Grapevine

Exploration 97 - Geophysics and Geochemistry at the Millennium

Exploration 97 to be held September 14 to 18, 1997 in Toronto, is the Fourth Decennial International Conference on Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration for Minerals. This conference builds on the success of previous conferences held in Canada, every 10 years since 1967. Exploration 97 reviews the current state of the art in geophysics and geochemistry, the achievements made over the past decade, and provides an outlook to the future of these methods in mineral exploration and mine development.

Emphasis is placed on recent advances in methodology applied to contemporary exploration problems, important case histories, and applications in the assessment and monitoring of exploration and mining related environmental problems. These themes will be addressed through a program of invited technical papers, poster sessions, a technical exhibition and workshops.

The following plenary sessions will be presented as part of the technical program:

State of the Art in Exploration Technology
Exploration Geochemistry
Applications of Regional Geophysics and Geochemistry
Integrated Exploration Information Management
Exploration of the Mine Environment
Mine Site Exploration and Ore Delineation
Seismic Methods in Mineral Exploration
Integrated Exploration Case Histories

Prospective poster authors are invited to propose presentations that would be of interest under any of the sessions described above.

For further information contact: Mr. Ian MacLeod, Technical Program Committee Chairman, c/o Geosoft Inc., Suite 500, 204 Richmond Street West, Toronto, Ontario, MSH 2G4, or email: ian@geosoft.com.

LCT Heads for a Busy Season with Geco-Prakla and Shell

LCT has been subcontracted by GecoPrakla to acquire and process all gravity and magnetic data on the surveys for Norske Shell A.S. for the summer of 1996. The surveys for Norske Shell will be acquired on Geco-Prakla's marine vessels Mintrop and My. In addition, LCT will also acquire and process data on the surveys for NAM, a Shell-operated company, in the Dutch sector aboard the M/V Geco Gamma. Shell is also a corporate user of LCT's industry leading 3D modeling software.

6th Annual Summit Awards Demonstrate Teamwork Means a Brighter Future for Alberta

The awards recognize professional accomplishments, technological innovation, commitment to the Association, and community service. Nominations are generally received from APEGGA members and industry. The Summit Awards were established to raise awareness of the contributions made to society by the more than 28,000 members of the Association.

The recipients of the 1996 Summit Awards are: Dr. Marshall Williams, P.Eng., APEGGA Centennial Leadership Award; Ms. Anju Garg, P.Eng., APEGGA Early Accomplishment Award; Dr. William Ayrton, P.Geol., APEGGA Frank Spragins Technical Award; Mr. Noel Cleland, P.Eng., APEGGA L. C. Charlesworth Professional Service Award; Dr. David Manz, P.Eng. for the Canadian Water Filtration Process, APEGGA Project Achievement Award; Dr. Theodore Rozsa, P.Geol., APEGGA Community Service Award and Mr. John Wood, P.Eng., Honorary Life Membership.

Western Atlas Logging Services to Purchase Microline Inspection Technology

Western Atlas Logging Services, a division of Western Atlas International, Inc., has entered into an agreement with Microline Corporation of Traverse City, Michigan, to acquire technology and exclusive marketing lights from Microline relating to magnetic flux leakage (MFL) inspection of pipelines and downhole casing and tubing.

GETECH to Open U.S. Office

Geophysical Exploration Technology (GETECH) of Leeds, UK, Europe's largest gravity and magnetic consultancy group, is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Houston, Texas, USA on June 1, 1996.

The new office will offer GETECH's complete range of products and services to clients in the Houston area as well as within North and South America. These include data compilation and processing, databasing and databasing services, data and software sales and interpretation services.

The office will be managed by Jeff Lawton, formerly of Conoco Inc., who brings 15 years of experience to the job. Jeff has been applying gravity and magnetic data to interpretation projects since 1978 in his UT Austin graduate studies. His wide range of skills includes international and domestic oiI and gas exploration, global gravity and magnetic interpretation, and most recently, exploration information management, including the design of workstation environments and evaluation of geological and geophysical application software.

