ALTERATION MINERALS

Alteration Minerals To Be Mapped

PhotoSat’s WorldView-3 alteration mineral mapping package includes the minerals listed below, depending on the presence of alteration minerals on photo visible outcrops and subcrops. If the mineral is not present it will not be included in the maps and report.

  • Opal/Chalcedony
  • Calcite
  • Chlorite/Epidote (note: PhotoSat cannot differentiate between chlorite and epidote minerals with 16 band WorldView-3 photos)
  • Alunite
  • Kaolinite
  • Montmorillonite
  • Sericite (Sericite is hydrothermal alteration of orthoclase or plagioclase feldspars and may consist of each or a combination of the mica minerals Muscovite, Illite, and Paragonite)
  • Buddingtonite
  • Ammonium Illite
  • Hematite
  • Goethite
  • Jarosite
  • Iron Oxide Gossans

PhotoSat cannot differentiate between these minerals (below) with WorldView-3 photos:

  • Muscovite, Paragonite and Illite
  • Chlorite and Epidote
  • Chalcedony and Opal 

WV3 Report and Image Deliverables

  • All alteration minerals as 2 m RGB Geotiff files (distinguishing areas of possible and probable alteration minerals with a sliding blue (possible) to red (probable) colour scale)
  • Up to 13 ESRI Shapefile polygons of probable areas for all alteration minerals detected
  • WV3 alteration mapping report: The report summarizes the alteration mineral processing results. This is not a Geological Interpretation nor an Exploration Targeting Report.​ The report is intended as a resource for qualified mineral exploration geologists.
  • Context images:
    • 2 m Geology enhanced colour image
    • 2 m Vegetation intensity
    • 50 cm Greyscale image
    • 50 cm Natural colour image

Advanced Offering – Spectral Matching

Spectral matching uses the spectral signature of a pixel to look for other similar pixels. If there is an outcrop of significant interest, we can analyze the spectral signature of a pixel related to that outcrop and search for other pixels in the WorldView-3 scene that are similar.

PhotoSat WorldView-3 Alteration Technical Specifications

Scene Dimensions: Minimum 50 km2
Map Projection: UTM, Others on request
Datum: WGS84, NAD27, NAD83 – Others on request
Raster Format: Alteration and Colour Images: GeoTIFF
Vector Format: Alteration minerals: ESRI Shapefiles (polygon)
Pixel Size: Colour=50 cm, alteration 2 m resampled from 7.5 m
Media: FTP
Image Resolution Pixel Size
  • Greyscale image
  • Natural colour image
 50cm 50cm
  • Geology enhanced colour image
  • Iron oxide gossans
  • Vegetation intensity
 2m 2m
  • Opal/ChalcedonyCalcite
  • Chlorite/Epidote
  • Alunite
  • Kaolinite
  • Montmorillonite
  • Sericite
  • Buddingtonite
  • Ammonium Illite
  • Hematite
  • Goethite
  • Jarosite
 3.7m 2m