Interest (SSSIs) and are prized
for their geological or botanical interest.
Photo: Sygun Copper Mine.
From
working
mine to
tourist
attraction
Mining and tourism
Underground visitors at Sygun copper mine
in Snowdonia.
Distribution of mining
heritage sites in the
English Midlands,
1998. Data taken
from NAMHO
Mining Heritage
Guide 1997, Down to
Earth 1997, Lead
Mining in the Peak
District 1970 and
other sources.
British
Geological
Survey
Prospects
for an
expanding
gemstone
industry
Scottish gemstones
A 9.6 carat cut sapphire found in a
camptonite dyke, Loch Roag, Isle of
Lewis.
Photograph reproduced with the permission of the
Trustees of the Royal Museum of Scotland.
Graham Smith
Edinburgh
T
he essence of quality gemstones
is summed up in the ‘4 Cs’ —
cut, clarity, carat and colour.
Their appeal is also based on beauty,
durability, hardness and rarity. Although
many rock-forming minerals have been
cut, the world of gemstones is
dominated by those which are most
popular with the general public, i.e.
diamond, ruby, sapphire and emerald. It
is these minerals which regularly
command the greatest prices.
Garnets occur widely in metamorphic
rocks from Sutherland to Perthshire, but
most are too fractured, too dark in colour
and too full of inclusions for use as
gemstones. Exceptions are the pyrope
garnets from Elie Ness in Fife. These socalled ‘Elie rubies’, with their delicate
port-wine colour, are much sought after.
Excellently terminated crystals of schorl
tourmaline are not uncommon in the pegmatites of the Scottish highlands, but
their opacity rules them out as gemstones.
However, an occurrence of gem-quality
elbaite tourmaline in Glenbuchat in
Aberdeenshire has produced many cut, if
small, stones with a variety of hues,
including clear, green, blue-green, pink
and, rarely, mauve varieties.
part of Scotland to have diamondbearing rocks, although subsequent
commercial studies in Ireland have
indicated that Dalradian rocks may also
have potential. The Lewisian rocks
also contain gem-quality sapphires. In
1995 a 9.6 carat cut stone was obtained
from a camptonite dyke at Loch Roag
in Lewis. Ruby has also been recorded
from the Lewisian in recent years.
The Cairngorm mountains continue to
be the country’s principal source of gem
material, and in the past the search for
stones formed a locally important
industry in the upper Deeside area of
Aberdeenshire. The stones occur within
late-stage pegmatites and drusy cavities
in the Cairngorm Granite and consist
principally of yellow to black cairngorm
which is locally accompanied by topaz,
aquamarine and beryl.
Colour banded elbaite tourmaline, Glen
Buchat, Aberdeenshire.
Photograph reproduced with the permission of the
Trustees of the Royal Museum of Scotland.
The rocks of Scotland contain a wide
range of gem material. In addition to
sapphire, ruby and possibly diamond,
the country has produced topaz, beryl,
cairngorm (citrine) and amethyst,
together with gem-quality garnet, tourmaline, agate and zircon.
Agates are among the most varied and
beautiful of Scottish gemstones. They
formed in the sites of former gas
cavities in andesitic and basaltic lavas
or, more rarely, in open cracks and
fissures in these rocks. The best-quality
agates are found on the east coast
between Perth and Stonehaven, in north
Fife and in Ayrshire.
There are two unsubstantiated claims
of diamond being discovered in
Scotland (Ayrshire and north-west
Sutherland), both dating from the nineteenth century. More recent research
by the BGS, based on a modern understanding of diamond-forming processes
and the distribution and geophysical
properties of potential host rocks,
suggests that the Lewisian terrain of
north-west Scotland is the most likely
Imported gemstones will continue to be
used in Scotland for the manufacture of
jewellery, on account of their superior
quality and size and their lower cost.
However, there is scope for expanding
the existing small-scale production of
indigenous gemstones. These stones
might be combined with gold panned
from Scottish rivers or from the developing Cononish gold mine to produce
premium all-Scottish jewellery.
