An Application of Remote Sensing to a Copper Porphyry Site in Central Peru

This research investigates both the value and the limitations of remote sensing as applied to mineral exploration. The objective was to map and interpret lithological units, mineral and structural features and the movement of copper to better understand the Elida copper porphyry in central Peru. Various remote sensing techniques were applied to map alteration minerals and lineament features including: lineament tracing, False Colour Composites, band ratios, Principal Components Analysis. These methods were applied to ASTER and WorldView-2 Satellite data. Maximum Likelihood Classification was performed on WorldView-2 Satellite data for lithological mapping. Results demonstrate that ASTER imagery was able to detect alteration minerals, and WorldView-2 data was able to highlight lineament features associated with the copper porphyry. However, the results for thological mapping were compromised due to the small size of the study area vis-à-vis the spatial resolution of ASTER data. The results from mineral and lineament mapping can assist geologists with the identification of large-scale mineralizing systems and help with the understanding of the migration of minerals over time on the surface