Tim Archer
Managing Director
Reid Geophysics
Tim Archer has worked as a commercial geophysicist for more than twenty-five years. He holds an Honours Degree in Geophysics from the University of the Witwatersrand and a Management Diploma from the University of Stellenbosch.
Tim worked for Anglo American from 1994 to 2001, mainly with their SPECTREM airborne electromagnetic system. From 2004 to 2014, Tim owned and ran a geophysical contracting business in the UK, specialising in near-surface hazard detection. In 2014, he joined Reid Geophysics, a company which he now owns and manages, as well as providing non-seismic geophysical consultancy to mineral and energy explorers worldwide.
Tim is an active member of EAGE, IAEG, PESGB and SEG. He is also a technical reviewer for Geophysical Prospecting and the Journal of Applied Geophysics.
Intelligent exploration: harnessing the power of machine learning for geological mapping and mineral detection
A wealth of machine learning algorithms exist to support early-stage mineral exploration. Carefully employed, these algorithms can rapidly, objectively, and sometimes data-agnostically sort through large volumes of complex data to provide meaningful targets for detailed follow-up.
In this paper, we demonstrate the usefulness of supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms for creating pseudo-lithology maps and providing 3D structural information from standard geophysical data.
ML techniques are not a substitute for expert geophysical analysis. Data conditioning, appropriate tuning of algorithms, and thoughtful evaluation of the results generated all need to be diligently completed to maximize exploration success.