Metallogenic Map of the Erzgebirge / Vogtland Area

The Metallogenic Map of the Erzgebirge/Vogtland area was created within the frame of the project
WISTAMERZ, aiming at the development of advanced methods for predicting the rare and high-tech metals
potential (RHTM, such as Ga, Ge, In, Li, Sb, Se, Sn, Ta, Te, W) in large areas.
As an example, the famous Erzgebirge/Vogtland area, well-known for centuries for its mineral wealth, was selected.
New geochemical data were gathered by a multi-element stream-sediment survey and combined with
portable XRF technologies for on-site identification of hard-to-find disseminated and oxidized mineralisation.
New unconventional RHTM mineralisations have been detected within low-grade geochemical anomalies
and in rocks previously regarded as non-prospective. New exploration models have been developed.
The combination of lower Paleozoic sedimentary and rifting related hydrothermal/volcanogenic processes is
recognised as the key precondition for the metallogenic predisposition of the large Erzgebirge mining region.
Processes of collision-related metamorphic re-distribution of metals and their assimilation during processes
of formation of melts and granitic intrusion led to the formation of a wide range of mineral occurrences of
different shape and structural position, from stratiform, granite-related high temperature formations, and
structure-controlled hydrothermal veins to Mesozoic and Cenozoic placers.
Late small intrusions led to a further re-distribution of metals within large metalliferous intrusives into
breccia pipes and their environment even deep inside of big granite batholiths.
Iron bearing metalliferous sediments were transformed into metamorphic and contact-metamorphic skarns with rich Sn and W mineralisation.
The metallogenic model positions the different mineral deposit types into a logic chain of metallogenic
events forming within a history of almost 450 M years.
As an important practical consequence the reviewed metallogenic concepts open the doors for new
discoveries of RHTM occurrences especially in the following environments:
· Geochemical anomalies of Au, Sb, Bi, In, Li, Sn, W
· Meta-sediments with/without reactive rocks, especially on top of hidden granite intrusives
· Breccia pipes and structures within bigger granite batholites on top of small intrusions
Using a combination of knowledge-based (exploration models) and data driven methods (artificial neural
networks) mineral predictive maps have been calculated for key mineralisation types.