Cut agate from lower Devonian
andesite, Ardownie Quarry, Dundee.
Photograph reproduced with the permission of the
Trustees of the Royal Museum of Scotland.
31
British
Geological
Survey
Industrial
minerals
workshops
David Morgan
Keyworth
U
ntil recently, industrial minerals
have usually taken second place
to metallic minerals in developing countries in terms of mining
prestige, investment, strategic priority,
and even scientific interest. However, as
the industrial sector of a country grows,
so does the demand for industrial
minerals. Governments of developing
countries are increasingly realising that
they need to attach a high priority to
identifying and making use of these
‘Cinderella’ commodities. The potential
benefits are many: expensive imported
mineral products may be replaced; local
mineral-based industries can be encouraged to become self-sufficient; and the
country’s general standard of living can
be improved by ensuring that the
building industry is supplied with basic
— and preferably cheap — raw
materials of adequate quality.
Through funding provided by the UK
Department for International
Development (DFID, formerly ODA),
the BGS has for the last 15 years been
helping developing countries to assess
and utilise their resources of industrial
minerals. This assistance has involved
consultancy visits to the countries
concerned, follow-up laboratory investi-
32
Consultancy and
training
Participants at a plant visit, Ecuador workshop, February 1997
gations in the UK, and then presentation
of the results at a workshop to which
possible producers and users within the
country are invited. Laboratory manuals
detailing procedures used for assessing
some of the more popular commodities
such as bentonite and kaolin have been
written for free distribution in developing
countries. These have also been sold
commercially in Europe and the
proceeds used for making more free
copies available to developing countries.
With additional funding from the World
Bank, current effort is being devoted to
“... the BGS has for the last 15
years been helping developing
countries to assess and utilise
their resources of industrial
minerals ...”
holding regional workshops on industrial
minerals aimed at senior members of
government, and mining and consuming
industries of developing countries. The
intention of these workshops is to
encourage responsible resource management, as well as dealing with exploration
strategies and design of laboratory investigation programmes. Emphasis is given
to environmental aspects of mining and
their amelioration, environmental impact
assessment, and the need for systematic
collection, management and display of
relevant data for decision making.
A typical workshop in Ecuador
Thirty-five senior government
officials, university lecturers and
industrialists attended the workshop
held in Quito in February 1997. This
consisted of three days of formal presentations and interactive discussions, mainly in Spanish. The full
range of industrial mineral commodities likely to be present in Ecuador
were considered, together with
detailed procedures for testing the
raw materials to determine industrial
applications. All participants were
supplied with appropriate documentation. A two-day visit to deposits of
pumice, diatomite and marble, and
plants for the manufacture of cement
and refractory bricks followed.
The level of interest generated by the
workshop was unprecedented, with
participants requesting considerable
further technical information on test
procedures and suppliers of appropriate plant and machinery. Strong representations were also made for a
repeat of the workshop, as it was
more than two times oversubscribed.
newsline … newsline … newsline
Technology Foresight:
Natural Resources and
the Environment
The Technology Foresight programme
is a major initiative which was
announced in the 1993 White Paper
‘Realising our Potential’. The
programme brings together industry,
academia and government to consider
how the UK can best take advantage of
opportunities to promote wealth creation
and enhance the quality of life. The
programme is driven forward by 16
separate Foresight Panels.
The work was carried out from the BAS
ice-strengthened survey vessel the RRS
‘James Clark Ross’ which has been
fitted with dynamic positioning. This
computer control of propeller and
thrusters allows the Bridge Officers to
hold the vessel stationary with respect
to the seabed, without anchors, for long
periods of time. Thus BGS deployed
their sampling equipment in water
depths from 60 to 1600 m with a high
measure of confidence, despite the
hostile conditions of working in
uncharted waters among moving ice.
Coring in the Antarctic
The BGS’s Petroleum and Marine
Geology Group’s Marine Operations
section have just returned from a very
successful project in the deep south.
