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REMOTE SENSING FOR GOLD EXPLORATION REMOTE SENSING FOR GOLD

EXPLORATION

Presentation · January 2017

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Khaled Zaghlol
Egyptian geological survey
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REMOTE SENSING FOR GOLD
EXPLORATION

By
Khaled Zaghlol
Ph.D. student
2017/2018
 REMOTE SENSING FOR GOLD
EXPLORATION
Contents
1. Introduction.
2. Remote sensing technology.
3. Landsat images.
4. Digital image processing.
5. Mineral exploration overview.
6. Steps of remote sensing and gis for gold exploration.
7. Case study.
8. Summary.
9. References.
REMOTE SENSING FOR GOLD EXPLORATION

1-INTRODUCTION:
Gold has been extracted from northeast Africa for more than 5000 years, and this
may be the first place where the metal was extracted. The Arabian-Nubian Shield (ANS) is
an exposure of Precambrian crystalline rocks on the flanks of the Red Sea. The crystalline
rocks are mostly Neoproterozoic in age. ANS includes the nations of Jordan. Egypt,
Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Somalia. Arabian Nubian
Shield Consists of juvenile continental crest that formed between 900-550 Ma, when intra
oceanic arc welded together along ophiolite decorated arc. Primary Au mineralization
probably developed in association with the growth of intra oceanic arc and evolution of
back arc. Multiple episodes of deformation have obscured the primary metallogenic setting,
but at least some of the deposits preserve evidence that they originate as sea floor massive
sulphide deposits.

Remote sensing is the science of acquiring, processing, and interpreting images and
related data, acquired from aircraft and satellites, that record the interaction between matter
and electromagnetic energy (Sabins, 1997, p. 1).

Geological applications of remote sensing include the following:

 Surficial deposit / bedrock mapping.
 Lithological mapping.
 Structural mapping.
 Sand and gravel (aggregate) exploration/ exploitation.
 Mineral exploration.
 Hydrocarbon exploration.
 Environmental geology.
 Geobotany.
 Baseline infrastructure.

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  Sedimentation mapping and monitoring.
 Event mapping and monitoring.
 geo-hazard mapping and planetary mapping.

2- REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY:

Advantages:
• Archives of world wide data are readily available.
• Images cover large areas on the ground.
• Prices per square kilometer are generally lower.

Disadvantages:
• the latest hyperspectral technology is currently available only from aircraft
• aircraft missions can be configured to match the requirements of a project
3-LANDSAT IMAGES:
• Landsat satellites that have acquired valuable remote sensing data for mineral
exploration and other applications.
• The first generation Landsat’s 1, 2, and operated from 1972 to 1985.
• The second generation Landsat’s 4, 5 and 7, which began in 1982 to 2000.
• Landsat 6 of the second generation was launched in 1993, but failed to reach orbit.
• The third generation Landsat 8 which began in 2013 and continues to the present.
• The TM system records three wavelengths of visible energy blue, green, and red
(Band 1, 2 and 3) and three bands of reflected IR energy (Band 4, 5 and 7). These
visible and reflected IR have a spatial resolution of 30 m.
• Band 6 records thermal IR energy 10.5 to 12.5 mm with a spatial resolution of 120
m.
• Each TM scene records 170 by 185 km of terrain. The image data are telemetered to
earth receiving stations.

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 • The third generation Landsat 8 which began in 2013, with an enhanced TM system.
A panchromatic band 8 0.52 to 0.90 mm with spatial resolution of 15 m is added.
4-DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING:
Sabins, 1997 groups image-processing methods into three functional categories:

• Image restoration compensates for image errors, noise, and geometric distortions
introduced during the scanning, recording, and playback operations. The objective is
to make the restored image resemble the scene on the terrain.
• Image enhancement alters the visual impact that the image has on the interpreter.
The objective is to improve the information content of the image.
• Information extraction utilizes the computer to combine and interact between
different aspects of a data set. The objective is to display spectral and other
characteristics of the scene that are not apparent on restored and enhanced images.
5-MINERAL EXPLORATION OVERVIEW:
Table (1) Representative mineral exploration investigations using remote
sensing. From Sabins 1997, Table 11-3.

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These studies describe two different approaches to mineral exploration.
Mapping of geology and fracture patterns at regional and local scales.

• Rowan and Wetlaufer 1975 used a Landsat mosaic of Nevada to interpret regional
lineaments. Comparing the lineament patterns with ore occurrences showed that
mining districts tend to occur along lineaments and are concentrated at the
intersections of lineaments.
• Nicolais 1974 interpreted local fracture patterns from a Landsat image in Colorado.
The mines tend to occur in areas with a high density of fractures and a concentration
of fracture intersections.
• Rowan and Bowers 1995 used TM and aircraft radar images to interpret linear
features in western Nevada. They concluded that the linear features correlate with
the geologic structures that controlled mineralization.
Recognition of hydrothermally altered rocks that may be associated with
gold mineral deposits.
• The spectral bands of Landsat TM are well-suited for recognizing assemblages of
alteration minerals iron oxides, clay, and alunite that occur in hydrothermally altered
rocks. In many cases the best exploration results are obtained by combining geologic
and fracture mapping with the recognition of hydrothermally altered rocks.

6-STEPS OF REMOTE SENSING AND GIS FOR GOLD

EXPLORATION:
 Thematic maps
Other thematic maps of geology and base maps were compiled and transformed
into GIS format for basic use. They constitute the baseline information for obtaining
and mapping the lithology of the area from the satellite data.

