Above the Aso Volcano crater.   From the left: Eric Hou (Ivanhoe Mines, China), Tan Tielong (AngloGold Ashanti, China), Prof. Taguchi (Fukuoka University, Japan), Jack Gauthier (Bema Gold, Russia/Canada) and Graeme Corlett (Ivanhoe Mines, China).

A thick fog prevented the group from viewing the actual crater of the Aso Volcano.   Instead we had to be content with an large image in the Aso Museum and Volcanic Observatory where we were briefed by observatory geologists and viewed video tapes of eruptive episodes and the characteristics of associated hydrothermal and magmatic activity.
Photograph by Mike Porter.