Working with the British Antarctic
Survey (BAS) in the area of the
northern Antarctic Peninsula and the
Weddell Sea they mobilised and
operated high resolution shallow
seismic equipment and obtained rock
and soil cores using the BGS
Rockdrill/Vibrocorer in previously
poorly surveyed and unsampled areas.
For further information contact:
Alister Skinner, BGS, Edinburgh
Tel: 0131 650 0399
Fax: 0131 668 4140
Meeting of
Commonwealth
Directors
The Directors of Geological Surveys
from 27 Commonwealth countries met at
the headquarters of the BGS in May
1998. The event was a working meeting,
to discuss common problems and to
explore the possibility of re-forming a
previous liaison group sponsored by the
Commonwealth Science Council, the
Department for International
Development and the BGS.
Professor Jane Plant CBE of the BGS is
co-chair of the Sustainable Resources and
Environment Sub-group of the Natural
Resources and the Environment Panel.
The sub-group is concerned with the
complete life-cycle of resource and environment management in both the UK and
international markets. Topics covered by
the sub-group range from resource
assessment and mineral working,
including oil, gas and coal, through
extractive metallurgy to waste disposal,
installation and decommissioning, and the
remediation of contaminated land.
The natural resource and environment
sectors of UK industry have an excellent
track record of continuous technological
progress and improvement, and of
marketing their skills world-wide.
However, there are still important opportunities for the future, based on the development of new technologies for natural
resource and environmental management,
to further enhance wealth creation, quality
of life and sustainable development.
project to obtain palaeomagnetic and
other cores from the gabbroic rocks of
the Bank. Icebergs are not expected.
BGS International, the group within the
BGS that deals with overseas programmes, is the descendent of the
Directorate of Colonial Geological
Surveys which was founded in 1947
and, in turn, established many of the
Geological Surveys of Commonwealth
countries whose current Directors
attended the meeting in Keyworth.
Deploying the BGS Rockdrill from the RRS
‘James Clark Ross’ with King George
Island, Antarctica in the background.
The project leader was Dr Richard Dingle
of BAS; scientific details can be obtained
from Dr Mike Thompson, Head of the
Geoscience Division at BAS, Cambridge.
Information on the seismic and sampling
equipment used on the project can be
obtained from Colin Brett or Alister
Skinner at BGS Edinburgh.
The next project for the Edinburghbased team is on the same vessel in a
very different environment. By the time
you read this the BGS Rockdrill and the
prototype, BGS-built, BRIDGE orientated core drill, will be plumbing the
depths to Atlantis Bank in the Indian
Ocean as part of a combined National
Science Foundation (NSF)/NERC
The Directors have many experiences in
common and each brought an individual
insight into problems shared the world
over. The Directors, from all parts of the
world, met with advisors, end-users and
international scientists. The programme
followed suggestions made by the
Directors and consisted of four plenary
sessions and a series of workshops.
‘This is an opportunity for social and
cultural bonding, as well as science.’
Points out Tony Reedman, Head of
BGS International. ‘Cooperative links
between scientists and politicians,
between developed and developing
nations, and between peers of whatever
nationality are of equal importance.’
For further information contact:
Dr Tony Reedman, BGS, Keyworth
Tel: 0115 936 3465
Fax: 0115 936 3474
33
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Environmental
statement
The British Geological Survey has made
a commitment to the environmental
integrity of every part of its nation-wide
operation including the local headquarters
at Keyworth and all regional offices.
Whisky on the Rocks, the latest
‘Earthwise’ publication.
