Jean-Jacques Royer

• University of Lorraine

The Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) is used to simulate the isothermal injection of CO2 into a water-saturated, homogeneous porous medium. The complex multiphase flow is modeled using the 2D-pseudopotential Shan-Chen multiphase LBM. This work proposes a unique fluid-pulse technology similar to the one applied to enhance oil recovery with CO2 sequest...

Reactive transport modeling is known to be computationally intensive when applied to 3D problems. Transforming sequential computing on the computer processor units (CPU) into parallelized computation on the high-performance parallel graphic processor units (GPU) is a classical approach to increasing computational performance. Another complementary...

Unconsolidated sandstone uranium deposits exploited by the in situ leaching (ISL) method, contain complex tetravalent and hexavalent uranium compounds, mostly as UO2 and UO3 oxides that have different dissolution rates in sulfuric acid solutions. This work investigates a reactive transport model that takes into account the dissolution of both UO2 a...

This publication investigates indirect in-situ bioleaching as an alternative mining technology for minimizing waste production, environmental impact, and chemical consumption. The process consists in injecting a leaching solution into a targeted ore body for dissolving base metal bearing minerals, while iron-oxidizing microorganisms regenerate the...

The mining industry needs effective techniques to meet the future challenges of resources extraction. As the deposits become more and more complex, a very good knowledge of an orebody is necessary. Mineralogical characterization is an essential contribution to improve the knowledge on the ore and wastes for a given mining project. It could bring ma...

A database of European granite-related uranium deposits containing the average grade and resources for individual ore deposits has been constituted from the resources declared by the countries available in the literature and in the UDEPO website of the IAEA. This database was used to evaluate the statistical distribution of deposit size and grade a...

Investigating uranium resources is a significant opportunity for the future energy policy. Uranium deposits are usually classified according to their host rocks, for instance, in the uranium database of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in which the uranium deposits are re-grouped into 15 major types18. This work investigates uranium re...

This work results from a cooperative scientific program between the Perm State University (Russia) and the University of Lorraine (France). Its objectives are to integrate modern 3D geomodeling in order to improve sustainable mining extraction, especially for predicting and avoiding the formation of sinkholes disaster potential zones. Systematic ex...

This work aims at improving the exploitation of the K, Mg, salts ore of the Verkhnekamskoye deposit using advanced information technology (IT) such as 3D geostatistical modeling techniques together with high performance flotation. It is expected to provide a more profitable exploitation of the actual deposit avoiding the formation of dramatic sinkh...

Ultra-sonic enhanced flotation ore process is a more efficient technique for ore recovery than classical flotation method. A classical simplified analytical Navier-Stokes model is used to predict the effect of the ultrasonic waves on the cavitations bubble behaviour. Then, a thermodynamics approach estimates the temperature and pressure inside a bu...

The ore process flotation technique is enhanced by using external ultra-sonic waves. Compared to the classical flotation method, the application of ultrasounds to flotation fluids generates micro-bubbles by hydrodynamic cavitation. Flotation performances increase was modelled as a result of increased probabilities of the particle-bubble attachment...

The gas of coal seam represents the non-conventional resources of energy of big industrial importance, which exist in considerable volumes worldwide, but they are confined in low-permeable coal rocks (matrix permeability is often less than 1 mD). Often the coal seams are naturally fractured due to their mechanical fragility to different deformation...

In-situ leaching and bio-leaching have recently received an increasing attention from research and industry as a cost effective biotechnology for recovering metals from deep bur-ried deposits. They consist in injecting a leaching solution into the targeted ore body for dissolving base metal bearing minerals, and in regenerating the solution thanks...

The in-situ recovery (ISR) method involves injection and producer wells between which a leach solution circulates and recovers the targeted commodity directly within the ore body. Pregnant solution is then brougth back to the surface, hydrometallurgically processed and renewed into fresh leach solution. This process is already well known in the ura...

The classical application of Theory of Sampling (TOS) is univariate. However, most practical situations address multi-analyte issues, in which the common belief is that one should focus a variographic study on the analyte with the most heterogeneous distribution. This paper introduces a multivariogram approach to process sampling and compares it wi...

