Upcoming Activities

Following the completion of the January/February 1998 Executive Council Meeting in Parksville, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, the MAP National Directors signed the minutes of the meeting. At these meetings the work plans for each MAP member for the 1998/99 fiscal year were created.

Executive Council Meeting and MAP presentation at the Geological Congress in Buenos Aires
(Activity: PM.98/M-3)

The MAP mid-year Executive Council Meetings will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina following the 10th Latin American Geological Congress (November 8 to 13). On the final day of the Congress (November 13) MAP will be featured at an open presentation in which each country will give a brief presentation on its participation in MAP since its inception. The presentation will be preceded by a closed meeting during which each country will give a preliminary overview of its activities so far this fiscal year.

The following is a tentative agenda for the MAP presentation in Buenos Aires:

- Friday November 13th:

9:00 to 11:00 am

Closed meeting

Preliminary Individual Country Overviews

11:15 to 1:30 pm

Open meeting.

1:30 to 3:00 pm

Break

3:00 to 4:30 pm

Distribution of preliminary maps of the Airborne Geophysical Survey.

The following is a general overview of topics to be covered at the Executive Council Meetings (November 14 and 15):

Main points to be covered in Executive Council meeting:

Part 1 Saturday, November 14

- Verifiable Indicators
- WEB page
- Literature on cartographic standards from member countries.
- Discussions and meeting on Map Standards and symbology. Members of the advisory group meeting and exchanging information.
- Possiblity of attending the International Cartographic Association
Meetings in Ottawa- August 1999.
- Review of responses to Evaluation Questionnaires
- Drafting a list of available publications on the WEB page
- Future FieldLog related activities
- Progress for establishment of Standards for Petrochemistry
- Progress on schedule for sample dating
- Cataloguing of joint MAP products
- Planning of Mine Tour II (Bolivia and Argentina)
- Decision on Next year's Executive Council meeting at the
PDAC in Toronto, Canada, from March 14 to 17, 1999
- Evaluation of Terrane 99 proposal to combine with the September 1999 Executive Council Meetings as alternative venue.

Part 2 Sunday, November 15

Individual Country Updates

April/1998-November 1/1998

1) Present status of the project in the country.
a) Discussion of financial statement for the country and state of procurement of goods and services.
b)Review of activities carried out by the country:

- Field work
- Laboratory Studies
- Publications/Reports/maps
- Discussion of problem areas (if any).
- Discussion and revision of Work Plans for 1998/99 fiscal year:
- Discussion of training, procurement and field work activities proposed
for the year.
- Discussion of scheduling of activities (ie. Sample processing,
procurement, and joint field work and training.)
- Discussion of verifiable indicators for 1998/99 fiscal year.

Dr. Lowe in Chile
(Activity: D.97/C-4)

Dr. Carmel Lowe of GSC Pacific departed Vancouver on Friday October 30, 1998 for Santiago to give a short course at SERNAGEOMIN facilities. The course, to be given from November 2 to 4 will give SERNAGEOMIN geologists an introduction to geophysical modelling.

Dr. Soregaroli to Peru
(Activity: C.97/M-1)

Dr. Art Soregaroli, the Technical Advisor to the GSC for MAP has been invited by INGEMMET to visit their offices and discuss planning the future objectives of INGEMMET (post year 2000). INGEMMET's present institutional objectives focus on the completion of the Geological map of Peru by the year 2000. At present INGEMMET is close to achieving this goal. Dr. Andre Panteleyev (currently working in the field in Peru with INGEMMET) has also been asked to be advised on the planning of this. Dr. Soregaroli will be in Lima on December 2, 1998 following his visit to Bolivia, to begin the planning of a proposal to be submitted to the Peruvian Ministry of Mines in late April or early May of 1999.