Canada Wins Bid for Prestigious World Petroleum Congress in Year 2000

Canada has been awarded the prestigious 16th World Petroleum Congress (WPC) which will be held in Calgary, Alberta, June 11-15, 2000.

The June 2000 World Petroleum Congress in Calgary, will be co-ordinated with Southex Exhibition's National Petroleum Show to showcase Canada's industry to the world, promote Canadian capabilities and facilitate business opportunities. Significant economic benefit to the convention and tourist industry of the city and province can be expected, as delegates are anticipated from around the world for this major five day conference.

Every three years, the WPC develops a major oil and gas conference which is hosted by one of its member countries. The last congress in Stavanger, Norway, (1994) was opened by Prime Minister Gro Brundtland and attracted senior industry and government delegates from around the world. The next (15th) congress (1997), will be in Beijing, China, led by the Chinese National Oil Company and will be opened in the Great Hall of the People. The conference and closing ceremonies will be held at the China World Trade Centre.

The Canadian Association of the SPC expects to begin detailed planning for the 16th congress within the next few months. In the meantime, it will also be promoting the 1997 Beijing congress in conjunction with the National Petroleum Show by featuring an exhibit from China at the show June 11-13, 1996 at Stampede Park, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Three Geophysical Firms to Do Study of China

Three prominent geophysical firms; Paterson, Grant & Watson Limited (PGW), Toronto, Canada; Geophysical Exploration Technology (GETECH), Leeds, UK; LaFehr, Chan Technologies (LCT), Houston, Texas and the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) have reached an agreement with the Aero Geophysical Survey (AGS) and the Chinese Academy of Geoexploration (CAG), both part of the Chinese Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources (MGMR), to compile the first unified database of China on a standard 1 km x 1 km grid. Co-operation agreements were signed in Beijing on March 9, 1996 and the study will take two to three years to complete. The study will be funded by the international oil and mining industry and a number of companies are already precommitted to the China Aeromagnetic Mapping Project (CHAMP).

The study is considered timely and supports the aims of the ninth Chinese five year plan to encourage non-Chinese oil and mineral exploration companies to invest in China. AGS/CAG have conducted airborne geophysical surveys for more than thirty years resulting in approximately 300 separate surveys comprising 7.5 million line kms of data. Much of the data in eastern China is composed of detailed coverage of 500 m flightline spacing. In addition to their regional acquisition programs, AGS/CAG have a programme of high resolution aeromagnetic surveys using state of the art equipment, including DGPS, and have developed the HC-85 helium optical pumped magnetometer acquisition system.

CHAMP is the latest compilation study involving PGW and GETECH, who have already completed major studies of Africa and South America and are currently working on SE Asia for oil and mineral companies. LCT and CSM have close and continuing links with AGS/CAG and provide an important input to CHAMP. Much of the work will be done in China and will involve transfer of technology and training.

Interested companies, wishing to be involved in CHAMP, should contact Dr. D.J. Misener at PGW in Toronto (Ph: 416-971-7343, Fax: 416-971-7471) or Dr. J.D. Fairhead at GETECH in Leeds, UK (Ph: +44-113-233-5240, Fax: +44-113-2429234).

Doodlebugs: The Video Wins Award

Essence Productions is pleased to announce that, "Doodlebugs: The Video" has been awarded a 1996 Alberta Motion Picture Industry Award (AMPIA). The production was nominated in two categories: Amateur and Best Script in non-dramatic under 30 minutes. The winning nomination is for Best Amateur Production: co-producers Sharon Stevens and Stacy Stevens.

CogniSeis Increases Processing Power by 8,400 Megaflops with Two New Silicon Graphics Systems

CogniSeis has significantly increased its product line with the installation of two technically advanced Silicon Graphics systems at their Houston-based headquarters. The 16-cpu Power Challenge and 12-cpu Power Onyx are both 90 mhz systems. Each contains two gigabytes of memory and over 30 gigabytes of disk space. As a result, the combined processing power of the two systems exceeds 8,400 megaflops.