We assess stratigraphic correlation uncertainties by stochastically generating several possible correlations lines between a set of stratigraphic logs. We motivate the use of automatic correlation methods to sample this uncertainty and introduce a stochastic version of Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) that correlates two logs. This method is extended to...

A broad variety of gold deposits were formed within fault systems that provide a mineralized fluid with necessary conditions for metal accumulations. However, some gold occurrences are located far from the main faults. In this case, the permeability of the rock mass is caused by internal damage developed during a deformation event. It is possible t...

Several gold deposits are related to fault systems that control metals’ transport and accumulation through relatively high permeable discontinuous structures. However, some gold deposits form during the same deformation event but occur at locations far from the main faults. In those cases, due to the rock mass heterogeneity, the fracture systems ca...

Whilst a broad variety of gold deposits are linked to fault systems, some others are located far from main faults in fractured zones caused by internal rock damage developed during deformation events. Restoration tools are used here to estimate deformation attributes for predicting such off-fault damage zones.

3D geomodelling, a computer method for modelling and visualizing geological structures in three spatial dimensions, is a common exploration tool used in oil and gas since more than several decades. When adding time, 4D modelling allows reproducing the dynamic evolution of geological structures, and reconstructing the past deformation history of geo...

The Polish Kupferschiefer, with sediment-hosted polymetallic (Cu, Ag, Au, PGE) deposits, is one of the most important sources for copper and silver in the world. Within the framework of the ProMine project, the Lubin region (southwestern Poland), was selected for modelling the geological formations in 3 dimensions and 4 dimensions in order to bette...

Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is gas stored in coal layers, generally extracted from wells after hydraulic fracturing and/or CO2 or solvent injections. The Karaganda Basin was selected to develop CBM production because of its huge gas potential (4 300 Bm3 equivalent to 2 billion tons of coal, with gas content about 15-25 m3/t of coal (for comparison San J...

According to the law of July 13, 1992, only ultimate wastes can be accepted in class 1 rubbish dumps after July 1, 2002. This has led to studies concerning the stabilization of such wastes. Two types of vitrified waste (vitrifiats de REFIOM) have been studied, each with a different chemistry and mineralogy. This work shows the importance of some cr...

A broad variety of gold-deposits are related to fault systems developed during a deformation event. Such discontinuities control the metals transport and allow the relatively high permeability necessary for the metals accumulation during the ore-deposits formation. However, some gold deposits formed during the same deformation event occur at locati...

Predicting fractures in rocks is one of the most important issues in reservoir engineering for enhancing oil and gas production from low permeable reservoirs and unconventional formations. This work discusses a theoretical framework for predicting fractures through time and space during a stimulation hydraulic fracturing test in anisotropic medium....

This paper presents a matrix formulation of factorial kriging, and its relationships with simple and ordinary kriging. Similar to other kriging methods, factorial kriging can be applied to both stationary and intrinsic stochastic processes, and is often used as a local operator. Therefore, the concepts of intrinsic random function and local station...

A procedure to predict potential Cu areas in the Polish Fore-Sudetic region using structural surface-restoration and logistic regression (LR) analysis is investigated. The predictor variables are deduced from the restored horizon that contains the ore-series. Curvature attribute are calculated for each restored time after applying flexural slip to...

The structural complexity in a region on the earth surface directly impacts the difficulty, cost and risk associated with producing natural resources. Anticipate, within a reasonable error margin, the structural complexity in a given locality could help to define better strategies to explore and exploit a natural resource placed in that locality. B...

The location of potentially unrecognized gold deposits in the close vicinity of the Cadillac–Larder Lake Fault Zone in the Archean Abitibi Subprovince (Canada) is predicted by applying a stochastic approach to the distribution of known gold deposits. The methodology uses the distances between neighboring orogenic gold deposits along the fault trace...

This work explains a procedure to predict Cu potentials in the ore-Kupferschiefer using 4D modeling and logistic regression (LR) analysis. The predictor variables in the assessments are established from restored horizons that contain the ore-series. Applying flexural-slip to unfold/unfault the 3D model of the Fore-Sudetic Monocline (FSM), we obtain...