Whisky and the BGS
Inspired by Terroirs et vins de France
(Wines and winelands of France ––
geological journeys), the BGS has
published Whisky on the Rocks ––
origins of the ‘water of life’ in the
Earthwise series of popular books. The
authors, Stephen and Julie Cribb,
augment the magic and mystique of
malt whisky by describing the geology
of the rocks which source the local
process waters and influence the
character of the spirit. Their tour of the
malt whisky distilleries starts with the
geologically oldest on Islay and ends
with the youngest: the ‘volcanic’
whiskies of Talisker, Tobermory and
Bushmills. In between we sample malts
from the Lowlands to Orkney. The
local flavours are enhanced by over
100 commissioned watercolours by
Richard Bell, the Yorkshire Rock artist,
whose most recent appearance was on
TV’s Fossil Roadshow. Whisky on the
Rocks is written for lovers of malt
whisky; no previous knowledge of
geology is required. At £6.50 it is the
ideal gift.
All BGS publications are available from
the Sales Desk: BGS, Keyworth,
Nottingham, NG12 5GG
Tel: 0115 936 3241
Fax: 0115 936 3488
email: [email protected]
In addition they can be obtained from the
sales points at BGS Edinburgh and the
London Information office plus
Stationery Office and other selected
booksellers.
34
With immediate effect every staff
member, all contractors, consultants
and suppliers will be encouraged to
raise their personal and professional
awareness of the environmental consequences of their working lives. The
BGS includes in this commitment the
welfare of neighbours and the local
community, from whom it invites
comment and suggestions for future
involvement. It is considered important
that these policies should be made
public.
More for holidaymakers
Visitors to west Cornwall who are fascinated by the ruined engine houses which
dot the landscape can find all they want
to know in Mining in west Cornwall,
another in the Holiday Geology Guide
series. Those who go walking in
Yorkshire around Whitby and
Scarborough will be able to understand
the ground beneath their feet by purchasing North York Moors, another in the
Holiday Geology Map series, which
includes illustrations by Richard Bell.
‘It is BGS policy to provide goods and
services that cause as little damage as
possible,’ says Director, Dr David
Falvey. ‘We are engaged in work that
relates to almost every facet of industrial,
commercial and domestic life, and it is
important for us to take a leading role in
environmental awareness. At every level,
from the advice we give to the paper we
use, we are working to improve our
standards.’
Geological Society
honour
Dr Tony Reedman, Head of BGS
International, has been awarded the
Geological Society’s Major John Coke
Medal for 1998. He first studied
geology at Leeds and went on to work
for the Geological Survey of Uganda.
After a PhD at the Research Institute of
African Geology in Leeds he joined the
BGS (then known as the IGS). His
career has included mapping work in
northern England and North Wales as
well as a return to Uganda and a very
fruitful spell in Korea. He became Head
of BGS International in 1990. The
Geological Society cited Tony’s keen
interest and experience of a wide
spectrum of earth science disciplines,
and his professional representation of
British Geology on the international
scene as making him a worthy recipient
of the Major John Coke medal.
Mining in west Cornwall and North York
Moors, the latest BGS Holiday Geology
publications.
newsline … newsline … newsline
Making an exhibition of
ourselves
An exhibition of photographs from the
archives of the BGS has been on display
in the Keyworth reception area during
March and April. The exhibition,
entitled ‘Hard Times’, is a collection of
20 images selected from the photographic archives in both the Keyworth
and Edinburgh offices, and includes
photographs dating from between 1904
and 1937.
tion, and it is planned to tour the
exhibits over the next 18 months or so.
Copies of images from the exhibition,
or the collections generally, can be
obtained in a variety of formats.
For further information contact:
Paul Tod, BGS, Keyworth
Tel: 0115 936 3360
Fax: 0115 936 3200
The exhibition received a good response
from both academic and non-academic
staff, and also from visitors to the site.
It was also displayed at the Rock and
Fossil Show held in the Oxford Centre,
in March.
The BGS photographic archives, maintained by the Photography Units in both
Keyworth and Edinburgh, contain in
excess of 100 000 catalogued and
described images dating back to 1894,
with over 22 000 of the earlier images
captured on glass plate negatives. The
exhibition demonstrates a diverse range
of themes charting our social and economical history through the past century
and covers subjects such as engineering,
architecture, manual labour and agriculture as well as geology.