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 Pre-processing functions
Few pre-processing functions were applied to prepare the data for further
processing and analysis which include:
 Data projection
This function was to ensure that the satellite image is rectified to the same grid
system of universe transverse Mercator (UTM), datum WGS 84, Zone 36
north, which is an initial step to ensure that all the geographical data and the
satellite images are correctly overlaid.
 Cross talk correction
This function was used to overcome a cross talk signal scattering problem of
The ASTER SWIR sensor, a phenomenon discovered after the launch of
ASTER aboard the Terra platform in December 1999.
 Spatial resolution merge
The variation of the spatial resolution of the ASTER image sometimes limits
the advantages of the high spatial resolution of some ASTER channels. This
function was used to merge the high resolution channels with the coarser
channels to obtain better spatial resolution for better analysis. It effectively
used to increase the spatial resolution of the SWIR bands to 15 m instead of
30 m and the TIR bands to 30 m instead of 90 m. Indeed, this was useful in
mapping the lithological units since the wide spectral range at high spatial
resolution of 15 and 30 m rather than 30 and 90 m enabled for more
discrimination and characterization of the lithological units.
 Area of interest
Since the area of study (For Gold Exploration) is smaller than the size of the
full ASTER scene (60×60 km), the sub-setting function was used to trim out
the outlier areas and reducing the size of the image.

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 Post-processing functions
Few digital image-processing functions were applied to precisely analyze and
obtain information about the lithology and the alteration zones of the gold
minerals. This includes:
 Principal component analysis
The principal component analysis technique was used to reduce the
redundancy between the spectral reflectance of the spectral bands. In the study
area, important geologic information that might be characterized by a small
portion of the spectral range of one band that is otherwise highly correlated
with other bands is possible that such information will be lost through one of
these other bands being chosen instead. Therefore, PCA uses such correlation
to suppress the redundant information and emphasize specific spectral
information in specific PCA bands.
 Band ratioing
Band ratioing is a digital image processing technique used to effectively
display spectral variations (Vincent et al. 1972; Goetz et al. 1975). It is
frequently used to reduce the variable effects of solar illumination and
topography and enhance spectral information in the image (Holben and Justice
1981).
 Supervised classification
Supervised classification requires precise training samples that were selected
based on field survey and data sampling together with the knowledge of the
actual ground-cover types. Two main supervised classification functions were
used, which are spectral angle mapper (SAM) and spectral information
divergence (SID). The SAM- and SID-supervised classifications are based on
match pixels spectrum to the identified reference spectra. SAM compares the
angle between the reference spectrum vector and each pixel vector in n-D

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 space where smaller angles represent closer matches to the reference spectrum
(Kruse et al. 1993). However, SID uses a divergence measure to match pixels
to reference spectra. The smaller the divergence, the more likely the pixels are
similar (Du et al. 2004). The alteration zones of gold mineral were identified
based on the petrography and was also correlated with the spectral signatures
of alteration zone minerals for the USGS reference spectral library.
 Lineaments extraction
Identification of lineaments from satellite images can effectively be achieved
by either visual interpretation based on the enhanced image (e.g., directional
edge–detection filters) and then trace the lineaments to produce vector map
(Arlegui and Soriano 1998; Süzen and Toprak 1998). Alternatively, it could be
automatically detected using computer’s software and algorithms.
7-CASE STUDY (Application of remote sensing for gold exploration in the
Fawakhir area, Central Eastern Desert of Egypt) by Islam Abou El-Magd et al
2015. Arab J Geosci (2015) 8:3523–3536

8-SUMMARY:
• Many ore deposits are localized along regional and local fracture patterns that
provided conduits along which ore-forming solutions penetrated host rocks.
• Hydrothermally altered rocks associated with many ore deposits have distinctive
spectral features that are recognizable on digitally processed TM images.
• Detection of hydrothermally altered rocks is not possible in vegetated areas, so this
environment requires other remote sensing methods.
• Reflectance spectra of foliage growing over mineralized areas may differ from
spectra of foliage in adjacent non mineralized areas.
• The image interpretation will produce a map of localities, or prospects, with
favorable conditions for mineral deposits. The image can also be used to plan the
best ground access to the interesting prospects.

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 9-REFERENCES
• Arlegui LE, Soriano MA (1998) Characterizing lineaments from satellite images and
field studies in the central Ebro basin (NE Spain). Int J Remote Sensing
19(16):3169–3185.
• Du H, Chang H, Ren FM, D’Amico JO, Jensen J (2004) New hyperspectral
discrimination measure for spectral characterization.Optical Engineering 43:1777–
1786.
• Goetz F.H., Billingsley F.C., Gillespie AR., Abrams MJ., Squires R L., Shoemaker
E M. Lucchitta I and Elston D P (1975) Application of ERTS images and image
processing to regional problems and geological mapping in northern Arizona, JPL
Technical Report 32–1597.
• Holben BN, Justice CO (1981) An examination of spectral band ratioing to reduce
the topographic effect on remotely sensed data. Int J Remote Sensing 2(2):115–133.
• Kruse FA, Lefkoff AB, Boardman JB, Heidebrecht KB, Shapiro AT, Barloon PJ,
Goetz AF (1993) The spectral image processing system (SIPS) interactive
visualization and analysis of imaging spectrometer data. Remote Sensing
Environment 44:145–163.
• Sabins, F.F., 1997. Remote Sensing — Principles and Interpretation, 3rd edn., W.H.
Freeman, New York, NY., 494 pp.
• Süzen ML, Toprak V (1998) Filtering of Satellite Images in geological lineament
analyses: an application to a fault zone in Central Turkey. Int J Remote Sensing
19(19):1101–1114
• Vincent RK, Thomson F, Watson K (1972) Recognition of exposed quartz sand and
sandstone by two-channel infrared imagery. J Geophys Res 77:2473–2477.

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