TENEMENT / AREA GOLD PROSPECTIVITY ASSESSMENT USING PARAMETRIC FINGERPRINT ANALYSISA NEW TOOL FOR MINERAL EXPLORATION

Carl Knox-Robinson, PhDSpatial Analysis ServicesE: carl@prospectivitymapping.comW: www.prospectivitymapping.com

WHAT ARE PARAMETRIC FINGERPRINT MAPS?• A new tool for mineral exploration

• Developed from a wealth of geological data including GSWA maps and the Minedex database

• Based on computationally intensive statistical analysis of known gold deposits and how they relate to the surrounding geology

• They assess a region’s mineralisation potential

• They can identify which deposits occur in ground geologically similar to your tenement

• The can be used to rank tenements in order of mineralisation favourability

• They can be used to assess directionality in prospectivity in an area• Discover natural extensions to mineralisation

EXAMPLE PARAMETRIC FINGERPRINTFor the Kalgoorlie Terrane, 14 geological parameters have been identified that are spatially related to gold mineralisation.

These geological parameters have been represented in map from and normalised for the purposes of measuring a deposit’s fingerprint.

We are working in 14 dimensional space!

Parametric Fingerprint for the undevelopedBaden Powell Gold Deposit

Vector values are represented as the number ofstandard deviations from the mean of each input layer

V1 anticlinal fold hinge abundance (-.44)V2 fault abundance (0.36)V3 lithological contact abundance (1.55)V4 low rheological contrast contact abundance (2.16)V5 fault proximity (-0.77)V6 high rheological contrast contact abundance (-0.88)V7 lithological contact proximity (-0.73)V8 low rheological contrast contact proximity (-0.79)V9 strike of proximal anticlinal fold hinge (-0.39)V10 strike of proximal fault (-1.01)V11 strike of proximal lithological contact (-0.43)V12 lithological variety within 2km radius (2.29)V13 lithological variety within 5km radius (1.46)V14 change in lithological variety (0.01)

EXAMPLE PARAMETRIC FINGERPRINT MAPA portion of a parametric fingerprint map for the Kalgoorlie Terrane.

Parametric fingerprint map is for the deposit called Baden Powell and is based on 14 input Layers.

Warm colours indicate locations parametrically similar to the location of the reference gold deposit.

Fingerprint Location

Areas parametrically similar to the fingerprint location

EXAMPLE 0.5% SIMILARITY MAPThis map is based on the previous and shows the 0.5% of the ground that is parametrically most similar to the fingerprint location.

It allows for a quick analysis of a regions importance based on a single known deposit.

FACTS ABOUT YILGARN GOLD• Gold mineralisation is the result of craton-wide events

• Any host rock can be mineralised• Some better than others

• Almost any structure can be mineralised• Some better than others

• Statistically based empirical prospectivity mapping techniques can be used to construct maps with a definitive predictive capability• Based on outcrop data and prospectivity analysis, only around 40% of gold

deposits have been discovered.

• Many undiscovered gold deposits will lie under shallow cover in geologically similar environments to known gold deposits

IT’S LOGICAL!• An area geologically similar to one that contains known

mineralisation will be more likely to host mineralisation itself

• Our atlases of Parametric Fingerprint Maps can be used to measure key geological parameters and to see how well they apply in your area.

• Over 950 sites of known gold mineralisation in the Kalgoorlie Terrane

• We ‘fingerprint’ each of these in relation to statistically proven mineralisation-related parameters

• We see how well these fingerprints compare to the geology of your area as a series of easy-to-read maps

USES OF FINGERPRINT ANALYSIS• Evaluate your tenement• Do other deposits share similar geology to your tenement?• If so, which deposits are these? • Are they significant deposits?

• Considering acquiring another tenement• Fingerprint analysis provides a quick evaluation of a tenement without

the need to visit the location• Fingerprint analysis can help you determine the direction to expand

your attention

• Do you have several tenements that you need to winnow down?• Fingerprint analysis, in conjunction with traditional methods, can help

you in the decision making process

WE PROVIDE • A map that shows the number of

relevant Minedex records that occupy parametrically similar ground to your tenement.

• Maps that show the individual contribution of each component fingerprint• PDF ‘atlas’ of results• Additionally we can provide the data for

your tenement in GeoTiff format for easy importation into a GIS

• Report of the analysis

AN EXAMPLE• Client interested in acquiring a prospecting

license that boarders on their mining lease

• Fingerprint analysis of mining lease (to the right) shows that between 1 and 18 unique Minedex records (out of 963 or ~2%) are located in parametrically similar ground.

• The northern part of their tenement has the greater number of fingerprint matches• This part of the tenement can be considered more

prospective

• The prospecting license to the west has a poor number of matches relative to the mining lease• Probably not a good acquisition*• Instead focus on analysis / acquisition of ground to the

north.As these are based on public-domain data you should, of course, not rely solely on the fingerprint analysis results in making any decision. The results of this analysis needs to be taken in context with other decision making tools. Please read the disclaimer that comes with the atlases of parametric fingerprint maps about the use of these data.

COVERAGE• We have produced atlases of gold deposit parametric

fingerprint maps for the following regions• Kalgoorlie Terrane (1:250K)• Leonora 1:250K map sheet• Laverton 1:250K map sheet

• If your tenement or area of investigation falls within one of these map sheets then we can conduct a fingerprint analysis for you.

• We are currently assessing the Murchison province at 1:500K and this will be available late 2013 / early 2014

NEED MORE INFORMATION?

For more details on the tools and techniques used to construct these atlases please contact

Dr Carl Knox-Robinson via email or phone

E: carl@prospectivitymapping.comP: 0422 935 457