Translating the mineral systems approach into an effective exploration targeting system
Translating the mineral systems approach into an effective exploration targeting system
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DOI：
10.1016/j.oregeorev.2010.05.008
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发表时间：
2010-11
影响因子：
3.3
通讯作者：
T. McCuaig;S. Beresford;J. Hronsky
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
T. McCuaig;S. Beresford;J. Hronsky
整体矿物系统方法在矿床研究中越来越多地被采用，但由于缺乏有助于将矿物系统理解转化为实际应用的概念框架，其在工业中的应用一直不够理想。提出了一个四步流程，将概念矿物系统与支持勘探目标的可用数据联系起来。这些步骤包括从 (1) 矿物系统的关键过程到 (2) 矿物系统的组成过程，到 (3) 地质学中反映的目标元素，以及 (4) 用于直接或通过代理检测目标元素的目标标准。使用科马提岩镍-铜-铂族元素和造山金矿物系统的例子来说明这一转化过程。目标的排序必须在关键流程级别，而不是当前混合流程、元素和代理的做法。目标元素及其可制图标准的重要性随着关键过程运行的规模和相关地球科学数据集的可用性而变化。这种尺度依赖性在当前实践中很少被认识到。将矿物系统理解转化为有效的勘探目标系统时，不确定性来源包括：(1) 数据集中可绘制标准的分辨率，(2) 目标标准反映目标元素的程度，(3) 目标元素反映关键过程的程度，以及 (4) 所绘制的过程对于矿床的成因是否至关重要。前三个不确定性来源统称为目标标准的代表性（即，其作为代理的组成过程的可映射标准的代表性如何）。最后一个不确定性来源反映了我们对控制矿化的过程缺乏了解，并强调了需要进一步研究的领域。
Holistic mineral systems approaches are being increasingly adopted in the study of ore deposits but application in industry has been suboptimal, because of the lack of a conceptual framework to help translate the mineral system understanding to practical application. A four-step process is proposed for linking the conceptual mineral system with data available to support exploration targeting. These steps include translation from (1) critical processes of the mineral system, to (2) constituent processes of the mineral system, to (3) targeting elements reflected in geology, and (4) targeting criteria used to detect the targeting elements directly or by proxy. This translation process is illustrated using examples from komatiite-hosted Ni–Cu–PGE and orogenic Au mineral systems. Ranking of targets must be at the critical process level, rather than the current practice of mixing processes, elements and proxies. The significance of targeting elements and their mappable criteria changes as a function of the scale at which the critical processes operate and the availability of relevant geoscience datasets. This scale dependence is rarely recognised in current practice. Sources of uncertainty when translating the mineral system understanding into an effective exploration targeting system include: (1) resolution of a mappable criterion in a dataset, (2) how well the targeting criterion reflects the targeting element, (3) how well the targeting element reflects the critical process and (4) whether the process being mapped is critical for the genesis of a mineral deposit. The first three sources of uncertainty collectively are termed the representativeness of the targeting criteria (i.e., how representative is a mappable criterion of the constituent process for which it is a proxy). The last source of uncertainty reflects our lack of understanding of the processes that control mineralisation, and highlights areas for further research.