Contribution of Remote Sensing and GIS to the exploration of a gold site: case of Dodougou in Burkina Faso

Abstract

The present study aims to propose a method for the determination of gold mineralization sites in the Birimien domain known to be favourable for deposits in West Africa. The study area is the Dodougou exploration permit in the Upper Basins region of Burkina Faso. The methodological approach integrates geological information acquired from Landsat8 OLI/TIRS (Operational Land Imager/Thermal InfraRed Sensor) images and a multi-criteria GIS analysis. The superimposition of the various lithology, lineament and hydrothermal alteration maps and the consideration of gold mineralization indicators allowed the zoning of sites likely to contain gold ore concentrations at Dodougou. As a result, six gold exploration tar- gets have been detected, three of which are qualified as very significant gold discovery targets.