Method and apparatus for processing log data

A method implemented with a logging system of improving imaging of rock penetrated by a borehole for recovering mineral material therefrom, the logging system including a logging tool and a programmable device, the method comprising the steps of:

• a. obtaining, at the programmable device of the logging system, a two-dimensional set of log values recorded with the logging tool of the logging system at a plurality of points i) about the periphery of the borehole, and ii) over a chosen length along the borehole;
• b. decomposing, with the programmable device, the set of log values by identifying in the set one or more main functions indicative of one or more main geological layer features of the rock penetrated by the borehole and removing a first of the log values corresponding to the one or more main functions from the set;
• c. further decomposing, with the programmable device, the set of log values by, as necessary iteratively, identifying in the set one or more subsidiary functions indicative of one or more 1st . . . nth subsidiary geological layer features of the borehole and removing a second of the log values corresponding to the 1st . . . nth subsidiary functions from the—for the time being—remaining set;
• d. designating, with the programmable device, a third of the log values of the set remaining after the identification and the removal of the second log values as texture;
• e. using the main and subsidiary functions indicative of the main and 1st-nth subsidiary layer features and the texture to construct, with the programmable device, a synthesized volume representing the rock removed during creation of the chosen length of the borehole;
• and
• f. determining, with the programmable device, geological features of the removed rock by analyzing the synthesized volume.