A number of institutes and organisations
have expressed an interest in the exhibi-
• Contributing to an understanding of
the concealed geology of the region.
• Providing information which will aid
decision-making for land use
planning, mineral development
planning and geological hazard
assessment.
• Providing data which will assist in
mapping the coal, oil and mineral
resources of the UK.
• Mapping areas of above background
radioactivity which may indicate
radioactive industrial waste related to
industrial activity dating from the
19th to mid 20th centuries.
• Identifying areas which may be prone
to high radon levels.
• Measuring baseline levels of natural
radioactivity against which any future
radioactive contamination can be
assessed.
J Horne, B N Peach and C T Clough,
working in the north-west Highlands c. 1912.
New airborne survey
The BGS has launched a collaborative
project with industry to fly a series of
detailed airborne surveys over Britain to
collect new environmental and geological data. The project is known as HiRES (High-resolution airborne
Resource and Environmental Survey).
The photographic exhibition at the BGS.
of the underlying rocks and an electromagnetic receiver to map electrically
conductive zones. The resulting highresolution data will have a variety of
beneficial environmental and resource
applications including:
The first survey (Hi-RES-1) is being
carried out in partnership with World
Geoscience UK Ltd. It covers an area
of around 14 000 km2 over central
England, extending from Lincoln in the
east to Wrexham in the west and from
Sheffield in the north to Shrewsbury in
the south. The data are being collected
from a fixed wing aircraft flying at low
altitude along flight survey lines 400 m
apart. The instrument package on the
aircraft consists of a spectrometer to
measure gamma radiation, a magnetometer to measure the magnetisation
Results from the survey will become
available in mid 1998 and are likely to
take the form of processed digital data
and valued added products released in
digital or hardcopy formats.
For further information contact:
Jon Busby, BGS, Keyworth
Tel: 0115 936 3440
Fax: 0115 936 3145
Record memoir
production
With the release of Geology of the
country around Northallerton at the
beginning of May, a total of 12
memoirs will have been published by
the BGS over the last eight months. All
memoirs are produced in-house by
Publication Services Group to plateready film stage. The figures are drafted
in digital format and the photographs
are scanned to a high resolution on the
Group’s scanner. The illustrations are
35
newsline … newsline … newsline
merged with the text on Apple Macs
running Quark XPress.
• Geology of the country around
Llanilar and Rhayader
• Mineral Planning Authority, with
commodity and operator
The memoirs and their accompanying
geological maps provide complete
accounts of the geology of the districts
they cover. They also present geological
information that is essential for planning
and development proposals, engineering
projects, pollution studies and conservation surveys. In addition, they contain a
guide to other sources of information
and geological data.
• Geology of the country around
Trevose Head and Camelford
• operator, listing operator address and
pit address
All BGS memoirs are available from the
Sales Desk: BGS, Keyworth,
Nottingham, NG12 5GG
Tel: 0115 936 3241
Fax: 0115 936 3488
email: [email protected]
A statistical overview on mineral production in UK is also provided.
The 12 memoirs are:
• Geology of Rum and the adjacent
islands
• Geology of the country around
Inverurie and Alford
• Geology of the Invermoriston district
• Geology of the Glen Roy district
• Geology of the Glasgow district
• Geology of the Hamilton district
• Geology of the country around
Northallerton
• Geology of the west Cumbria district
• Geology of the country around Stokeon-Trent
• Geology of the country around
Snowdon
BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
In addition they can be obtained from
the sales points at BGS Edinburgh and
the London Information office plus
Stationery Office and other selected
booksellers.
Professional and
academic links
Professor Jane Plant, Assistant Director,
and Head of the Minerals, Environment
and Geochemical Surveys Division of
the BGS will deliver one of two keynote
papers to be given at the industry professional’s event for Minerals ’98 in
London in June. The paper considers
the sustainable development of energy,
metallic and non-metallic minerals and
considers the new technologies that are
needed to further improve the environmental performance of the industry into
the 21st century. In an addition to her
existing academic links, Professor Plant
has recently been appointed to the
position of external examiner for the
Environmental Science BSc course at
Lancaster University.
