Arthur Brant, both as Director of Newmont Mining’s mining exploration research team and as a teacher, was the individual most responsible for the successful application of induced polarization (IP) and many other geophysical methods to the discovery of hidden ore deposits. These methods played a central role in the mining boom that followed World War II and have been employed in detecting and delineating many ore bodies around the world.
During the 1930s, while working with the Ontario Department of Mines, Arthur Brant theorized that a band of iron thought to run under Steep Rock Lake could be traced using electrical resistivity methods. Working on the winter ice of the lake, he tested this theory and subsequent drilling demonstrated that he was correct.
During World War II, working with a geophysical/geological team searching for uranium in northwest Canada, Arthur Brant helped develop the first portable field Geiger counters capable of airborne and water operations. This work led to a uranium discovery at Beaver Lodge south of Great Slave Lake.
In 1946, Newmont Mining asked Arthur Brant to investigate research done during World War II for possible adaptation to minerals exploration. His tank tests on sulfide ore samples led to development of field equipment to send electric current into the ground and measure voltage decay in the period following the cutoff of the current. This method is now known as time domain IP. Brant’s report identified this new technique as a potential means of locating previously unresponsive disseminated sulfide ores.
In 1948, Arthur Brant became Director of Newmont Mining Corp.’s newly formed Geophysical Department, and in 1949, he formed an outstanding team to conduct geophysical research at the Jerome Mine in Arizona. This team included eminent names in the field of geophysics, such as Dr. Harold O. Seigal and Dr. James Wait, and was the first significant research group in the history of mining geophysics in the United States. Their work soon resulted in new technologies in time domain and frequency domain IP and helicopter electromagnetic systems. With Newmont’s permission, Texas Gulf Minerals built and used a helicopter airborne electromagnetic system to detect the major Kidd Creek copper, zinc, and silver ore body near Timmins, Ontario.
One of the most important aspects of Arthur Brant’s dual careers as teacher and exploration research supervisor was the tremendous influence he had on the first generation of mineral explorationists that made mining geophysics their life’s work. Brant and his Newmont team placed mining geophysics on a professional, scientifically based level not previously known in the mining industry. Arthur Brant’s remarkable personality, his blend of kindness, generosity and enthusiasm, had a deep influence on those around him and those who followed. There is no doubt that Arthur Brant's name ranks very high in the annals of mining geophysics as it emerged after World War II.
