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Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration: Enhancing...
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Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration: Enhancing Resource Discovery, 2nd Edition

A Special Issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X) belonging to the section "Mineral Exploration Methods and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2027 | Viewed by 4636

Editors

Dr. Marc A. Vallée

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Geo Data Solutions GDS Inc., Laval, QC H7P 0G1, Canada
Interests: electromagnetic and potential field exploration methods
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Stanisław Mazur

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences, 31-002 Kraków, Poland
Interests: tectonics; exploration geophysics; structural geology; minerals; basin analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The first edition of this Special Issue, entitled “Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration: Enhancing Resource Discovery”, collated nine papers covering topics from field instrumentation and inversion techniques to applied case histories. Building on this success and in light of recent progress, we are pleased to launch the second edition of this Special Issue and warmly invite new contributions.

Magnetic and electromagnetic methods remain among the most widely applied geophysical techniques in mineral exploration. Their use has advanced significantly with both technological innovations and the rapid growth of computational power. Recent developments include sensor miniaturization, improved system reliability, and the integration of computer-controlled transmitters, receivers, and data acquisition systems. At the same time, artificial intelligence is playing an increasingly important role, particularly in data interpretation.

In practice, airborne electromagnetic surveys are now most often conducted from helicopters, though hybrid approaches combining ground and airborne surveys continue to be tested. Drones are becoming especially popular for magnetic surveys. Three-dimensional inversion has become almost standard for magnetic data, while aeromagnetic interpretation still often relies on two-dimensional filtering techniques. For electromagnetic methods, one-dimensional inversion remains common, although more advanced three-dimensional approaches are emerging.

Recent progress has also been driven by machine learning techniques and improved understanding of the physical properties of mineral targets. This Special Issue provides an opportunity to showcase advances—whether technological, methodological, or conceptual—that enhance the discovery of mineral resources. Submissions are welcome that focus on borehole, ground, and airborne applications of magnetic and electromagnetic methods, as well as from case histories.

Dr. Marc A. Vallée
Prof. Dr. Stanisław Mazur
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • magnetic methods and electromagnetic methods
  • data acquisition
  • geophysical modeling and inversion
  • borehole, ground, and airborne geophysics
  • magneto-telluric
  • mineral exploration
  • case histories
  • physical properties

