Fluxgate Magnetometer system mounted on UAS system: First field test at Dominga IOCG deposit, Chile

With the support of Fundacion Chile (FCH) grant, we developed an airborne magnetic system (GeoMagDrone GFDAS) mounted on a UAS octodrone platform (DJI, S1000), based on a low cost/light-weight fluxgate magnetometer (FGM-301) and a robust/light-weight data logger for position, temperature, radar altimeter and 3 magnetic components at 16 Hz recording. Fluxgate magnetometer is hanging from the UAS platform at a distance of 2.5m where the EM noise is reduced to less than 2 nT. The whole geophysical system, including batteries, weights 650 gr., with an autonomy of 2 hours. Magnetometer calibration includes the 9 coefficients of amplitude, offset, and orthogonality, and temperature correction. We test the system over the IOCG deposit of Dominga-Chile, a magnetite ore (40%) (a block of 2x3 km with NS lines separated every 50m and a clearance of 40m, the mineral deposit buried 50-100m from the surface, where a ground magnetic survey was conducted previously. Ground conditions includes relatively rough topography with slopes of 10-20%, and some windy days. We use the digital terrain model SRTM30 to define the drape flight shape Average flight performance includes a mean speed of 35-40 km/hour, and an UAS battery consumption of 18-12 minutes depending on the wind conditions. A good correspondence was found between plan deployment and survey results in terms of line direction/separation/clearance. Line path were flown with errors less than 5 meters, whereas clearance of 40m was kept depending on the amount of control points used. The comparison between ground survey and GeoMagDrone results show a perfect match (anomaly amplitude/shape and noise envelope), validating in this way the system developed. Main concern for the productive application of this technology in unmanned geophysical platforms is the battery performance and the quality of digital terrain models to follow the topography.