Hi and Welcome,
I set up this website for multiple purposes - partially as a portfolio of work for the purposes of ensuring that Google pointed prospective interested parties to a site that I have some control over, rather than relying on third party social networks. As such, my main use for this site is shameless self-promotion. Fortunately, as pretty much no one reads this site, I can pretty much put anything up I'd like.
First, a bit about me, in rambling fashion.
I am a geophysicist (formerly P.Geo - lapsed due to insurance costs to sustain it). I have a background in near surface and exploration geophysics. I currently run a small geophysics equipment rental business out of Winnipeg; do research and development - mostly related to geophysical hardware and software. I have a undergrad degree in geophysics (B.Sc.G.Sc. Hons Geophysics, University of Manitoba, 2009) where my honours thesis was on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) for mapping geology. I went to grad school for Planetary Sciences at University of Western Ontario where my focus was on Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) for planetary applications, but am a grad school dropout. Industry beckoned.
I've done field work and research on three continents. Within Canada, I've done the same in 7 provinces and 3 territories (still missing the Maritimes). I love doing field work, and I love working on new things. But, as the body gets older, I spend more time strapped into a chair.
I have always had a desire to work in the private planetary exploration business. To that end, I accrued appropriate experience by: working in environments that are the best analogues - the desert and the tundra; using appropriate techniques which may be transferable; and learning appropriate skills - instrumentation R&D primary among them. Most recently, equipment rental services, support, training has been added to the menu - I don't do any real consulting anymore. See Lithogen for more details there.
I've done a lot of fieldwork in the tundra, owing much of that experience to Aurora Geosciences. However, I've also worked in deserts, forests, mountains, prairies, and on boats in freshwater. There were years where I'd spent as much time in a helicopter or bush plane than any other vehicle. I stayed in tent camps, plywood shacks, and 5000 person mining facilities with all the bells and whistles. I've done surveys on the ground, in the air, underground, and on the water. I've encountered bears, wolves, muskox, wolverines, and at least one insect. I've driven so many off road vehicles that it's hard to count. Half the time the instrumentation doesn't work (I'm pro at field repairs), and half the time the weather is bad (but you can play cribbage).
My previous R&D project was for Aurora Geosciences Ltd., where I worked full time developing new instrumentation to extend our ability to collect geophysical data quickly in the tundra. There I was basically a one man skunkworks program, but the experience has been invaluable. While R&D is always beset with risk, this project is in the sales and marketing phase. Success! Here's an excerpt from a press release referring to the device I built:
Mountain Province Diamonds Provides Kennady North Project Update (Sept 13, 2021)
The ARRT survey was conducted during the winter 2021 program with snow-machine support. Line spacing was 40m, 80m and 160m depending on proximity to known kimberlites. Line traverse repeats were conducted in opposite directions over roughly the same lines to better resolve the 3D model. Roughly 650 line-km of ARRT data were collected over three days during the winter 2021 program.
Two plan-view slices of the ARRT results at 100m and 140m depth are shown in the images below. To the northeast of Faraday 1-3 and the southwest of Faraday 2 are two ARRT anomalies with expressions that are similar to those associated with the nearby Faraday bodies. These untested target areas are called the North and the South Anomalies.
[...]
"[We] commend Aurora Geosciences for their development of the innovative Aurora Rapid Reactance Tomography ('ARRT') technology which helped identify these high-potential targets." [-- Stuart Brown, the Company's President and Chief Executive Officer]
That project has continued under the guidance of my colleague, Darrell Epp. It is my understanding that the device is making real discoveries. Put that in your kimberlite pipe and smoke it ;)
If you are interested in hiring me or anyone else from my group, please feel free to contact me through Lithogen. If we can't do what you need, it's likely we can refer you to someone who can. I've professional experience using gravity, magnetics, time-domain EM, frequency-domain EM, ground penetrating radar, shallow seismics, electrical resistivity, VLF, ELF (AFMAG), and more. I've also spent a fair share of time analyzing gravity, magnetics, EM, ERT, and GPR data, including inversions of the whole lot. Some examples of my work are available online here under Publications. I'll help you get the equipment you need, and promise not to sell you snake oil.
Cheers!
Troy Unrau