Alteration Zone Mapping
Spectroscopy provides an invaluable tool for geologists to track mineral assemblage and composition. As they explore a new region, an oreXpress, oreXplorer or oreXpert NIR spectrometer with EZ-ID can help them to detect alteration minerals and chemical/chrystalline variations that are not immediately noticeable. These field NIR spectrometers are rugged and reliable field geological spectrometers for mining exploration.
With an oreXpress, oreXplorer or oreXpert and EZ-ID, the user can identify:
- Micas – muscovite-paragonite, biotite, phlogopite
- Chlorites – variations in iron-magnesium chlorite
- Amphiboles – tremolite, hornblende, actinolite
- Sulfates – jarosite, gypsum
- Tourmaline – Fe-tourmaline, tourmaline
- Clays – illite, illite-smectite, kaolinite, dickite
- Carbonates – calcite, dolomite, ankerite, siderite
Every Spectral Evolution field NIR spectrometer includes our DARWin SP Data Acquisition software and is available with EZ-ID and the Custom Library Builder Module. EZ-ID allows you to compare your target sample with a known library of mineral spectra. EZ-ID comes with the USGS spectral library and is available with the SpecMIN library and GeoSPEC library. The USGS library contains 470 spectra for 314 minerals, while SpecMIN has 1528 spectra for 494 minerals and the GeoSPEC library has 239 minerals and 688 spectra. With all three libraries, a geologist has access to a wide range of possible matches for exploration projects in gold, silver, nickel, copper, uranium, and rare earths.
EZ-ID features:
- Fast and accurate identification of an unknown mineral to a known spectral library sample
- Ease-of-use: take your scan using an oreXpress, oreXplorer or oreXpert and see results in real-time
- Simple, consistent user interface
- USGS, SpecMIN and GeoSPEC libraries available
- Weighted score for best matches
- Include or exclude spectral regions of interest for optimal results
- Fine tune your analysis with scalars
Using an oreXpress, oreXplorer or oreXpert with EZ-ID delivers the following benefits for exploration geologists:
- Quickly take a lot of samples
- Cover more ground in less time
- More accurate data provides a more complete picture of what you are looking at
- Less time and expense than waiting for samples to come back from the lab
- Less drilling – better results – quickly delivers a return-on- investment
In the field these NIR spectrometers are rugged, reliable, and designed for single user operation. Field collection of spectra is fast and accurate. In the core shack, a single geologist with a contact probe could log as much as 400 meters a day. And, since DARWin saves it all in an ASCII format, it’s easy to use the data with 3rd party software for mine mapping, minerals mapping and 3D imagery.
SPECTRAL EVOLUTION’S EZ-ID software has identified our target sample as kaolinite using the USGS spectral library for reference. The shaded areas shown in the scan allow a geologist to concentrate on regions in the spectra of particular interest.