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 5840 KB  
Article
A Stochastic Gauss–Newton Framework with Full-Data Line Search for Efficient 3D Magnetotelluric Inversion
by Gang Wen, Lian Liu, Dikun Yang, Yi Zhang and Jinghe Li
Minerals 2026, 16(7), 666; https://doi.org/10.3390/min16070666 - 24 Jun 2026
Viewed by 540
Abstract
3D magnetotelluric (MT) inversion based on the Gauss–Newton (GN) framework plays an important role in deep mineral exploration by imaging subsurface electrical conductivity structures. However, large-scale 3D MT inversion remains computationally expensive due to the high cost of sensitivity-matrix construction. To address this [...] Read more.
3D magnetotelluric (MT) inversion based on the Gauss–Newton (GN) framework plays an important role in deep mineral exploration by imaging subsurface electrical conductivity structures. However, large-scale 3D MT inversion remains computationally expensive due to the high cost of sensitivity-matrix construction. To address this challenge, we develop a stochastic Gauss–Newton (SGN) framework that reduces computational cost through random data subsampling while preserving the practical convergence behavior of GN inversion. In the proposed framework, only a randomly selected subset of data is used to approximate the GN search direction. By exploiting a key property of MT forward modelling, namely that responses at all receivers are obtained simultaneously for each frequency, the line search is performed using the full dataset, ensuring stable convergence of the inversion process. The SGN framework is validated using both a synthetic multiblock model and a field dataset from the Akebasitao area in Xinjiang, China. The recovered models remain highly consistent with those obtained using conventional full-data Gauss–Newton inversion across a wide range of sampling ratios. For the synthetic example, reducing the sampling ratio from 100% to 10% decreases peak memory consumption from approximately 433 GB to 242 GB and reduces runtime from 86.8 h to 23.9 h while maintaining comparable inversion quality. Similar computational savings are achieved for the field-data inversion. The field application successfully recovers the major conductive structures along the margins of the intrusion that are associated with hydrothermal alteration and fluid activity, highlighting the capability of SGN to delineate geologically meaningful targets relevant to deep mineral exploration. These results demonstrate that SGN provides an efficient and scalable approach for large-scale 3D MT inversion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration: Enhancing Resource Discovery, 2nd Edition)
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22 pages, 3275 KB  
Article
The Deep Prediction of the Tonglushan Deposit Based on the Wide-Field Electromagnetic Method and Radiometric Spectrometry Measurements
by Yepeng Zhang, Jiabin Yan and Chaoyu Huang
Minerals 2026, 16(6), 639; https://doi.org/10.3390/min16060639 - 16 Jun 2026
Viewed by 333
Abstract
The Tonglushan ore field is an important component of the polymetallic mineralization belt in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. The skarn-type Cu, Fe, Au, and Mo molybdenum deposits are mainly developed in the contact zone between the [...] Read more.
The Tonglushan ore field is an important component of the polymetallic mineralization belt in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. The skarn-type Cu, Fe, Au, and Mo molybdenum deposits are mainly developed in the contact zone between the rock mass and the strata, as well as in the contact zone between residual and capturing bodies in the rock body. The distribution of ore bodies is controlled by faults and strata, but there is a lack of large-scale geophysical information on the contact relationship between the ore-forming geological body and the host rock and on the deep spatial morphology of the ore-forming structure and intrusion rock. The study uses the JS-WEM2 wide-field electromagnetic instrument and the RS230 spectrometer to conduct the ground frequency domain electromagnetic and radiometric spectrometry measurements on four profiles. The measurement results indicate that the fault distribution in the Tonglushan ore field is predominantly in the NW-trending and NE-trending directions. The NW-trending Tonglushan–Lijiashan fault (F2) is a steeply dipping fault; the NE-trending faults are minor, with steep dips, generally extending no deeper than −1000 m. The Tonglushan stock exhibits the northeastward uplift, characterized by southward overlap and southeastward dip. The deep resistivity is greater than 3000 Ω·m, while the resistivity below −1000 m is less than 2000 Ω·m due to the fault influence. The ore bodies are mainly distributed along the contact zones where variations in the occurrence of the rock intersect with the strata. On resistivity profiles, these zones show the gradient variation in resistivity and the distorted shape of the resistivity contour line. The radioactive element contents of wall rock above the ore bodies are characterized by high U, high Th, and low K. The Wide-Field Electromagnetic Method (WFEM) can effectively detect the distribution and morphology of rocks and faults, and combined with the radioactive characteristics of geological bodies, it can effectively identify concealed faults and the favorable mineralization target areas. Novelty: The study combines the WFEM with radiometric measurements to reduce uncertainty in exploration compared to using only one method. It improves the detection accuracy and target identification ability of deep hidden ore bodies, providing the new technical method for deep mineral exploration in complex structural areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration: Enhancing Resource Discovery, 2nd Edition)
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32 pages, 12683 KB  
Article
Model-Space Processing and Inversion of Magnetotelluric Data: A Multi-Model Jackknife Method
by Shaoting Feng, Dikun Yang and Lian Liu
Minerals 2026, 16(4), 345; https://doi.org/10.3390/min16040345 - 25 Mar 2026
Viewed by 774
Abstract
Magnetotelluric (MT) inversion models are widely used to interpret crustal conductivity structures related to fluid pathways, deformation zones, and mineralization processes; however, evaluating the reliability of inversion-derived anomalies remains challenging when datasets contain subtle station-dependent distortions or residual cultural noise. We present a [...] Read more.
Magnetotelluric (MT) inversion models are widely used to interpret crustal conductivity structures related to fluid pathways, deformation zones, and mineralization processes; however, evaluating the reliability of inversion-derived anomalies remains challenging when datasets contain subtle station-dependent distortions or residual cultural noise. We present a jackknife-inspired, model-space diagnostic framework based on leave-one-station-out (LOSO) inversion to quantify station influence and improve interpretation reliability. The workflow consists of (1) generating a LOSO inversion ensemble using identical inversion settings, (2) computing ensemble statistics and standardized perturbation metrics to identify sensitive zones, and (3) applying distribution-based diagnostics to classify station influence and guide construction of an ensemble-refined model. Synthetic experiments demonstrate that the framework distinguishes localized station-controlled artifacts from broadly supported structural responses, allowing targeted correction without altering robust features. Application to a field MT dataset acquired in a noise-affected environment shows that a mid-crustal conductive structure remains stable across the LOSO ensemble, while some shallow anomalies exhibit strong station dependence. The resulting ensemble-refined model introduces only localized modifications, demonstrating that ensemble-based model-space diagnostics provide a practical and reproducible strategy for validating MT inversion results and improving confidence in exploration-oriented conductivity interpretations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration: Enhancing Resource Discovery, 2nd Edition)
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Review

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32 pages, 3597 KB  
Review
Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Technique Interpretation
by Marc A. Vallée, Mouhamed Moussaoui and Khorram Khan
Minerals 2026, 16(2), 159; https://doi.org/10.3390/min16020159 - 30 Jan 2026
Viewed by 2172
Abstract
Magnetic and electromagnetic techniques have been applied successfully to mineral exploration discovery. Both techniques rely on inferring the distribution of subsurface physical properties based on ground, airborne or borehole field measurements. Consequently, interpretation methods relating field measurements to underground physical properties are key [...] Read more.
Magnetic and electromagnetic techniques have been applied successfully to mineral exploration discovery. Both techniques rely on inferring the distribution of subsurface physical properties based on ground, airborne or borehole field measurements. Consequently, interpretation methods relating field measurements to underground physical properties are key to geophysical method success. Over the last 15 years, with the evolution of computer processing techniques, interpretation methods have matured and have seen numerous developments, from approximate interpretation to 3D inversion. The recent study of the scientific literature on magnetic and electromagnetic interpretation followed by an analysis of the distribution of the publication of these studies publication (and the citation numbers quoted) outline the research on these topics. The majority of studies are on electromagnetism, with an emphasis on numerical modeling, approximations, superparamagnetism, and induced polarization. In magnetics, the most popular studies were on remanence magnetization inversion and Euler deconvolution. Studies applicable to both methods involved 3D inversion, artificial intelligence, and open-source software. The number of citations reveals a different picture than the number of publications, where the same categories are present but magnetic study citations dominate, indicating in general a time lag of 10 years. The results of this review may help direct future research in these areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Magnetic and Electromagnetic Techniques for Mineral Exploration: Enhancing Resource Discovery, 2nd Edition)
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