这是一个价值数百万美元的问题!“寻找地表构造”确实是一种方法，也是过去勘探的主要方法。这并不一定意味着你能直接看到眼前的矿床。许多成矿系统都伴随着不同类型的蚀变(例如钾质或泥质蚀变)，这些蚀变在野外并不难发现。一旦你看到它们，就有可能附近有矿床。其他表面方法包括，其中，查看河流沉积物。由于河流从上游运输土壤和岩石，对沉积物进行采样可能会揭示上游某处的某种感兴趣商品的异常情况。利用卫星数据也是可能的——通过观察某些波长，就有可能估计表面的矿物成分。这可能为矿化的可能性提供线索。我甚至看到人们使用生长在不同岩性上的不同种类的植被!< / p >

Surface methods, however, require that the mineralisation will be close to the surface, and the truth is that most of the ore deposits that satisfy that requirement have already been found. This is where geophysical methods come into place. Gravimetric, magnetic and seismic studies probe the earth below the surface and may provide exploration targets, which are then drilled to see what's actually in there.

Mineral exploration is a hard business with much more failures than successes. That said, cases of serendipity are not unknown in exploration. Also, changes in global economics, production costs and increasing/decreasing metal prices may change what is actually an economically feasible ore deposit. The metals are always there - but is it actually worth taking them out?

希望这也能有所帮助

勘探者出去碰碰石头是值得称赞的。我知道这听起来很简单，但勘探者们确实对寻找地点有很好的直觉，尽管他们没有应用我们今天喜欢使用的遗传模型。最终，走到野外，看看你能找到什么是关键。 There were also a lot of part time prospectors who were primarily out to hunt or trap.

It takes several rounds (or companies) to usually find a deposit. They are hard to find, and typically you run out of investment and luck before that happens. There are various estimates on how many tries it takes on average, but looking at prospective areas where there have been several in there before you is not a bad idea.

A third thing that can help is revisiting an area that was previously abandoned for a reason other than geology. This could be a small mine that lost its workers to natural disasters, wars or other economic conditions. The previous work may have stopped because the exploration was in the "too hard" category. This is good areas to revisit - particularly in improvements in technology have opened new geochemical or geophysical methods that can tip the balance from too hard.

I throw these three things into "how to find deposits" because even though they are not specific technical methods, they are very much the kind of things exploration geologists think about when selecting areas to use their resources.

^{* In: Achterberg, F. - Geomathematics: Theoretical Foundations, Applications and Future Developments}