Geology of the country around Trevose
Head and Camelford
New minerals related
publications from the
BGS
The 5th edition of the Directory of
Mines and Quarries 1998, is now
available, price £55. The Directory lists
over 2000 onshore mineral workings in
the UK by mineral commodity
produced.
The directory is arranged in three main
sections:Trevose Head and Camelford memoir.
36
• commodity, with location, basic
geology and uses
Among the commodities covered, there
are over 800 sand & gravel workings
producing aggregates and over 800 hard
rock quarries producing crushed rock
and building stone. Other commodities
include chalk, coal, china clay,
fluorspar, gypsum, gold, potash, oil &
gas and silica sand. The information is
now also available in digital format on
CD-ROM, price £300 plus VAT.
World Mineral Statistics 1992-96
provides a reliable, comprehensive and
continuous set of data on the majority
of economically important and internationally traded minerals, metals and
other mineral-based materials.
Production, export and import statistics have been compiled in consultation with major producers, traders and
other international organisations. Maps
of world production and charts
showing trends in production for
selected commodities are included.
Price £80.
The United Kingdom Minerals
Yearbook 1997 contains comprehensive
statistical data on minerals production,
consumption and trade to 1996,
estimates of production in major
mineral commodities for 1997 and a
commentary on developments in the
UK’s minerals industry during 1997.
Price £35.
All books are available from the Sales
Desk: BGS, Keyworth, Nottingham,
NG12 5GG
Tel: 0115 936 3241
Fax: 115 936 3488
e mail: [email protected]
In addition they can be obtained from
the sales points at BGS Edinburgh and
the London Information Office plus
Stationery Office and other selected
booksellers.
For further details contact:
Don Cameron, BGS, Keyworth
Tel : 0115 936 3489
Fax: 0115 936 3520
British
Geological
Survey
Reading
the rocks
— the second
in a series
about
geology all
around us
Building with fossils
Marble can be seen in a number of
churches in Kent and Sussex, such as at
Ulcombe, Tenterden, Biddenham and
Smarden.
Perhaps the most famous of the freshwater limestones is the early Cretaceous
Purbeck Marble, which is quarried from
Numerous churches in the Vale of
Belvoir have been constructed of the
Lower Jurassic Marlstone Rock. This
orange-brown ironstone and sandstone
contains pockets of fossils such as
marine brachiopods (Lobothyris and
Tetrarhynchia) and bivalves (Chlamys,
Modiolus, Oxytoma, Protocardia and
Pseudopecten).
Ian Wilkinson
& Graham Lott
Keyworth
T
he tradition of using local stones for
building adds to the richness of our
culture and society. Sedimentary
rocks are by far the most common type of
building stone used. They normally
formed in shallow-water conditions and it
is not surprising that closer inspection
often reveals fossils incorporated in them.
The type of fossils present can indicate
the age of the stone as well as the environment in which it originally accumulated.
One of the geologically youngest of our
sedimentary building stones is the
Oligocene Bembridge Limestone (Quarr
Stone) of the Isle of Wight. It is
crowded with fossils, especially freshwater gastropods. Examples can be
found in the walls of Quarr Abbey (Isle
of Wight) and the White Tower of the
Tower of London.
Paludina Marble is known by a number
of names but is not a true marble (which
is a metamorphic rock) but a hard
limestone. It accumulated in a freshwater
lake during the early Cretaceous and
takes its name from the abundant freshwater gastropod Viviparus sussexiensis
(formerly known as Paludina) that
makes up much of the rock. Paludina
quarried near Stamford, is used extensively in Peterborough and Ely cathedrals. This coarsely shelly limestone, or
rag, formed in turbulent marine conditions that caused the shells to be broken
down into fragments. Another famous
example is Bath Stone from the
Cotswolds, an oolitic, shelly limestone
that also formed in high energy, marine
conditions. The broken shells add to the
texture of this beautiful creamy stone.
