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The Mineral Exploration Roadmap

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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 itโ€™s 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, youโ€™ve found something interesting โ€“ and now itโ€™s 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 donโ€™t call the drill a โ€œtruth machineโ€ for nothing.

If youโ€™re target hits, youโ€™re in business. If your target misses, itโ€™s time to go back a step and find new ones.

5. Discovery

Eureka! Youโ€™ve found something. Now itโ€™s 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.

Thatโ€™s why your investors and backers will want you to source even more data โ€“ itโ€™ll 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, itโ€™s time to make a production decision, construct the mine, and start commercial production. But the data doesnโ€™t stop there โ€“ at these later stages, even more data gets created and it can help you make better decisions.

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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?

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This chart examines a hypothetical question of how much gold there is in the entire world for every person by dividing all known reserves by current global population.

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 UNโ€™s World Population Prospects 2024.

Thereโ€™s Not a Lot of Gold for 8 Billion People

Turns out, there really isnโ€™t 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.

CategoriesFigures
Gold Discovered
(Metric Tons)
244,000
World Population8,161,972,572
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 thereโ€™s 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.

Whoโ€™s the largest producer? Thatโ€™s Chinaโ€”even though it doesnโ€™t 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 1900โ€“1970. 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.

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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.

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This graphic breaks down the market value of the entire global mining industry.

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.

CountryCompanyMarket Cap (USD)
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ AustraliaBHP Group125B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ China China Shenhua Energy103B
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ AustraliaRio Tinto97B
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.Southern Copper77B
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.Freeport-McMoRan58B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ญ SwitzerlandGlencore55B
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Saudi Arabia Maaden49B
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.Newmont48B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaAgnico Eagle Mines43B
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Indonesia Bayan Resources42B
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ MexicoGrupo Mรฉxico39B
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ AustraliaFortescue36B
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง UKAnglo American37B
๐Ÿ‡ง๐Ÿ‡ท BrazilVale37B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ ChinaZijin Mining57B
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ India Coal India27B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaBarrick Gold28B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaWheaton Precious Metals27B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaNutrien26B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaFranco-Nevada24B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaTeck Resources22B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaCameco22B
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง UKAntofagasta21B
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ IndiaVedanta20B
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ RussiaNornickel18B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaIvanhoe Mines15B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ ChinaYanzhou Coal Mining15B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaKinross Gold13B
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ AustraliaNorthern Star12B
๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡บ RussiaSeverstal11B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaFirst Quantum Minerals11B
๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ฟ KazakhstanKazatomprom10B
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ AustraliaSouth3210B
๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ U.S.Royal Gold9B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ ChinaGanfeng Lithium9B
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ช Sweden Boliden8B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaAlamos Gold8B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaPan American Silver8B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ณ ChinaTianqi Lithium7B
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡บ AustraliaEvolution Mining7B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaLundin Mining7B
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ IndonesiaNMDC7B
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ CanadaLundin Gold6B
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ฉ India United Tractors6B
๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต JapanSumitomo Metal Mining6B
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฝ Mexico Fresnillo6B
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฑ PolandKGHM6B
๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ South AfricaHarmony Gold6B
๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง UKEndeavour Mining5B
๐Ÿ‡ฟ๐Ÿ‡ฆ South AfricaImpala Platinum5B
๐ŸŒ Global TotalAll Companies Combined1.4T

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 Canadaโ€™s economy has struggled to keep pace with its southern neighbor, its mining industry remains formidable.

The countryโ€™s mining sector has a combined market capitalization of $344 billion, making it the second-largest globally.

Canada, the worldโ€™s 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

If you enjoyed this topic, check out thisย graphic showing the number of mines that must be developed to meet the expected demand for energy transition raw materials and chemicals by 2030.

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