Data–driven prospectivity modelling of sediment–hosted Zn–Pb mineral systems and their critical raw materials

Demand for critical raw materials is expected to accelerate over the next few decades due to continued population growth and the shifting consumption patterns of the global economy. Sedimentary basins are important sources for critical raw materials and new discoveries of sediment–hosted Mississippi Valley–type (MVT) and/or clastic–dominated (CD) Zn–Pb deposits are likely required to mitigate future supply chain disruptions for Zn, Pb, Ag, Cd, Ga, Ge, Sb, and In. Herein we integrate public geoscience datasets using a discrete global grid to system to model the mineral potential for MVT and CD deposits across Canada, the United States of America, and Australia. Statistical analysis of the model results demonstrates that surface–wave tomography and derivative products from satellite gravity datasets can be used to map the most favourable paleo–tectonic settings of MVT and CD deposits inboard of orogenic belts and at the rifted edges of cratonic lithosphere, respectively. Basin development at pre–existing crustal boundaries was likely important for maintaining the low geothermal–gradients that are favourable for metal transport and generating the crustal fluid pathways that were reactivated during ore–formation, as suggested by the statistical association of both sediment–hosted mineral deposit types with the edges of upward–continued gravity and long–wavelength magnetic anomalies. Multivariate statistical analysis demonstrates that the most prospective combination of these geophysical datasets varies for each geological region and deposit type. We further demonstrate that maximum and minimum geological ages, coupled with Phanerozoic paleogeographic reconstructions, represent mappable proxies for the availability of oxidized, brine–generating regions that are the most likely source of ore–forming fluids (e.g., low– to mid–latitude carbonate platforms and evaporites). Ore deposition was likely controlled by interaction between oxidized, low–temperature brines and sulfidic and/or carbonaceous rocks, which, in some cases, can be mapped at the exposed surface or identified using the available rock descriptions. Baseline weights–of–evidence models are based on regional geophysics and are the least impacted by missing surface information but yield relatively poor results, as demonstrated by the low area–under–the–curve (AUC) for the spatially independent test set on the success–rate plot (AUC = 0.787 for MVT and AUC = 0.870 for CD). Model performance can be improved by: (1) using advanced methods that were trained and validated during a series of semi–automated machine learning competitions; and/or (2) incorporating geological and geophysical datasets that are proxies for each component of the mineral system. The best–performing gradient boosting machine models yield higher AUC for the test set (AUC = 0.983 for MVT and AUC = 0.991 for CD) and reduce the search space by >94%. The model results highlight the potential benefits of mapping sediment–hosted mineral systems at continental scale to improve mineral exploration targeting for critical raw materials.

Simple

Identification info

Date (Creation)
2022-02-25
Date (Publication)
2022-02-25T03:50:26
Citation identifier
Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/146310

Cited responsible party
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Publisher

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Author

Lawley, C.

 Geological Survey of Canada External Contact
Co-author

McCafferty, A.E.

 U.S. Geological Survey, Geology, Geochemistry, and Geophysics Science Center Denver CO 80225 United States External Contact
Co-author

Graham, G.E.

 United States Geological Survey Denver CO 80225 United States External Contact
Co-author

Huston, D.

 MEG Internal Contact
Co-author

Kelley, K.D.

 United States Geological Survey Denver CO 80225 United States External Contact
Co-author

Czarnota, K.

 MEG Internal Contact
Co-author

Paradis, S.

 Geological Survey of Canada, 1500–605 Robson Street Vancouver British Columbia V6B 5J3 canada External Contact
Co-author

Peter, J.M.

 Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street Ottawa Ontario K1A 0E8 canada External Contact
Co-author

Hayward, N.

 Geological Survey of Canada, 1500–605 Robson Street Vancouver British Columbia V6B 5J3 canada External Contact
Co-author

Barlow, M.

 MEG Internal Contact
Co-author

Emsbo, P.

 United States Geological Survey Denver CO 80225 United States External Contact
Co-author

Coyan, J.

 U.S. Geological Survey, Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center Spokane WA 99201 United States External Contact
Co-author

San Juan, C.A.

 U.S. Geological Survey, Geology, Geochemistry, and Geophysics Science Center Denver CO 80225 United States External Contact
Co-author

Gadd, M.G.

 Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street Ottawa Ontario K1A 0E8 Canada External Contact
Purpose

Release of Web Service to accompany published paper

Status
Accepted
Point of contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Point of contact

Czarnota, K.

 MEG Internal Contact
Resource provider

Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division

 External Contact
Spatial representation type

Spatial resolution

Level of detail

5 km

Topic category
  • Geoscientific information

Extent

N
S
E
W


Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

Resource format

Title

Product data repository: Various Formats

Protocol

FILE:DATA-DIRECTORY

Name of the resource

Data Store directory containing the digital product files

Description

Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes

theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf

  • EARTH SCIENCES

Keywords

  • Prospectivity

Keywords

  • Modelling

Keywords

  • Zinc

Keywords

  • Lead

Keywords

  • Critical minerals

Keywords

  • Machine learning

Keywords

  • Published_External

Resource constraints

Title

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Alternate title

CC-BY

Edition

4.0

Website

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
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Any
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Use constraints
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(c) Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2021

Resource constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified
Classification system

Australian Government Security Classification System

Associated resource

Association Type
Operated on by
Title

Critical Minerals in Ores WMS

Citation identifier
145525

Citation identifier
c5bd89f4-5f98-4221-b3c7-76f3a3781edc

Website

https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/145525

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Associated resource

Association Type
Operated on by
Title

Critical Minerals in Ores WFS

Citation identifier
145527

Citation identifier
ae697115-f0bd-49f4-94d0-17c35059a5dd

Website

https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/service/ga/145527

Link to eCat metadata record landing page

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor contact
Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Distributor

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
OnLine resource

Link to Journal Publication

Link to Journal Publication

Distribution format

OnLine resource

Link to Dataset

Link to Dataset

Distribution format

OnLine resource

Critical Minerals in Ores WFS

Web Feature Service for the Critical Minerals in Ores Dataset

Distribution format

  • OGC WFS

OnLine resource

Critical Minerals in Ores WMS

Web Map Service for the Critical Minerals in Ores Dataset

Distribution format

  • OGC WMS

Resource lineage

Statement

This work was published in ore geology reviews https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2021.104635

Metadata constraints

Title

Australian Government Security Classification System

Edition date
2018-11-01T00:00:00
Website

https://www.protectivesecurity.gov.au/Pages/default.aspx

Classification
Unclassified

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urn:uuid/77b41f4d-cc22-47f6-9677-62261819d3bb

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English
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UTF8
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details
Point of contact

Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)

 Voice
Owner

Czarnota, K

 Internal Contact
Point of contact

Czarnota, K.

 MEG Internal Contact

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset
Name

Web Service

Alternative metadata reference

Title

Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with

uuid

Citation identifier
eCatId/146310

Metadata linkage

https://ecat.ga.gov.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/catalog.search#/metadata/77b41f4d-cc22-47f6-9677-62261819d3bb

Date info (Creation)
2022-02-16T05:11:57
Date info (Revision)
2022-02-16T05:11:57

Metadata standard

Title

AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-1:2014

Metadata standard

Title

ISO 19115-3

Title

Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014

Edition

Version 2.0, September 2018

Citation identifier
https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551

 
 

Spatial extent

N
S
E
W


Keywords

Critical minerals Lead Machine learning Modelling Prospectivity Zinc
theme.ANZRC Fields of Research.rdf
EARTH SCIENCES

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Access to the portal

Associated resources

Not available