Jurassic oysters in Portland Stone used
to construct the plinth of King Charles I
statue in Trafalgar Square, London.
a few thin, fossiliferous limestone beds
in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. It too is
crammed with the small gastropod
Viviparus, and has been cut, shaped and
polished for columns and fonts since at
least the Middle Ages e.g. Salisbury and
Lincoln Cathedrals.
Bivalves such as Plicatula, Protocardia
and trigoniids, which lived in the warm
shallow seas during the accumulation of
the Upper Jurassic Portland Stone, are
frequently seen weathering out of it.
This white stone became very fashionable throughout the country after Sir
Christopher Wren used it to rebuild St
Paul’s Cathedral and other London
churches, following the Great Fire of
London. Portland Roach is a particularly shelly horizon with bivalves and
gastropods, including Aptyxiella portlandica, the famous ‘Portland Screw’.
Jurassic limestones are well known
building stones. Barnack Ragstone
The Carboniferous limestone of Britain
is rich in fossils and because of its
hardness can be highly polished and is
used for decorative effect in many
buildings. Limestones containing
crinoids (‘stone lillies’) such as the
Monyash Marble from Derbyshire, and
Dent Marble from Yorkshire, are two
examples. The Frosterley Limestone
from County Durham is also a
Carboniferous limestone, but in this
case it is full of the coral
Dibunophyllum. When seen in a
polished face, the numerous crosssections of solitary, horn-shaped corals,
produce a particularly appealing ornamental stone which can be seen as
columns in Durham Cathedral.
Casts of bivalves and brachiopods in a
wall constructed of Northampton
ironstone, Towcester.
37
British
Geological
Survey
ANALYTICAL SERVICES
BGS can analyse:
Techniques available include:
● rock
● XRF
● ICP-MS
● soil
● ICP-AES
● sediment
● AAS
● fly ash
● GC
● cement
● HPLC
● surface and groundwater
● FIA
● environmental samples
● ion chromatography
● gases
● gamma-ray spectrometry
for a wide range of inorganic, organic
and radioactive constituents and physical
properties
Applications include:
● Mineral exploration
● Contaminated land
● Environmental monitoring
● Radioactivity and radon
measurements
● Borehole core studies
● Sea-bed measurements
● Bulk sample preparation
● alpha spectrometry
● liquid scintillation counting
BGS can provide:
● Analytical consultancy
● Training in techniques
● Full sampling programmes
● Field measurements
● Site investigations
● QA to BS5750
● BS & ASTM aggregate testing
For further information please contact the
Group Manager, Analytical and Regional Geochemistry Group
British Geological Survey, Keyworth
Nottingham NG12 5GG
Telephone 0115 936 3348/3500
38
Fax 0115 936 3329
MSc COURSE
COMPUTING FOR GEOSCIENCE
This one-year MSc, awarded by Nottingham Trent University, is taught jointly by the University’s
Department of Computing and the British Geological Survey. Both organisations are in Nottingham
Objective
To develop hybrid skills in geoscience computing through specialised hands-on problem-solving skills
applied to geoscientific work. The course is for practising geoscientists, and is designed to meet the modern
needs for information technology in the earth sciences.
Content
The course has two parts: a modular course followed by an individual, stand-alone project. The modular,
taught course comprises three themes, Geoscience, Computing and Application Tasks. The latter tasks form
the backbone of the course and unite both the geoscience and computing themes in a series of hands-on
assignments and activities. During the final project, students will have the opportunity to work on data in one
of the world’s foremost geological surveys.
