Logging drill core or drill chips is very subjective. Variation in skills and opinions from one geologist to the next makes it very difficult to create reliable 3D alteration models of orebodies based on visual logging. Routine 4-acid digest ICP analyses provide a quantitative and consistent data set through an entire orebody that takes the guess work out of logging. Consider the most common alteration minerals that are formed in hydrothermal systems; white mica, chlorite, carbonates, feldspars and pyrite. Using the major element analyses from an ICP assay suite, a small number of standard scatter plots and ternary plots can be utilized to describe the alteration mineralogy.
CITATION: Halley, S W, 2019. Making the most of multi-element geochemistry, in Proceedings PACRIM 2019, pp 3031 (The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy: Melbourne).