So Nearology but still so Far Away

Many of us in the junior mineral exploration space love the concept of “nearology”.  It is not a word that is often used in a formal company presentation. Still, it is a wonderful shorthand concept to convey the exploration potential of a particular project to a non-technical person.  Usually, nearology will be in play due to that project’s proximity to other mineral deposits, mines or exciting exploration stories emanating from an adjacent competitor.

Nearology is sometimes a perfectly valid idea.  Suppose your project is in the same geological package of rocks or along the same structural systems as known mineralisation or mines but is simply less well explored. In that case, drawing parallels to these deposits can be fair.  Equally, targets along a mineralised zone beneath deep enough cover to deter less persistent or well-funded explorers can be inferred to have untested potential.  Sometimes this is backed up with geochemical sampling results or geophysical anomalies that reinforce the story.

However, I have also seen the idea of nearology being egregiously abused.  Geological structures like faults and shear zones have beginnings and ends. They cannot necessarily be extrapolated 10’s or even 100’s of kilometres as I have sometimes seen claimed.  Being “along strike”, e.g. along the directional trend of a deposit, may be important, but sometimes other factors control the location of mineralisation.  Rock units prospective for one type of mineral deposit can be abruptly truncated against another rock unit that has zero potential.

To further complicate the story, geophysical methods measure rock properties. As such, different sources can give very similar anomalies – it is almost never a way to detect mineralisation directly, just an additional confirmation of whichever exploration model is employed.  This is why we call drilling rigs the “rotary lie detectors”.  Drill holes testing those targets are still the only reliable way to discover and define mineral deposits. 

So, treat nearology with some caution.  In our amazingly diverse geological environment, with its broad but highly variable mineral endowment, sometimes simply being near an existing deposit is not enough to ensure future exploration success.