VP, Chief Geophysicist
Expert Geophysics
Alexander Prikhodko, Ph.D., P.Geo., Executive MBA, has been associated with the airborne geophysics industry since 2005 (Aeroquest Limited and Geotech Ltd.) holding management positions as Regional General Manager, Data Interpretation Manager, and Director of Geophysics and working on exploration projects for diverse commodities in regions over the world. His professional career included the chief geophysicist position in a gold-platinum mining company for more than ten years. In this role, his expertise was extensively used in its mineral exploration programs’ borehole, ground, and airborne geophysics. He is an author and co-author of many publications dedicated to airborne EM. In 2019 he was awarded the Barlow Medal for Best Geological Paper published in CIM publications (Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum).
Mineral exploration case studies with airborne EM natural fields
The mineral resources exploration industry continuously expands the efficiency requirements for geophysical technologies. Due to their relatively inexpensive nature, coupled with the ability to rapidly acquire data over large areas, airborne electromagnetic technologies have been used for decades in subsurface exploration. Limitations on the depth of investigation of airborne platforms with controlled primary field sources is the main obstacle for using these systems in many geoelectrical conditions and geographical terrains. Methods exploiting natural electromagnetic fields in the audio frequency range significantly increase depth of investigation and sensitivity to a wide range of resistivity contrasts including in the range of thousands of ohm-ms. Field examples from the latest development in the airborne electromagnetic natural fields’ domain, MobileMT, demonstrate its exploration capabilities in both conductive and resistive environments, sensitivity to any direction of geoelectrical boundary, and detectability of near-surface discrete targets along with deep structures.