Airborne Geophysics Distribution to Companies
(Activity: D.96/A-2)

Spectrometry processing for the Puna Austral survey is complete. This rapid completion has been possible because SIAL had a geophysicist, Mike Anderson, assigned specifically to spectrometry quality control and processing in La Rioja and Montreal since the start of the survey. Accordingly, releasing the final spectrometry data and maps (1:250 000) and the preliminary digital magnetic data corresponding to the maps already released will take place November 13th, 1998. The release of this second compliment of data will be at the time of the 10th Latin American Geological Congress in Buenos Aires. We must stress that these maps and data are the exclusive property of the companies that participated financially in the project as well as SEGEMAR and the GSC. The period of exclusivity shall be for one year from date of release of the final products, tentatively scheduled for later in November.

Volcanology Field Trip Update

Parinacota Volcan, Chile. From left to right: Robert Monge, Mario Robles, Teodoro Henríquez, Agapito Sánchez, Michael Valencia, Moyra Gardeweg - Photograph by Jorge Clavero.

Preparations for part two of the MAP joint volcanology Field Course (November 23-30, 1998) are well under way in Chile. The tentative schedule remains unchanged:

-Monday 23: Theoretical course in Santiago, at SERNAGEOMIN facilities (9:00am - 18:00pm)

- Tuesday 24: travel Santiago - Calama - San Pedro de Atacama. Familiarization with surroundings in the evening.

- Wednesday 25, Thursday 26, Friday, 27, Saturday, 28: Field work.

- Sunday 29: return to Santiago.

The organizers in Chile still require names and contact information of the participants of each country.

Please forward the names to:

Dr. Moyra Gardeweg at: mgardeweg@sernageomin.cl and / or Mike Ellerbeck at: mellerbeck@gsc.nrcan.gc.ca.

Activities Reports

Joint Fieldwork Chile-Peru

From the 20th to 26th of October scientists from SERNAGEOMIN (Chile) and INGEMMET (Peru) participated in joint field work as part of MAP. Working together on the border region of the two countries, the two groups of geologists were enthusiastic, created good rapport and worked well together.

Starting in Tacna on October 20 (through to the 22) the group began work by scouting the surrounding area of the Peruvian Altiplano identifying Mesozoic and Tertiary geologic units as well as upper Tertiary - Quaternary volcanic complexes. The group then proceeded to Chile, entering the country at the tripartite border point (Bolivia-Chile-Peru), where they observed the continuity of the geologic bodies, their similarities and changes in facies, as well as upper Tertiary - Quaternary volcanic complexes. Finally, on the morning of the 25th the group visited the spectacular Nevado de Payachata (see photo above), and the epithermal Ag-Au deposit at the Choquelimpie mine. In the evening of the same day there was a meeting in Putre (Chile) where the group studied the possibility of carrying out joint mapping work in the future.

Dr. Panteleyev in Peru
(Activity: A96/P-4)

Dr. Andre Panteleyev of XDM Geological Consultants Inc. is currently doing field work in Peru with INGEMMET geologists. The field work follows the sucessful conclusion of a short course at INGEMMET facilities by Dr. Panteleyev on Metalogeny and the Geology of Mineral Deposits. Part of the field work will involve the collection of rock samples to be processed by the MAP PIMA portable mass spectrometer which Dr. Panteleyev brought to Peru to demonstrate its capabilities. If requested by MAP members, a course on the use of and potential applications of the PIMA can be organized. For further information on this please contact MAP administration at

(604) 666-0183 or email: mellerbeck@gsc.nrcan.gc.ca.

Minister Goodale's Mission to Latin America

To ensure that Canada captures new business in Latin America, the Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan), will lead a trade and investment mission to Argentina, Chile and Peru from November 6 to 15, 1998. The mission will be organized in close partnership with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

Objectives

 

· Showcase Canadian excellence and expertise in all facets of the natural resource sector;

 

· Help Canadian natural resources companies, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises, increase exports to Latin America;

 

· Improve the business, trade and investment climate for Canadian businesses in the region;

 

· Advance public policy issues of concern in the sustainable development of natural resources.

Congratulations to the new father: Jorge Clavero of SERNAGEOMIN

Just minutes before sending the newsletter to the printer we got the wonderful news that our colleague, Jorge Clavero of SERNAGEOMIN has become a father to baby girl Catalina.