Preparing & organizing a prospecting mission 

Choosing the area: Choosing the area that is most favorable for mining research is based on the following criterions:

• Search of a specific metal or specific type of deposit
• Search of a specific area rich in outcropped minerals.
• Search of an area where mineral discoveries have already been made, or where there is already deposit exploration.
• Search of a specific accessible area or located close to a power plant.
• Search of an area where geological models have already been proved with plenty of experience, personal or based on new geological theories.

Once you have chosen what to search and where to search, you begin the next phase:

1) Preparing for the mission before departure 

This part must be considered as part of the listed operations that need to be performed, the documents and equipment needed to accomplish a geological mission considering the terrain and climatic conditions like desert, tropical or rainforest.

Naturally it would need to be adapted to each specific case and the economic resources the project counts on.

Technical documentation phase

It is divided in the following sections:

• A recently hired technician by any organization or company, must have full knowledge of the office organization, its history, objectives, and specially its resources. For these it is important a detailed visit of the facilities, as well as meetings with other supporting areas: physical-chemical analysis laboratory, petrographic, geochemists, graphic art, etc..  
• A very important point is to talk with the person responsible of receiving the samples, to determine the best shipping conditions, to avoid accidents, mixing, loss and anything else that would make it harder to prepare the samples & obtain coherent results. 
• Know the mission’s objectives, recourses available, as well as each of the group’s specific tasks. 
• At the same time what should be taken into consideration specially if working in an unknown country or region, are the geographic, climatic, political, ethnological, & human conditions. This information should be studied by all areas of the mission to work out any problems that may come up, be it authorities or locals, both in with the population and political realm.  
• Bibliographic documentation, in order to have the most information on the project area of interest, studying: geological maps, related geology on the deposit being searched, prior work that must be compared with geological maps or more recent data, contact with other geologist that have worked in the area or in similar conditions, etc…
• If possible it is recommended to get text or manuals that might be necessary on the soil to solve any doubts (mineralogical, petrographic, etc..)
• Cartographic research of the work area. Making copies of the entire mission’s course and the projected period. Eventually enlarge some areas. Prepare, if possible, join map grid and prepare meshes for geochemical sampling.
• Aerial photographic research and there analysis. Get a hold of field stereoscopes and a second copy of the researched area pictures. If possible go over with photogeology experts the privileged points and priority areas, as well as plausible areas that can be prioritized.

This document can be attached to the existing geological/geographic cartography.

Satellite photos can also provide valuable information.