Entry
Candidates must have a good honours degree or equivalent experience in one of the following areas:
• Geoscience • Civil Engineering • Surveying • Pure Sciences • Combined Sciences
GEOLOGY
Further information from:
Dr I E Penn, Training Co-ordinator, British Geological Survey, Keyworth, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)115 936 3187 Fax: +44 (0)115 936 3604 e-mail: [email protected]
Shaping the landscape
The landscape and scenery are closely related to the underlying geology
and different types of rock and fossil tell us about the past history of the
earth. Find out more about this fascinating subject from our books guides
and maps.
Suitable for professional and amateur geologists, students of geology of all
ages, walkers, climbers, tourists and everyone interested in local and
natural history.
Available from booksellers or contact the British Geological Survey for
further information or a free catalogue:
Sales Desk,
British Geological Survey
Keyworth,
Nottingham NG12 5GG
Tel: 0115 936 3241 Fax: 0115 936 3488
e-mail: [email protected]
Please quote Earthwise when placing orders
British
Geological
Survey
British
Geological
Survey
Principal offices
of the
British Geological
Survey
Kingsley Dunham
Centre, Keyworth,
Nottingham,
NG12 5GG
= 0115–936 3100
Murchison House,
West Mains Road,
Edinburgh EH9 3LA
= 0131–667 1000
Maclean Building,
Crowmarsh Gifford,
Wallingford, Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
= 01491–838800
London Information
Office at the
Natural History Museum
Earth Galleries,
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2DE
= 0171–589 4090
St Just,
30 Pennsylvania Road,
Exeter EX4 6BX
= 01392–78312
Geological Survey of
Northern Ireland,
20 College Gardens,
Belfast BT9 6BS
= 01232–666595
ISSN 0967-9669
The British Geological Survey is the national geological survey of the United
Kingdom. Its primary function is to maintain and continuously revise geological
information for the land and offshore areas of the United Kingdom. Its expertise
is available for projects with government departments, industry or academia,
within the United Kingdom and internationally.
The BGS staff cover a very wide range of geoscience and related disciplines, so its
services can be tailored to the specific needs of clients. The coordination of effort
by multidisciplinary teams is a speciality and results in fully integrated packages.
Where in-house expertise is not available, the BGS is able quickly to identify and
appoint appropriate experts through its worldwide contacts.
As a respected member of the international geoscientific community, the BGS has
successfully collaborated on projects with other organisations in more than 90
countries, and individual BGS scientists maintain close links with specialist coworkers around the world. Techniques in all of its activities are thus constantly reviewed and improved. In-house training programmes enable staff to keep abreast
of new thought and methods in geoscience.
If you are planning a project in geoscience, the BGS may be able to help. For
further details please contact the Head of UK Business Development.
Tel: 0115 936 3392; Fax: 0115 936 3150; email: [email protected]
The BGS Minerals and Environment Team
Professor Jane Plant CBE,
Assistant Director and Head of the
Minerals, Environment and Geochemical
Surveys Division.
Tel: 0115 936 3521; Fax: 0115 936 3487
Dr Bill Hatton, Manager, Minerals Group
Tel: 0115 936 3493; Fax: 0115 936 3520
Dr David Morgan, Manager, Mineralogy
and Petrology Group
Tel: 0115 936 3138; Fax: 0115 936 3352
Professor Randall Parrish, Manager,
NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory
Tel: 0115 936 3427; Fax: 0115 936 3302
Dr John Baldock, Manager, Analytical and
Regional Geochemistry Group
Tel: 0115 936 3423; Fax: 0115 936 3329
Mr Malcolm Brown, Business
Development Group, Minerals Sector
Tel: 0115 936 3477; Fax: 0115 936 3150
Mr David Holmes, Manager, Fluid
Processes and Waste Management Group
Tel: 0115 936 3566; Fax: 0115 936 3261
Published by:
British Geological Survey
Editors:
Joanna Thomas & Henry Haslam
Design:
Adrian Minks
Print Production:
John Stevenson
Printed by:
Hawthornes, Palm Street, New Basford,
Nottingham NG7 7HT
The BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY is a
component body of the NATURAL
ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL
© NERC 1998