DiRT
Exploration
infra-red
After developing a clay prediction algorithm which estimated the expected response of Landsat band 7 from the other six bands (with clay anomalies those pixels with large residuals) and which found several mines in the Andes in the 1980s, we asked for more spectral bands and predicted the Mg absorption in the SWIR for De Beers using a scanner built by Terry Cocks from Intergrated Spectonics in Sydney. Terry built his own system and flew Hymap surveys for lots of clients.
We developed the software for the De Beers scanner. We dumbed it down a bit and called it RASTUS and some people used it for years to process ASTER SWIR data. We came up with several novel algorithms. Such as
devegetation
dehazing
and pan sharpening which went on to pop up in several image processing packages.
We sold Rastus for $1000 a copy for years but now prefer to do the processing ourselves.
A good example is the Au/Ag vein deposit on Unga Island in the Aleutians. Red Star Gold reported mid Decemeber 2014 promising results from fieldwork: Redstar Gold Corp. (TSX.V:RGC) ("Redstar" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the first results from its 2014 exploration program at its 100% owned Unga Gold Project, including rock samples with grades of up to 401 g/t gold and 266 g/t silver. Redstar is exploring for high-grade, epithermal gold mineralization within an historic mining camp located on Unga Island in the Aleutian arc of Alaska. These results are to be followed by the surface work results on the Shumigan Trend. This surface program is in preparation for a core drilling program early in 2015.
Their field results can be duplicated fairly well using Landsat 8 visible and SWIR imagery.
