Abstract

Automated hyperspectral drill core logging is capable of collecting detailed mineralogical information at close spatial resolution, complementing conventional (visual) logging with objective, data-rich information. An example of this technology is HyLogger-3™, a reflectance spectroscopic instrument equipped with VNIR1, SWIR and TIR detectors. The deployment of HyLogger-3™ in major South American mineral deposits, such as the Chilean porphyry copper systems, has been in development through the Centre of Excellence for Mining and Mineral Processing at the AMTC since 2014. This document presents various examples of hyperspectral studies, and describe two case studies in detail that use this technology to solve mining-metallurgical and geological problems, in order to illustrate the potential of this analytic instrument. These cases are not directly related to the copper industry, but represent the way in which exploration and geometallurgical knowledge might be enhanced in porphyry systems via routinely acquired spectroscopic data.