The Bhutanese Leading the way.
In the next three month, if you see a low flying helicopter zipping over your head at a low altitude with specialized equipment, don’t worry — as these are not spying on you but are looking for mineral wealth under Bhutan’s soil.
Two specialized helicopters from Australia have finally reached Bhutan on 11th March at 4:07 pm, after a two- month delay in Myanmar. They flew from Myanmar to Gelephu and refueled there and then continued to Paro.
A senior official said that the plan is to start the survey after a brief traditional inauguration ceremony (to appease the deities) in the Lungtenphu helipad in Thimphu, probably over the weekend, as the Paro International Airport is too busy for such an event.
The two specialized helicopters will then move to Gelephu which will be the main base of operations for them.
Gelephu will be used as a central point to divide the country into a western and eastern zone, and one helicopter will do the survey in the dzongkhags west of Gelephu and the other will survey dzongkhags east of Gelephu.
The dzongkhags that will be surveyed are Samtse, Chukha, Dagana, Sarpang, Zhemgang, Pemagatshel, Samdrupjongkhar, Trongsa, Trashigang, Punakha, Thimphu, Paro, and smaller parts of Mongar, Lhuentse, Haa, Trashiyangtse and Gasa.
The surveys will be conducted at 10,000 feet or below given the capacity of the helicopters, and following international best practices and regulations, the survey will not be done 2 km from international borders.
The main target of the survey will be metallic minerals comprising of both high value metallic minerals and base metallic minerals.
The choppers equipped with magnetometer and LiDAR or laser scanning equipment will look for Rare Earth Elements (REE) which are 17 types of metallic minerals with a wide use in electronics, renewable energy, defense and various other applications. It will also look for Copper, Tungsten, Gold, Beryllium, Zinc, Lead, etc.
However, an official said while the priority is the metallic minerals above the search will not be restricted to the above, as the survey capabilities that can detect unusual formations and compositions can be used to triangulate and identify nonmetallic minerals like Gypsum, Coal, Limestone, Talc, Quartzite, Phosphorite, Pyrite, Mica, Dolomite, etc. The survey will also see if there are any possible hydrocarbons in Bhutan.
The mapping, for example, will map the shape and size of the basic sedimentary host and detect anomalies which could be non-metallic minerals. It will be doing formation mapping to see the structures under the earth.
What will help is that the geologists in Bhutan already know the broad regional mapping in terms of what types of rocks should be present in which areas, and so when anomalies show up, they can be explored further. The project will require experts in Himalayan geology, and Bhutanese geologists will work together with experts sent from Australia.
While the main aim is mineral exploration, there are important additional benefits of the survey.
One will be in terms of seismology. The survey will not only produce a mineral map of Bhutan, but also explore and confirm the known fault lines and folds in the crust and get more details, and also look for potentially unknown fault lines. This will give a better understanding of the potential earthquake risks for Bhutan and its various regions.
Apart from mineral resources and seismology, the aim of the survey will be to look for possible geo-thermal resources which can be used for geo-thermal plants as Bhutan looks to diversify its renewable energy source.
The project will be able to study the various slopes across the country and it will help calculate their stability and this information will be useful in disaster prevention and management, like along highways, etc. It may even be useful for major infrastructure projects, like new roads, bridges, etc.
The three months aerial survey is just the start, as another nine months will go in interpreting the data collected which will help build the map.
The software to do this is propriety software owned by the survey company, but Bhutanese geologists will also be trained to pick up information like anomalies.
The aerial survey will be complimented with ground survey and tests whenever something is found.
The helicopters for the mining survey in Bhutan belong to the United Aero Helicopter from Australia and have been hired by a Mining Survey Company called Xcalibur Smart Mapping.
The Xcalibur company website states that it is a global leader in airborne and mapping geophysics industry offering comprehensive and sustainable solutions for mapping and assessing natural capital (read minerals), including renewable and non-renewable resources.
While Xcalibur is a global company the Department of Geology and Mines (DGM) will be using its Australia based branch for the survey and studies with skilled technicians and a team coming from there.
The team from Xcalibur are eight in number with a project manager, pilots, geotechnical survey technicians, geophysical operators, aircraft engineer, aircraft maintenance engineers. The numbers may go up and down as required. The team consists mainly of Australians, but there are some New Zealanders too. As per the safety protocols the helicopter pilots are not allowed to fly beyond 21 days straight and so they will be given a break in between, with replacement pilots stepping in as needed.
The team had come here earlier, but had to go back due to the two month delay, but with the helicopters now here, the team is expected to come back and be in time for the inauguration.
The survey equipment will be attached to the two helicopters. The helicopters will fly around 130 to 200 meters over the ground, but in places like Thimphu it will fly much higher.
The helicopters were supposed to be here on 18th December 2024 but bad weather meant the flight could not happen, and when the Australian company asked the Department of Civil Aviation of India to renew the permission to fly over India, there was a two-month delay that was resolved after the RGoB requested the Indian Embassy and the Australian High Commission requested the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi.
