Alteration mapping for exploration geologists
See the halo the outcrop won't show you.
An alteration map of clay, carbonate and iron-oxide signatures across your whole campaign area, made from wide-swath hyperspectral imagery before you finalise the drill program.
AWhat field mapping alone sees
BWhat the alteration map reveals
The job today
How the alteration model gets drawn today
Your alteration model is built from the places rock shows itself. You traverse, log outcrop, run a hand-held SWIR spectrometer over what you find or send samples off for spectral work, and draw zones between the stations. Where the ground is under cover, regolith or vegetation, there are no stations, so the zone is an interpolation and the shape of the halo is a guess.
You know this tenement. You have walked the ridge, read the core from the last program and argued the structure with the team. What you do not have is the same kind of evidence across the parts nobody has reached, and the ranking cannot tell the difference between a zone that was measured and one that was drawn between two points.
That guess is what the target list is ranked from. A hole goes down on the edge of a clay cap because that is where the map said the system was, and the real zone runs the other way. Or a traverse season goes on confirming ground the whole tenement would have ruled out from the start.
A remote-sensed alteration layer does not replace the field work. It gives the field work a first pass over the entire tenement, so you can see where the clay, carbonate and iron-oxide signatures cluster before you commit rig time, and send your spectrometer to the places the layer says matter.
What you get
What arrives at the end of a project
One campaign, one delivery. The layers are cut to your campaign area and set up for your exploration GIS.
2.1Alteration class mapRaster layer
Clay, carbonate and iron-oxide zones classified from SWIR absorption features across the campaign area. This is the halo layer: open it under your geology and structure and see where the zones sit against what you have mapped.
2.2Spectral fingerprint by zoneZone summary
For each mapped zone, which absorption features drove the class, so a project geologist can see why a zone came out clay and not carbonate, and argue with it.
2.3Vectoring overlayVector layer
Alteration zones arranged to show direction and step-out, for ranking drill targets. It is a view of the signatures to help you decide, not a target list with a verdict.
2.4GIS exportGeoTIFF and shapefile
The same layers in formats that load in an exploration GIS alongside your collars and geology.
How it works
Define the campaign area
You send the tenement or campaign boundary. We tell you whether the area suits wide-swath hyperspectral coverage.
Get the pass
A wide-swath hyperspectral pass over the area is sourced and checked for cloud and ground cover.
Classify the alteration
SWIR absorption features are matched to clay, carbonate and iron-oxide types, and grouped into zones.
Delivery
The alteration class map, zone fingerprints and vectoring overlay arrive together, ready for your GIS.
Where it fits
Before the drill program is finalised
The layer slots in after the first target list is drawn and before rig time is committed. It gives you a remote-sensed check on the field-mapped model across the whole tenement, so targets can be re-ranked while that is still cheap.
Planning the next traverse
Where the layer shows a zone under cover that your stations never reached, that is where the spectrometer and the mapping crew go next. The same layer can also show where alteration is thin, so you can weigh whether a traverse there is worth the season.
The campaign report
The class map and fingerprints give the technical report a whole-tenement figure to sit beside your drill results.
Limits
These are the ways a regional alteration map can mislead you, and each is stated in the delivery notes too.
- 10–30 m is the floor
- At this pixel size a zone is mapped across a campaign area. A vein, a single outcrop or a pit face is smaller than a pixel or a few pixels and will not show. This is a regional vectoring tool.
- Alteration, not ore
- The map shows alteration signatures. It does not show ore grade, presence of a deposit or anything an assay tells you.
- Cloud and daylight
- Optical and SWIR imaging needs a clear, daylit pass. Cloud and haze over the tenement can leave gaps in the layer.
- Cover and vegetation
- Dense vegetation, regolith and cover mask the rock signature. A zone that reads weak under cover may be weak because of the cover.
- One pass per campaign
- This is delivered once for the campaign. It is not a standing feed and will not update mid-campaign.
Who it's for
- Exploration geologists who are setting drill targets across a tenement and want a whole-area alteration layer first.
- Project teams with a field-mapped alteration model that has gaps where there is cover.
Who it's not for
- Teams that need ore grade, a resource estimate or a confirmed deposit. That takes drilling and assay.
- Pit-scale or outcrop-scale mapping. A field survey or a drone will do that better.
- Continuous monitoring of a site. The offer is one delivery per campaign.
FAQ
Questions geologists ask
Does this confirm a deposit?
No. It maps alteration signatures to help vector drill targets. It says nothing about ore grade or presence.
What resolution is it working at?
10–30 m. It is a regional vectoring layer, not a pit-scale or outcrop-scale map.
Does it replace assay and ground truth?
No. It helps you decide where assay and ground work happen next.
Can we validate it against our own mapping?
Yes. Lay it over your outcrop mapping, spectrometer readings and logging. Tell us where your ground truth sits when the project is scoped and we can set the layer against it.
Can it be updated mid-campaign?
No. It is built around one delivery per campaign, not a standing feed.
What if cloud covers part of the tenement?
The gaps are flagged in the delivery notes and left unfilled. The area check before the pass tells you what to expect.
Who owns the layers?
Use and ownership terms for the delivered layers are written into the contract before work starts.
How is it priced?
Each campaign area is scoped and quoted on its own, from the size of the area and what you need delivered. You get a written scope.