Seminar

Hyperspectral remote sensing has been applied to mineral exploration since the 1980s, including hydrothermally altered skarns. Previous research regarding the hyperspectral investigation on skarn alteration were mainly qualitative studies, such as the identification of spectrally active minerals, using the wavelength shifts of target mineral spectra as the ore deposit indicators and developing certain indices for geological mappings. In contrast, quantitative studies on similar topics are in a limited number, yet with tremendous potential. The main goal of this study is to evaluate the performance of various hyperspectral sensors on semi-quantifying the mineralogy of Las Bambas Porphyry Cu cluster. 46 bulk rocks were sampled and then scanned by HySpex, a hyperspectral SWIR sensor, Thin sections are also prepared from the bulk rocks which are then scanned using FT-IR microspectroscopy. Thematic maps are then generated from the images which derive the mineral abundances by pixel-counting. The results are then compared with those of the semi-quantitative X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis to evaluate the performance of the SWIR and TIR sensors. This semi-quantitative study is conducive to achieving mining activities with higher accuracy and efficiency, as well as minimizing the unnecessary environmental impacts for a more sustainable future.

Additional information: LEE KWUN CHAK, lkccharles@connect.hku.hk