first on decorahnews.com: Second phase of USGS airborne survey in the Decorah area could begin as soon as January 19th

The U.S. Geological Survey has completed the first phase of an airborne survey of the Decorah and Spring Grove areas to study the rock layers to determine if the rocks contain significant resources of nickel, copper and platinum.

The first phase of the project utilized a specially outfitted DC-3 airplane.  The second phase of the program will use a helicopter fitted with large electromagnetic and magnetic instruments carried on a cable hung from the helicopter.

USGS officials tell decorahnews.com the helicopter flights will start up as soon as the weekend of January 19th.  USGS's Ben Drenth says the data collected by the airborne survey will be published via an Open-File Report some time this fall on the USGS website.  As for the interpretations of that data, Drenth says, "The interpretations will start trickling out as we develop them throughout this year at academic conferences, and over the next couple years in journal articles.

The cost of this airborne survey is $800,00.  While that's a significant amount of money, it's a much cheaper price than the cost of collecting similar data on the ground.