Beta version of MAP software freely available
Mineral Resource Assessment Platform (MAP) is an EIT RawMaterials Upscaling project (2018−2020) that will produce an enhanced and upgraded method and software for the quantitative assessment of undiscovered mineral resources, by integrating mineral prospectivity modelling and the three-part method.
Screen capture of the user interface of MapWizard software.
After a development phase of nearly two years, the beta version of MAP software is ready for testing. Please find below a link to download a distribution package containing the beta version of MAP software, instructions for installation, guides for different tools and test data.
Download the latest Beta Release of MapWizard at GitHub
Please feel free to distribute the download link to those that might be interested in testing the MAP software!
We welcome all feedback that could help us to improve the software during the last year of the project. This feedback can be sent to Dr. Kalevi Rasilainen (GTK) to e-mail address kalevi.rasilainen@gtk.fi.
MAP is part of a PDAC short course on 4 March 2020
Selected results of MAP will be presented as part of the PDAC 2020 short course “Qualitative and quantitative prospectivity mapping and assessment of undiscovered mineral resources” in Toronto on March 4, 2020.
The short course will provide an overview of several commonly used methods for qualitative mineral prospectivity mapping, and the three-part methodology for quantitative assessment of undiscovered mineral resources. The development and integration of these methods will be reviewed, as well as practical implementation and recently developed software tools. Case studies in the USA, Finland, Greenland and Germany will be presented.
Link to short course registration page
MAP short course took place in Levi, Finland 1 November 2019
Assessment procedure of undiscovered mineral deposits by using MapWizard software was demonstrated in the MAP short course
The MAP software was demonstrated for the first time in public during a short course that took place in Levi, Finland on 1 November 2019. In total 20 people participated in this event arranged in connection with the 12th Fennoscandian Exploration and Mining Conference (FEM 2019).
The morning session began with an overview of assessment of undiscovered mineral resources and continued with demonstrations of how to use MAP software and GIS tools in the assessments. The afternoon sessions went deeper into some of the methods used in the assessment. In addition, partners presented their case studies from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany and the Pacific Ocean, where they will test MAP software by assessing the undiscovered mineral resources in selected study areas.
Download presentations given during the MAP short course (66 MB zip file)
Partners preparing to test the MAP software on testing areas
The beta testing phase of the MAP project has started and project partners are working on assessments of their test areas. The last section of this newsletter contains descriptions of selected study areas in Finland, Germany and Iceland.
Geological Survey of Finland (GTK): Testing on VMS deposits
Left: Location of the study area in Finland. Right: Black outlines of permissive areas for VMS deposits delineated subjectively by experts plotted on results of simple Fuzzy logic combination of aeromagnetic and gravity data (blue to white). Known VMS deposits and occurrences are shown as red circles and triangles. The background is a simplified geological map.
GTK will concentrate on testing the delineation and classification of permissive areas for volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) mineralisation with the help of Mineral Prospectivity Modelling (MPM) tools. The test area is located in Central Finland in the Vihanti-Pyhäsalmi belt, which contains several VMS deposits, including the Vihanti and Pyhäsalmi mines. GTK databases contain several types of digital geological, geophysical and geochemical data covering the test area. An assessment of undiscovered VMS-type resources was carried out by GTK in the area in 2010–2013. Permissive areas delineated by experts during this earlier assessment will be compared with new permissive areas defined with the help of MPM tools in the MAP project. The results of the tests will provide insight into using MPM in the delineation of permissive areas, and they will be used to develop guidelines for efficient use of knowledge-driven and data-driven methods in the delineation and classification of permissive areas.
Beak Consultants GmbH: Testing on Erzgebirge Sn-skarn mineralisation
Exploration model for tin mineralisation in the Erzgebirge Area in Germany, by Beak Consultants, 2015.
Tin (Sn) and tungsten (W) mining in the Erzgebirge mountains (Saxony, Germany) has a history going back at least to the 14th century and reached its peak in 1950 to 1990. Recently, exploration activities in the vicinity of historical mining areas have resumed. Beak has created qualitative and quantitative predictive models of both vein-hosted and skarn-hosted Sn and W- deposits using artificial neural networks (ANN) with the advangeo® Prediction Software. In the frame of the research project WISTAMERZ (www.wistamerz.de), a new Metallogenic Map of the Erzgebirge / Vogtland area has been compiled based on newly collected data on geochemistry and mineral occurrences. In the frame of the project MAP, Beak intends to develop a new extension for its advangeo® Prediction Software to implement the MAP tools for quantitative mineral resource estimation using the 3-part assessment. Beak will test and apply the software and the MAP approach in the Erzgebirge for Sn skarn mineralisation based on the existing grade and tonnage data from literature and newly developed prediction maps for Sn skarns, which show the permissive tracts. Please contact postmaster@beak.de on more information on the future release of the MAP extension for advangeo® Prediction software.
Iceland GeoSurvey: Testing on epithermal gold in Iceland
Map of gold anomalies discovered in Iceland as of 2015 and the prospect areas which have been explored to variable degree (taken from Franzson et al., 2016).
Iceland is located on the Mid-Atlantic ridge and represents a relatively young volcanic island. New basaltic crust is generated at the rift center. The volcanic activity is related to volcanic centers, which are associated with large hydrothermal systems. These hydrothermal systems are known for their fluid−rock interaction that can cause the enrichment of precious metals, such as gold. Continuous spreading and formation of new crust causes the drift of these volcanic centers forming fossil systems. Such fossil systems are found in the Tertiary domains in Iceland. Gold exploration during the last decades has shown that gold enrichments are associated with such fossil systems (see Franzson et al. 2016).
Iceland and the appearance of gold as principal commodity in hydrothermal system will be used as testing site for the MAP software and method. Although, data on ore exploration is limited, the test site has the advantage that the geology is well mapped. During the autumn 2019, the team has gathered available data on ore exploration and have compiled it into a GIS database. Preparation for the testing working that will take place in 2020 is in progress.
Reference:
Franzson, H., Robertsdottir, B.G., Friðleifsson, G.Ó., Harðadóttir V., (2016) ICELAND, Geological outline, Exploration outline, Gold prospects, Submarine hydrothermal systems. In “Mineral Resources in the Arctic” 1st edition (eds. Boyd, R., Berkgad, T., Nordah, B., Schillerup, H.) Geological Survey of Norway Special Publication, 190-209.