3D restoration can help to better understand the history of geological formations, to identify fossil mineralizing fluid pathways, to establish the physical and chemical processes involved in ore formations and to predict the locations of potential economic mineral resources. In the case of sediment-hosted ore deposits, the unfolding and unfaulting...

Understanding the history of sedimentary basins is of paramount importance for reconstituting oil and gas migration, but also in mineral exploration for identifying brine pathways. Advanced modeling technology such as 3&4D geomodeling can be fruitfully used to explore with new eyes old matured mining field. The Polish Kupferschiefers, a sediment-ho...

A geostatistical approach is proposed to image the uncertainties attached to the rock moduli in a 3D geomechanical model. Then, this approach is applied to quantify the effects of these uncertainties on the calculated displacements and stresses in a geological structure undergoing depressurisation due to hydrocarbon production. It is shown that the...

Generally the geostatistical simulation methods are used to generate several realizations of physical properties in the sub-surface, these methods are based on the variogram analysis and limited to measures correlation between variables at two locations only. In this paper, we propose a simulation of properties based on supervised Neural network tr...

The assessments in mineral exploration are based on models supported by descriptive and/or metallogenetic evidences and geo-variables. The potential maps to find an ore deposit are expressed as a function of the posterior probabilities when the evidences are present or not1. In other situations, the potential is the result of a linear combination o...

3 & 4D geomodeling, a computer method for reconstituting the past deformation history of geological formations, has been used in oil and gas exploration for more than a decade for reconstituting fluid migration. It begins nowadays to be applied for exploring with new eyes old mature mining fields and new prospects. We describe shortly the 3&4D geom...

Continuous media theory in physics uses the Von Karman's theory to describe the shape, strains and stresses of thin plates, non Euclidian thin shells or surfaces. Given a set of boundary conditions, it relates geometrical shape parameters such as the Gaussian and the mean curvatures, the physical properties of the materials such as the Young's modu...

The past two decades have seen a rapid development in structural restoration as key to identify favourable target mother rock formations, to reconstitute fluid migration in oil and gas surveys and to predict faults and fracturing in the rock mass. In the case of sediment-hosted ore deposits, the restoration procedure can be used to identify mineral...

The past two decades have seen a rapid development in structural restoration as key to identify favorable target mother rock formations, to reconstitute fluid migration in oil and gas surveys and to predict faults and fracturing in the rock mass. In the case of sediment-hosted ore deposits, the restoration procedure can be used to identify minerali...

ProMine is a European Union (EU) co-funded project, focused on “Innovative concepts and processes for strategic mineral supply and for new high added value mineral-based products”. It started in 2009, for a four years period, and involves 27 partners from 11 countries. A first major result from the project is the release of the collaboratively deve...

Greece’s geology favors a potent and dynamic use of mineral resources. Among the Non-Energy Metallic Minerals commodities, base and precious metals, in particular zinc, lead, copper gold, and silver are becoming an increasingly important and rapidly growing target of the mining industry. In NE Greece, where most of the potential resources and feasi...

By compiling geological, structural, geophysical, and geochemical information into a 3D geological model, we evaluated the orogenic gold potential in the vicinity of a hidden segment of an important Archean fault zone, the Cadillac-Larder Lake fault (CLLF) in the region of Rouyn-Noranda. The segment of CLLF in the present study is partly covered by...

Defining distance is crucial for modeling geological properties with geostatistics. However, geological structures are generally deformed, making the present-day Euclidean distance inappropriate for applying geostatistics. Considering this, chronostratigraphic coordinate system maps geological models into a regular chronostratigraphic space, where...

Unconformity-related uranium deposits are the highest grade, large tonnage uranium resources in the world. In the Athabasca Basin (northern Saskatchewan, Canada), which is the premier host for unconformity-type deposits, the ore deposits are frequently hosted and surrounded by breccias in sandstone. The significance of these breccias and their rela...

Streamline approach is often used as an alternative effective method to classical finite difference technique for solving large heterogeneous fluid flow models in petroleum reservoirs. In the case of complex multi-component fluid system, this approach is scarcely used because the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic flow equations are strongly coupled th...

