Identifying potential mineral resources using digital imagery

A total of one hundred and twenty three goldbearing mineral deposits in the Charters Towers area west of Townswille, Queensland, Australia were initially classified into four named and unnamed separate vein styles, with different trends and alteration patterns, a breccia-style deposit and placer gold deposits. The area has vein deposits in Ordovician and Silurian granitoids and breccia-style in the Carboniferous volcanics. In this paper a modeling of these deposits is described using geological mapping, landscape analysis and digital imagery (Landsat TM and geophysics) to improve the classification and identification of possible new target for exploration.