A private explorer in Chile has found two new high-grade gold veins next to its existing mine at targets predicted by our satellite fingerprint maps.
A 25-tonne bulk sample from one of the new veins recovered 325 g/t gold.
## The starting point
The client had just bought a small underground mine working two quartz veins, each 1.0 to 1.5 m wide. The mine has produced about 35 tonnes of ore a day since the 1980s, at grades above 10 g/t gold.
They wanted to find new veins close to the mine, and regional targets in similar geology, without months of blind prospecting.
## How we found the targets
In March 2025 we surveyed 7,000 km² around the mine using ASTER thermal (LWIR) satellite data.
The key step was training. We used the client's own known vein locations to teach our fingerprint models (LDFC and QDFC) what the mine's high-grade veins look like spectrally.
The models then scored every pixel of the survey area for the same signature. The result was a ranked map of near-mine and regional targets.
## The result
Follow-up fieldwork focused on a cluster of compact targets just north of the mine.
- Two new quartz–gold veins were found and sampled.
- Rock-chip assays returned 6 to 34 g/t gold.
- A 25-tonne bulk sample from the western vein was processed by gravity concentration in July 2025. It recovered 325 g/t gold.
From satellite survey to bulk sample took about four months.
## What this means for other explorers
The approach works best when you already have something to learn from: a producing vein, a known showing or a mineralized drill intercept. Our models learn that signature from your own ground, then search your whole property and the surrounding district for more of it.
That turns a large, unexplored land package into a short list of targets your field team can check first.
## Read more
- [Read the full Chile case study](/case-studies/chile-gold)
- [Our mineral targeting service](/solutions#minerals)
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Have a property with known showings? We can train the same fingerprint on your ground. [Request a survey](/request-a-survey) or email john@asterfundsltd.com.