Spectral Analysis

Mineral explorers have to narrow large tenements down to the ground worth sampling and drilling. Geoimage's Spectral Analysis service maps surface minerals from satellite spectral data: each mineral reflects and absorbs sunlight in a distinct pattern, and multispectral and hyperspectral sensors record that pattern across visible, near-infrared and short-wave infrared (SWIR) bands, where the diagnostic absorption features of clays, carbonates, iron oxides and other alteration minerals sit.

Geoimage sells it in two forms. The Geoimage Spectral Suite is a semi-automated, fixed-scope set of enhancements built on ASTER or WorldView-3 data: colour composites, iron-oxide and clay-mineral enhancements, a vegetation index, decorrelation stretches of the SWIR bands and, from ASTER, thermal-infrared emissivity ratios for rock-type identification. It is aimed at regional screening and at teams with in-house spectral geologists. Geoimage Spectral Mapping is a bespoke engagement: Geoimage tasks a sensor or sources archive imagery, runs VNIR-SWIR unmixing and matches absorption features against validated spectral libraries, has a geologist interpret the results against deposit models, and delivers ranked, GIS-integrated targets with the spectral evidence and a written interpretation.

Geoimage does not operate satellites and says its sensor choice is independent of what it resells. It is explicit about the limits: spectral mapping identifies alteration assemblages but cannot detect gold, silver, copper or REE directly, see through vegetation, soil or regolith cover, or estimate grade or tonnage. Its project map shows spectral work in Australia, the Andes, North America, Central Asia, the Tethyan belt, Africa and the Arabian-Nubian Shield.