TELEDETECTION APPLIED TO THE EXPLORATION OF RARE EARTHS 
Tadeo Berenguer 
Nelida Graciela de Salmuni 
Maria Iné Lund de Perello 
Maria Puertas 
Universiad Nacional de San Juan 
Facultad de Ingenieria 
Avda. Libertador Gral. San Martin 1109 - Oeste 
San Juan 5400, Argentina 
ISPRS Commission VII / Working Group 4 
ABSTRACT 
Valle Fertil mountain range, placed in San Juan, Argentina, have a varied potential mining resources. The 
fact that pegmatitic sands alluvions have rare earths is of particular interest. The remote sensing must be used 
intelligently, it can be a great assistance to the explorationist in the difficult task in finding new ore deposits. 
The resource analyst has been able to extend his view of the subject thanks to the fidelity of the spectral 
response combined with the high degree spatial accuracy over long areas. This research work is bases on the 
use of Teledetection to define an exploratory process which allows an effective and fast identification and 
masking carried out in the Valle Fertil range, showed different surface features of the area under study. This 
process allowed to make a clear discrimination between the current materials and environment which 
spatially coincided with the zones selected as possible rare earth carriers. These techniques associated with 
the visual interpretation and the surveyed thematic information, produce some advantages upon the 
traditional exploration because they allow to handle and visualize abundant information contributing to the 
interpretations of geological and metallogenic process. 
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