Acoustic EM Exploration Technology
"If you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency and vibration."
Who we are
ESSCO is a private-sector geophysical technology developer specialising in the design, deployment, and interpretation of advanced airborne and remote sensing survey systems.
We work across mineral and oil & gas exploration, focusing on technologies that improve subsurface target resolution while reducing exploration risk and cost.
What we offer
ESSCO offers a cost-effective R&D-based airborne Acoustic EM survey deployment over an active exploration project. This allows clients to directly compare results against existing state-of-the-art geophysical systems under real-world conditions.
Objective: better targets, fewer drill holes, and faster decisions.
By eliminating most barren or low-value anomalies before drilling.
Subsurface target detection and outlining beyond 2,500 metres.
Higher data retention and utilisation than conventional EM processing.
What is Acoustic EM?
Acoustic EM is an emerging airborne geophysical technology capable of ultra-deep subsurface target detection (exceeding 2,500 metres).
Unlike conventional electromagnetic systems that rely solely on inductive coil capture and heavy post-processing, Acoustic EM introduces a real-time inversion pathway using an inverse piezoelectric capture process.
This enables conversion of EM eddy current responses into a usable acoustic spectrum data component, rather than discarding it as noise.
Why this matters
In conventional EM systems, large portions of the acquired signal are filtered out during processing, creating inherent data gaps. These gaps often result in vague target models that require multiple drill holes to validate — effectively prospecting with the drill.
ESSCO’s approach retains and utilises a much larger portion of the original signal, increasing usable data volume by 85–95%. In many cases, an ESSCO-defined target can be confidently tested with one or two drill holes only.
Advanced target definition
By retaining the full acoustic spectrum component of the EM response, ESSCO is able to:
- Identify causative source density characteristics
- Generate anomaly polygon isoshells
- Provide clearer visual and quantitative target verification
This significantly improves confidence that an anomaly represents a legitimate bedrock source.
Practical outcomes
Compared to conventional EM workflows, Acoustic EM can reduce drill verification requirements by up to 90–95%, accelerating project timelines and lowering total exploration costs.
Engagement model
ESSCO offers this technology under a structured R&D deployment model at a nominal cost. Deliverables typically include:
- Airborne survey data acquisition
- 2D and 3D isometric mapping
- Results summary and interpretation report
Get in touch
Companies and individuals interested in evaluating Acoustic EM on an active exploration property are encouraged to contact ESSCO to arrange a technical and logistical discussion.
Glenn Galata
Technical Director
416-892-9119
Andre Tanguay
Director
905-621-1670
Why discovery is getting harder
The mineral exploration industry is struggling to keep pace with demand for new base-metal and precious-metal deposits that can be economically mined.
Reserve depletion is a growing concern: as existing ore is mined out, replacing it becomes progressively more difficult.
Context: “Peak gold” and capital misallocation
In the late 2000s, some analysts and executives advanced the “peak gold” hypothesis (an offshoot of the “peak oil” concept), suggesting global gold production had peaked or would peak around the mid-2010s.
Regardless of whether “peak gold” is the right framing, the period highlighted a real industry problem: expensive, slow, and uncertain exploration outcomes create pressure to acquire assets rather than discover them.
A notable result of past acquisition cycles was widespread overpayment for assets and poor capital allocation, which weakened many companies and reduced risk appetite for new exploration programs. The downstream effects included closures, consolidations, and a more difficult funding environment for junior explorers.
What this means for exploration
Today’s environment demands exploration tools that increase targeting confidence and reduce drill verification spend. “Prospecting with the drill” across dozens of anomalies is increasingly difficult to justify when capital is scarce.
Stargate II (SGII): a results-focused targeting approach
Many airborne EM and related surveys identify numerous anomalies across a property. Selecting which anomaly to drill, where to drill it, and how to prioritize targets can become subjective and costly.
Reduce the number of anomalies advanced to drilling by applying tighter criteria.
Where criteria are met, SGII aims to provide a direct vector for an initial drill test.
A more economical path than elimination drilling across many anomalies.
If a Stargate II airborne survey identifies a criteria-meeting target, SGII is designed to support an initial drill test with a single hole. If mineralisation is encountered, follow-up drilling proceeds to outline a resource.
Addressing the “black box” concern
Because SGII system design and data are proprietary, some observers dismiss it as “poor science.” In practice, the most important test is whether the method generates a clear, falsifiable prediction that can be validated efficiently.
Simple validation
SGII’s hypothesis can be tested directly: drill the outlined anomaly using the provided vector and evaluate the result. This aligns with the “rule of simplicity” (often associated with Occam’s Razor) and keeps validation cost low.
Recommendation
Exploration should be results-based. Too often, weak outcomes lead to doing more of the same: another survey, another anomaly, more elimination drilling. In a constrained funding environment, that pattern is no longer sustainable.
ESSCO’s recommendation to interested companies and property owners is straightforward: allocate a portion of exploration spend to put Stargate II to a direct field test under real project conditions.