Real Assets
The Mineral Exploration Roadmap
Mineral Exploration Roadmap
There is nothing more exciting than making some type of discovery.
Discoveries can come in many forms – they can be physical, scientific, personal, or even philosophical in nature. But while there are different types of discoveries that can be made, perhaps the most tactile kind of discovery is in the field of mineral exploration.
The discovery of a mineral deposit can transform a piece of “moose pasture” into a new economic asset, and it may enable millions or billions of dollars worth of metals and minerals to be used for human purposes.
These minerals get used all around us – they go into our houses, cars, infrastructure, jewelry, electronics, and they can even be used to power the green revolution.
From Prospecting to Production
Making an economic mineral discovery is the goal of many teams around the world, but these efforts can also be extremely difficult, costly, and time-consuming, and most companies engaged in exploration end up walking away empty-handed.
Today’s infographic comes to us from Orix Geoscience and it shows the steps of mineral exploration, and how teams can maximize their odds of success by using data to add value throughout the process.
Steps of the Mineral Exploration Process
1. Exploration Strategy
Where do you choose to explore? There are two basic strategies:
(a) Working from the known
Deposits tend to form in clusters in prolific belts, and exploration occurs outward from known mineralization.
(b) Working from the unknown
If you review all available information, prospective areas with potential for discoveries can be identified.
2. Prospecting
In this stage, boots are now on the ground โ and itโs time to explore the backwoods for showings. Prospectors will stake claims, map outcrops and showings, and search for indicator minerals.
The goal of the prospecting stage is to find the earliest piece of the exploration puzzle: the clue that there is something much bigger beneath.
3. Early-Stage Exploration
Congrats, youโve found something interesting โ and now itโs time to ramp up exploration efforts!
This is where the amount of data and sophistication picks up. In this stage, companies are using existing maps and historical data, geophysics, ground truthing, geochemistry, and trenching to try and identify drill targets.
4. The “Truth Machine”
Geologists donโt call the drill a โtruth machineโ for nothing.
If youโre target hits, youโre in business. If your target misses, itโs time to go back a step and find new ones.
5. Discovery
Eureka! Youโve found something. Now itโs time to see how far the mineralization goes!
Once you have enough information, you can get an official resource estimate. This data is another puzzle piece that will be crucial as you advance your discovery.
6. De-risking
Even at the best of times, mining can be expensive, risky, and tricky.
Thatโs why your investors and backers will want you to source even more data โ itโll allow you to see a clearer picture of the deposit, and help your team see how it could take shape as a mine.
At this stage, drilling, metallurgical tests, environmental assessments, 3d models, and mine designs are used to increase confidence in the project.
Data starts to get very granular. Your company may do a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) to assess the potential economic outcomes of a mine. Then after, they may conduct an in-depth Feasibility Study to help make a production decision.
Final Steps
By this point, you may have all the puzzle pieces โ a clear vision of the deposit and its potential โ to make a decision!
If the puzzle looks good, itโs time to make a production decision, construct the mine, and start commercial production. But the data doesnโt stop there โ at these later stages, even more data gets created and it can help you make better decisions.
Real Assets
Charted: If Gold Was Shared Equally, How Much Would You Get?
There are 244,000 metric tons of known gold reserves. And 8 billion people. Here’s the answer to: what if gold was shared equally?

Charted: If Gold Was Shared Equally, How Much Would You Get?
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Desired for millennia because of its shine and rarity, gold is still the safe haven asset (with fairly decent returns) in times of uncertainty.
This chart examines a hypothetical question of how much gold every person in the world would get if all discovered gold was shared equally.
Data for this graphic is sourced from the U.S. Geological Survey and from the UNโs World Population Prospects 2024.
Thereโs Not a Lot of Gold for 8 Billion People
Turns out, there really isnโt a lot of gold in the world.
To date, only 244,000 metric tons of gold have ever been discovered. This includes historical production and current known discoveries.
That works out to about 30 grams (about one troy ounce), or six gold rings, for every single human being on the planet.
Categories | Figures |
---|---|
Gold Discovered (Metric Tons) | 244,000 |
World Population | 8,161,972,572 |
Gold per Person (Metric Tons) | 0.00002989 |
Gold per Person (Grams) | 29.89 (or one ounce) |
Of course, jewelry isn’t the only use of gold (though it does account for the largest share of above-ground use).
Central banks have quite a bit in their reserves, with the U.S. holding the most at roughly 8,000 tonnes.
At sixth place China (2,200 tonnes) has been steadily increasing its reserves in the past year, in a bid to diversify foreign exchange reserves away from the U.S. Treasury bonds.
Largest Gold Producers
And then thereโs all the gold beneath the ground, spread out in massive mines across the world. Of them, Australia is home to two in the top 10, and is also the second-largest producer.
