ABSTRACT
The achievement of many of the sustainable development goals depends on new discoveries of minerals and metals. For example, earth materials are essential to generate, store and transmit energy, whether the sources are traditional fossil fuels, or renewable sources, such as solar, geothermal and wind. However, most easy-to-find near-surface deposits have been exhausted. Thus, it is necessary to explore regions where the ore bodies are buried at depths of hundreds or even thousands of metres, or concealed by electrically conductive or magnetic overburden that masks the geophysical signatures of ore bodies in the rocks below. Geophysical methods (such as gravity, magnetics, magnetotellurics, reflection and broadband seismology) are very useful for mapping deep-seated signatures of mineral systems, such as sutures between continental blocks and continental-scale faults, and locating deep ore bodies. We first describe the physical principles and capabilities of the most important technologies. We then review programmes that have been launched in Africa, Australia, Canada and Europe in the last decade to improve technology and to map the Earth’s crust and upper mantle.
