Potential Applications of the Sentinel-2 Multispectral Sensor and the Enmap Hyperspectral Sensor in Mineral Exploration

Imaging spectroscopy is a widely used tool in mineral exploration today where exploration companies offer the full service package to their clients: (data acquisition, preprocessing and product delivery). These exploration projects rely mainly on airborne imaging spectrometers such as Hymap, AISA or HySpex. This data is usually scarce and expensive and may not be available to academic research. The only operational spaceborne imaging spectrometer that covers the full spectral range from the visible to the shortwave infrared is Hyperion aboard EO-1, which has been providing data for over a decade now. New and advanced spaceborne imaging spectrometers such as the Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program (EnMAP) will provide new data for research in the field of imaging spectroscopy for mineral exploration. This study presents a comparison of the mapping capabilities between the Hyperion and EnMAP sensors, on the basis of simulated EnMAP data. This is shown with an example from a porphyry copper complex in southern Namibia (Haib River). Results from multispectral sensors (Landsat-8 OLI, EO-1 ALI and simulated data from the next generation Sentinel-2) are shown to illustrate their potential to map the gossan-outcrops at the Haib River Complex using the Iron Feature Depth (IFD).