Whoโs the largest producer? Thatโs Chinaโeven though it doesnโt have any large mines on the same scale as those found in the U.S. and Australia. Instead it has numerous smaller ones, and coupled with efficient smelting infrastructure, ends up producing more volume.
Finally, South Africa held the top supplier spot between 1900โ1970. Its production peaked at about 1,000 tonnes annually, the most by any country in a single year.
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
Need even more gold graphics? Good thing we have a few. Check out: Visualizing Gold Consumption vs. Domestic Supply to see which countries use the most gold.
Real Assets
Charted: The Global Mining Industry, by Market Cap
Australia tops the list, with its major mining companies totaling $353 billion in market cap.

Charted: The Global Mining Industry, by Market Cap
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free onย iOSย orย Androidย and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
This graphic breaks down the market value of the entire global mining industry, as of Jan. 16, 2025, using data from Companiesmarketcap.com.
Note that this data only covers publicly-traded companies.
Australia and Canada Lead
Australia tops the list, with its major mining companies totaling $353 billion in market capitalization. The country is home to two of the biggest miners in the world, BHP and Rio Tinto.
Country | Company | Market Cap (USD) |
---|---|---|
๐ฆ๐บ Australia | BHP Group | 125B |
๐จ๐ณ China | China Shenhua Energy | 103B |
๐ฆ๐บ Australia | Rio Tinto | 97B |
๐บ๐ธ U.S. | Southern Copper | 77B |
๐บ๐ธ U.S. | Freeport-McMoRan | 58B |
๐จ๐ญ Switzerland | Glencore | 55B |
๐ธ๐ฆ Saudi Arabia | Maaden | 49B |
๐บ๐ธ U.S. | Newmont | 48B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Agnico Eagle Mines | 43B |
๐ฎ๐ฉ Indonesia | Bayan Resources | 42B |
๐ฒ๐ฝ Mexico | Grupo Mรฉxico | 39B |
๐ฆ๐บ Australia | Fortescue | 36B |
๐ฌ๐ง UK | Anglo American | 37B |
๐ง๐ท Brazil | Vale | 37B |
๐จ๐ณ China | Zijin Mining | 57B |
๐ฎ๐ณ India | Coal India | 27B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Barrick Gold | 28B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Wheaton Precious Metals | 27B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Nutrien | 26B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Franco-Nevada | 24B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Teck Resources | 22B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Cameco | 22B |
๐ฌ๐ง UK | Antofagasta | 21B |
๐ฎ๐ณ India | Vedanta | 20B |
๐ท๐บ Russia | Nornickel | 18B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Ivanhoe Mines | 15B |
๐จ๐ณ China | Yanzhou Coal Mining | 15B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Kinross Gold | 13B |
๐ฆ๐บ Australia | Northern Star | 12B |
๐ท๐บ Russia | Severstal | 11B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | First Quantum Minerals | 11B |
๐ฐ๐ฟ Kazakhstan | Kazatomprom | 10B |
๐ฆ๐บ Australia | South32 | 10B |
๐บ๐ธ U.S. | Royal Gold | 9B |
๐จ๐ณ China | Ganfeng Lithium | 9B |
๐ธ๐ช Sweden | Boliden | 8B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Alamos Gold | 8B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Pan American Silver | 8B |
๐จ๐ณ China | Tianqi Lithium | 7B |
๐ฆ๐บ Australia | Evolution Mining | 7B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Lundin Mining | 7B |
๐ฎ๐ณ Indonesia | NMDC | 7B |
๐จ๐ฆ Canada | Lundin Gold | 6B |
๐ฎ๐ฉ India | United Tractors | 6B |
๐ฏ๐ต Japan | Sumitomo Metal Mining | 6B |
๐ฒ๐ฝ Mexico | Fresnillo | 6B |
๐ต๐ฑ Poland | KGHM | 6B |
๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa | Harmony Gold | 6B |
๐ฌ๐ง UK | Endeavour Mining | 5B |
๐ฟ๐ฆ South Africa | Impala Platinum | 5B |
๐ Global Total | All Companies Combined | 1.4T |
Rich in minerals, Australia is the world’s largest producer of iron ore, essential for steel production, and lithium, a key component in batteries.
While Canadaโs economy has struggled to keep pace with its southern neighbor, its mining industry remains formidable.
The countryโs mining sector has a combined market capitalization of $344 billion, making it the second-largest globally.
Canada, the worldโs second-largest country by area after Russia, has vast natural resource wealth. It is particularly rich in gold, copper, nickel, and potash.
United States with miners totaling $228 billion and China with companies totaling $206 billion come in third and forth, respectively.
Learn More on the Voronoi App 
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