Assessment of Methodologies to Predict Potential Mineral Endowment on Entering an Immature Exploration Space, using the Western Australian Sandstone Orogenic Gold District as a Natural Laboratory

Mineral exploration requires explorers to estimate the potential of each search space for hosting undiscovered mineral deposits. Through the assessment of critical orogenic gold mineral systems within the Sandstone greenstone belt, Western Australia, mineral-endowment estimation methods are adapted for application within more and less mature exploration search spaces, with varying degrees of data availability. These methods produce a range of estimates for the undiscovered orogenic gold endowment of the Sandstone greenstone belt, to guide future exploration expenditure. The validity of such estimates are critically reviewed, and improved methods are proposed and tested.