::: Welcome Saudi Geological Survey Website :::

Home

Why ?

 Since the 1950s, mineral exploration in the Arabian Shield has been carried out in three successive steps :

• Surface exploration of exposed mineralization, including the (re)-discovery and inspection of old workings, and general geologic mapping at scale 1:100,000 (or larger) to draw up an inventory of all types of mineral occurrences.

• Sampling of such occurrences and chemical analysis of the samples. The results were then combined into anomaly maps for further checking in the field, and conclusions were drawn concerning the stratigraphic, metallogenic and geodynamic framework of such mineralization, and its potential for mining.

• Once identified as a potentially economic target, the mineralization was subjected to a pre-feasibility study, which is an essential step in the decision-making process of the mining industry.

Present state of mineral exploration in the Arabian Shield :

2 mines in exploitation, several mining projects at a feasibility or investment stage and numerous promising occurrences at the evaluation stage.

...but the mineral exploration remains still insufficient...

• - the regional exploration is not complete (often focused only on old workings areas) and its distribution is heterogeneous,

• - some large areas were explored with methods no longer considered as the most effective,

• - newly developed metallogenic concepts were not considered at the time of the regional exploration,

• - the possibility of hidden deposits under thin allochtonous cover was little or not at all tested

• - the mass of available data has been growing exponentially

What is GIS ?

How ?

This reappraisal involved a geological and metallogenical synthesis (under Arcview™) at the scale of the Arabian Shield : geography, geology, structures, geochemistry, aeromagnetics, geochronology, surficial formations… and linked to a mineralised occurrence database containing not only known information on the occurrences but also a new reappraisal of the metallogenic data as well as a quantitative evaluation of the regional- and local-scale geological, geophysical and geochemical exploration work that has been carried-out on the different occurrences.