Natural gas hydrates may contain more energy than all the combined other fossil fuels, causing hydrates to be a potentially vital aspect of both energy and climate change. This article is an overview of the motivation, history, and future of hydrate data management using a CODATA vehicle to connect international hydrate databases. The basis is an i...

Streamline simulators are often used as an alternative effective method to classical finite differ-ence technique for solving large heterogeneous fluid flow models in petroleum reservoirs. In the case of complex multi-component fluid system, this approach is scarcely used because the hydrodynamic and thermodynamic flow equations are strongly couple...

4D Seismic is becoming a conventional tool for hydrocarbon reservoirs monitoring and management, especially for heavy oil bearing fields (Calvert, 2005). In this case, 4D, or time-lapse seismic, can be used to detect important reservoir properties variations imposed by thermal enhanced oil recovery processes. This work aims at identifying remaining...

Summary Dependency of soil properties on scale is a crucial issue in soil physics. In this paper, fractal approaches are used in two case studies in France and Australia, respectively, to study how measured physical soil properties change with the sample spacing and the scale of observation. At a scale of 10–1000 m (104 to 106 mm), fractals were ap...

Multi-attribute interpretation with discriminant analysis is an efficient tool to interpret 4D seismic data in terms of reservoir changes. Yet, because this method cannot take into account data uncertainties which are in most cases significant, the interpretation may be questionable. The following paper presents an algorithm based on interval arith...

The average Pb/U ratio of the Shea Creek unconformity-type uranium deposit has been estimated at 0.071±0.015. The calculation was performed on a volume enclosing the orebody to take into account the possible radiogenic lead migration within the ore zone. Despite this precaution, this ratio is significantly lower than the expected ratio (0.211) assu...

This paper presents our experience in applying 3D modeling for processing and visualizing geoscience's information since more than 10 years. Subsurface characterization is important in a number of geological activities including petroleum industry, waste deposit, natural resources (mineral and water), geotechnical engineering and environmental appl...

In a statistical pattern recognition context, discriminant analysis is designed to classify, when possible, objects into predefined categories. Because this method requires precise input data, uncertainties cannot be propagated in the classifying process. In real case studies, this could lead to drastic misinterpretations of objects. A new nonparam...

Hydraulic fracturing is a common procedure to increase the permeability of a reservoir. It consists in injecting high-pressure fluid into pilot boreholes. These hydraulic tests induce locally seismic emission (microseismicity) from which large-scale permeability estimates can be derived assuming a diffusion-like process of the pore pressure into th...

In the petroleum exploration/production context, characterizing the reservoir quality, identifying the main rock types, or predicting their spatial variations is a challenge for the industry. To achieve this purpose, supervised pattern recognition methods, as discriminant analysis are widely used. These methods aim at calibrating, when possible, a...

Drilling at Soultz-sous-Forêts, France, conducted as part of the European ‘Hot Dry Rock’ Project, penetrated the Rhine Graben basement down to 5090 m and revealed a porphyritic monzogranite. Chemical composition and REE patterns of three samples at 5 km depth indicate homogeneous composition with a slight vertical differentiation, suggesting stable...

Drilling at Soultz-sous-Forêts, France, conducted as part of the European 'Hot Dry Rock' Project, penetrated the Rhine Graben basement down to 5 090 m and revealed a porphyritic monzogranite. Chemical composition and REE patterns of three samples at 5 km depth indicate homogeneous composition with a slight vertical differentiation, suggesting stabl...

Las estimaciones de la temperatura a profundidad son de suma importancia para los estudios reológicos de la corteza y también para una planeación correcta de la perforación de pozos profundos. La modelación térmica requiere de condiciones de frontera reales, para así poder obtener valores confiables de la temperatura a profundidad. Las condiciones...

Stratigraphie inversion of seismic amplitudes is a widely-used technique for estimating acoustic or elastic impedances, these impedances being related to reservoir properties in a second step. For inversion processes incorporating a priori information, it is very important to weight the a priori in the cost function, consistently with the a priori...

