NGI-led HORIZON project delivers its first tools to improve mineral exploration
The HORIZON Europe project MINEYE, coordinated by NGI, has achieved a milestone after delivering its first technical results and completing its second formal project review.
Mine access road in central Albania, where industry partner SO.RI.CO.M. is the owner of the project case study. ( Photo: Saman Tavakoli / NGI)
Finding new mineral deposits is expensive and seldom successful. According to figures presented by the project, less than half of a percent of exploration efforts in unexplored areas lead to discovery of economical deposits, rising to about five percent near existing mines, around the known deposits.
Around a chromite mine in Albania, the project’s researchers have identified possible exploration targets based on Mineral Prospectivity Map results; several of them ranked as high priority for further investigation. The goal is to cut the cost and risk of finding the raw materials which are required for European industries.
Working prototypes in place
MINEYE combines satellite data, ground and airborne geophysics, geochemistry, in-situ petrophysical data, and drilling data to improve mineral mapping and targeting through advanced modelling and data fusion methods. The project, now in its third year, presented its progress to the European Commission reviewers in late September 2026.
"We have delivered the first technical results of the project and built working prototypes of several of the technologies we are developing," says project coordinator Sean Salazar at NGI.
One of the recent project deliverables, a report and associated datasets describing the development of mineral prospectivity maps covering the project’s three European pilots, will be made public on the project website.
MINEYE partners and work package leaders gathered at NGI in Oslo in September for the project's General Assembly, followed by its second formal review meeting with presentation to the European Commission funding agency. ( Photo: Per Olav Solberg / NGI)
Exploration in Albania
Around a small chromite mine in the Bulqiza massif in eastern Albania, the researchers used state-of-the-art geophysical surveys to measure the subsurface conductivity and its polarizability in response to inducing electrical currents. They combined the measurements with results from rock sample physical properties, borehole data and geological maps. Chromite is the main source of chromium, which is used, among other things, in stainless steel. Albania is among the main producers of high-grade chromite ore in Europe and has significant known ore reserves.
The result from exploration work resulted in identifying several high-potential targets. The areas where low resistivity and strongly polarizable zones coincide are ranked highest. The results also suggest that the known ore continues northwards towards the surface, where open-pit mining is already underway.
"All the data from our pilot site in Albania are now processed and modelled and interpretations are ongoing. Based on that work, we can highlight areas with highest potential for drilling, for mine owners" says Saman Tavakoli, project technical coordinator and Lead Geophysicist at NGI.
Whether the targets actually indicate economical concentrations of chromite can only be settled with a drill.
"Drilling is the only way to verify exploration results. All other methods and results only provide an indirect indication about the likelihood of mineralization potential and thereby associated exploration risks," Tavakoli says.
Vegetation seen from space
In northern Sweden, the project is testing whether vegetation seen from space can reveal areas with occurrence of phosphate minerals and potentially rare earth elements in the bedrock. Phosphate acts as a fertiliser, so plant growth combined with magnetic and gravity data may point to areas that resemble the Per Geijer deposit, one of Europe's largest rare earth deposits.
In southern Spain, satellite imagery, geophysics, and geochemical samples are used to map new areas for mineral exploration. The project's final field campaign takes place there later this autumn and is focussed on areas with historic mining.
"MINEYE brings together data from different disciplines that are normally treated separately. Importantly, Earth observation methods are underutilised in the mining sector today, even though the potential to improve monitoring and decision-making is large," Salazar says.
View of a historic mining site in southern Spain, where industry partner Tharsis Mining is the owner of the project case study. ( Photo: Tharsis Mining)
One platform
All the data are gathered in an online user platform where existing and new data can be combined and processed in one place. A working prototype is now in use within the project, and a public version is planned for launch in the second half of 2027.
"The methods we are developing can be used in similar deposits across Europe, including around historical mines with potential for reopening," Tavakoli says.
