AEM and its application to potash exploration in Australian salt lakes

摘要

Normally, AEM surveys for mineral exploration would be designed to avoid salt lakes because of the high ground EC that prevents adequate signal penetration. However, this aspect can be useful for potash exploration; AEM maps salinity gradients within salt lakes and can separate brackish from hypersaline groundwater. It is in the hypersaline groundwater that potash and other commodities may be concentrated. Thus, the ability to recognise and map hypersaline groundwater is the first step in broad-area assessment of the potential of salt lake systems for potash and other mineral resources such as lithium, boron and uranium.