1 Fachrichtung Geophysik, Freie Universität Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, Build. D, 12249 Berlin, Germany.E-mail: shapiro@geophysik.fu-berlin.de

The study of the natural alteration of ancient vitreous slags (100 to 4 000 years) suggests a single global mechanism. In a first stage, weathering consists of a selective extraction of the modifier cations of glass (including Pb and Ba). This phenomenon is associated with an increase of the solution pH, inducing the glass dissolution. The elements...

Multidisciplinary three-dimensional modelling, involving geophysical, structural and geochemical data, has been used to study the relationships between magmatism, tectonics, fluid circulation and mineralisation in the northern Limousin, and to provide P-T-Z-t paths constrained by the available dating. The ore deposit occurrence displays little spat...

We propose an approach for in-situ estimating of the large-scale permeability tensor of reservoirs. F or this w e use the seismic emission micro-seismicity induced by borehole hydraulic tests. The approach is based on the hypothesis that the triggering front of the hydraulic-induced micro-seismicity propagates like the low-frequency second-type com...

We propose an approach for estimating the permeability tensor using seismic emission induced by borehole hydraulic tests or by a fluid injection of an arbitrary nature. This approach provides a single estimation of the permeability tensor for the complete heterogeneous rock volume where the seismic emission was recorded. The approach is an extensio...

Drilling at Soultz-sous-Fore^ts, France, conducted as part of the European Hot Dry Rock Project, intersected a fracture lined with vein quartz and actively producing hot (150°C) water at 2174 m depth in the granite basement to the Rhine Graben. At least seven generations of quartz are present within the vein, but fluid inclusion homogenization temp...

During fluid-injection tests in boreholes a spontaneons seismic emission (microearthquakes) can be induced in rocks. We assume that these seismic microevents are due to the perturbation of the porous pressure caused by the fluid injection.

3D modelling of thermal and fluid transfers around a natural fission reactor (Oklo, Gabon) Numerical modelling is used to quantify heat and mass transfers around the Oklo site. A 3D model of a reactor, at decametric scale, built with the GOCAD software shows that the functioning of the reactor acts as a powerful but local thermal perturbation. This...

The evolution of temperature and fluid circulations through time in the Ardèche passive margin is studied from several geometrical reconstitutions, using a numerical thermo-convective model taking into account the evolution of the physical parameters during the burial. The results of this study show that, until the late Triassic stage, fluid circul...

Numerical modelling is used to quantify heat and mass transfers around the Oklo site. A 3D model of a reactor, at decametric scale, built with the GECAD software shows that the functioning of the reactor acts as a powerful but local thermal perturbation. This perturbation increases the temperature within a range of 50 to 250°C, according to assumed...

Subsurface models of reservoir properties like porosity or permeability are often related to lithological parameters describing the reservoir in terms of flow units. Otherwise, seismic data provide valuable information regarding the lateral variation of lithology not given by the sparse well control. An integrated geostatistical method is proposed...

The Campo de Dalias is situated in the eastern part of Andalusia (southern Spain), and west of the Bay of Almeria, occupying nearly 330 km2.This is economically the most important agricultural area in the province of Almeria, where intense greenhouse activities are widespread. Water for agriculture is supplied principally from many wells drilled in...

Interpretation of environmental data is currently confronted with the problem of estimating the spatial variation of a parameter from a limited number of sample points irregularly distributed in space. The challenge is to extract the relevant information for a given problem from the individual observations at control points. For example, in risk an...

This volume contains selected up-to-date professional papers prepared by specialists from various disciplines related to geosciences and water resources. Thirty papers discuss different aspects of environmental data modeling. It provides a forum bringing together contributions, both theoretical and applied, with special attention to Water in Ecosys...

A two-dimensional (2-D) thermal modelling of the Saint Sylvestre—western Marche leucogranite complex (northwestern Limousin, French Massif Central, FMC) was conducted to help constrain the cooling history and the uranium mineralization postdating the time of intrusion by 40–50 m.y. Numerical simulation of the post-emplacement cooling of the complex...

Self-sealing of open microstructures and mesostructures characterizes evolving fluid flow in the sedi-mentary cover as well as in the granitic basement of the Rhine continental rift basin in the region of Soultz. This area currently experiences active fluid migration. A detailed petrographic and microthermometric study of paleo-fluids trapped as fl...