Regional Hydrothermal Copper Prediction Using Weight of Evidence Model in Northwestern Yunnan

Increasing cost of mineral exploration ventures over the time necessitates considerations of other innovations especially in delineating potential zones at the reconnaissance stage of mineral assessment. This study demonstrated the application of Weight of evidence model in delineating a very large and inaccessible area of 69052 sq.km in the northwestern part of Yunnan Province. The geological data sets compiled for the study includes, digital database of the following: geochemical stream sediment sampling results, lineament extracted from four landsat images, geological periods of the lithologies and mineral occurrences. The following preprocessing were meted to the data before weighting. Factor analysis was applied to the geochemical data, briefly illustrated, the geological period were reclassified and the lineaments were put into grid and the lineament density obtained and contoured before weighting. The selected three suitable diagnostic criteria; lineament, lithological ages and geochemical data sets were integrated using Weight-of-evidence model on 27 known hydrothermal deposits point to prepare the favorability map. The result of the prediction indicated a successful implementation of the model using the three recognition criteria above and also suggested new areas for a follow up exploration ventures.