QGIS in Mineral Exploration

QGIS is an open-source GIS program for the display and analysis of GIS data. It has developed significantly in the past few years and is now a valuable tool for the mineral exploration industry, and a viable alternative to the commercially available GIS packages. Although not specifically written for geological applications, QGIS can do most of the required GIS tasks required by today’s geoscientists. The terminology is different to the usual earth sciences programs, but many QGIS algorithms do the same thing but with a different name.

This manual examines QGIS and how QGIS can assist geoscientists in undertake mapping and geoscientific tasks in their day-to-day work. The manual has evolved during several years teaching QGIS to geoscientists in Australia and has been produced to offer a go-to document for earth science related GIS activities.

Accessing data from the internet via web map and web feature servers is illustrated to show how using this data can help with compiling available data for an area. Detailed aerial photography and Google Earth can be easily integrated with mapping data to allow the creation of accurate base maps for a variety of geological applications. A wide range of vector and raster (grid and image) data formats can be easily imported into QGIS, including GPS gpx files.

The presentation options for point, line and polygon data are extensive and easily customised. A variety of geological symbols and pattern fills can be applied to points, lines , and polygons. Geochemical and geophysical data can also be presented in a variety of display options. Basic 3D display of map data is also available via the QGIS2threejs plug-in and the QGIS 3D view. QGIS has many plug-ins for specialised tasks and the semi-automatic classification plug-in (SCP), is one example of where users can select, download, and process ASTER, Landsat, and Sentinel 2 satellite data. It is recommended that new users peruse the plugins list to see what plugins are available and for those that may be of use in their work.

Map production is easy in QGIS with the “Print Layout” allowing extensive options for the display and printing of maps.

This document is a working draft and in continuous development. There may be errors and omissions, and these will be rectified as time permits. This manual applies to QGIS 3.34.

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About

• About this manual

Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. About QGIS
• 3. Installing QGIS
  • 3.1. PC Installation
  • 3.2. Mac Installation
• 4. Plugins
• 5. Accessing Data Over the Web
  • 5.1. Australian Data Sets
  • 5.2. Geological Survey of Western Australia
  • 5.3. Landgate and Open Data WA
  • 5.4. Geoscience Australia
  • 5.5. Digital Elevation Data
  • 5.6. Coordinate Reference Systems
• 6. Geological Data
  • 6.1. Point Data
  • 6.2. Outcrop Photographs
    • 6.2.1. Import Photos Plugin
    • 6.2.2. Import Geotagged Photos
    • 6.2.3. Forms for Improved Viewing Photos Using the File Widget and Tabbed Pages
    • 6.2.4. Viewing Photos by the Action Tab
    • 6.2.5. Opening pdf attachements
  • 6.3. Line Data
  • 6.4. Plotting Drill Hole Traces and 3D Drill Data Display
    • 6.4.1. Geoscience Plugin
    • 6.4.2. Alternative Way to Plot Drill Hole Traces on Plan
    • 6.4.3. Displaying Drill Hole Traces in 3D
    • 6.4.4. Extracting Maximum Values for Drill Holes
  • 6.5. Polygon Data
    • 6.5.1. Creating Drop-Down Lists for Data Entry
  • 6.6. Geological Symbols and Geological Patterns
    • 6.6.1. Geological Fonts
    • 6.6.2. SVG Symbols and Patterns
  • 6.7. Geological Line Styles
  • 6.8. Labelling Features
    • 6.8.1. Labelling points
  • 6.9. Joining Spatial and Non-Spatial Data
  • 6.10. Geological Legends
    • 6.10.1. Adding user defined polygon colours
  • 6.11. Importing and Exporting GPS Data
  • 6.12. Using the GSWA WAROX and WAMINES data
  • 6.13. Creating and converting Local (Non-Earth) Grids to Real World Coordinates
  • 6.14. Creating a Grid Layout
  • 6.15. GeoPackages
• 7. Displaying Geochemical Data
  • 7.1. Importing and Styling Geochemical Assay Points
  • 7.2. Gridding Surface Geochemical Data
  • 7.3. Contouring Surface Geochemical Data
• 8. Geophysical Data Import and Display
  • 8.1. Data Import
  • 8.2. Colour Ramps
  • 8.3. Extracting Point Data from a GRID
  • 8.4. Custom Data Stretch
  • 8.5. Profiling Gridded Data
  • 8.6. Creating Stacked Profiles and Colour Bars
  • 8.7. First and Second Vertical Derivatives
• 9. 3D Image Display
  • 9.1. 3D Map View
  • 9.2. QGIS2Threejs Plugin
• 10. Remote Sensing
  • 10.1. United States Geological Survey (USGS)
  • 10.2. European Space Agency (ESA)
  • 10.3. Using the Semi Automatic Classification Plugin
  • 10.4. ASTER Data
  • 10.5. Landsat Data
  • 10.6. Sentinel 2 Data
  • 10.7. Creating RGB Images
  • 10.8. Principal Components Analysis (PCA)
• 11. Map Production
  • 11.1. Print Layout
  • 11.2. Map Templates
  • 11.3. Layout Manager
  • 11.4. Using Variables to Display Information
• 12. Miscellaneous Tricks and Tips
  • 12.1. Access Databases
  • 12.2. AutoSaver Plug-In
  • 12.3. Spatial Bookmarks
  • 12.4. Colour Ramps
  • 12.5. Colour Selection
  • 12.6. Data Searching
  • 12.7. Digitising Toolbar (Plugin)
    • 12.7.1. Split multipart to single part
    • 12.7.2. Split off one part and add it as new feature
    • 12.7.3. Split features
    • 12.7.4. Merge selected features
    • 12.7.5. Exchange attributes between selected features
    • 12.7.6. Cut with polygon from another layer
    • 12.7.7. Clip with polygon from another layer
    • 12.7.8. Fill ring
    • 12.7.9. Fill gap
    • 12.7.10. Fill gap (all visible layers)
    • 12.7.11. Split selected features with selected line from another layer
    • 12.7.12. Flip line
  • 12.8. Favourites
  • 12.9. Profile Tool
  • 12.10. Points to Lines and Polygons
  • 12.11. QPackage
  • 12.12. Quick Rectangles, Circles, Ellipse Shapes
  • 12.13. Refactor Fields
  • 12.14. Selecting Drill Holes by Tenement
  • 12.15. Spatialite Databases
  • 12.16. Extracting Colour Styling Information from MapInfo Files
• 13. Drone Mapping in QGIS
  • 13.1. Mission Planning
  • 13.2. Creating the Flight Plan
  • 13.3. Flying your Mission
  • 13.4. Processing the Images
• 14. A Compilation of How-To’s
  • 14.1. Set Drill Collar RL from a DTM
  • 14.2. Plot Oriented Structure Symbols
  • 14.3. Downloading and Using the USGS Symbols and Pattern Fills
  • 14.4. Merge Adjacent Satellite Image Scenes
  • 14.5. Installing the SAGA Next Gen Provider
  • 14.6. Enabling the Orfeo Toolbox
  • 14.7. Working with ESRI shp and geodatabase files
• 15. More Resources
  • 15.1. On-Line Video Tutorials
• 16. References

Appendix

• Lithologic Patterns for Geological Maps
  • USGS (FGDC STD-013-2006)
  • Geoscience Australia
  • Geological Survey of Western Australia