A solar optical hyperspectral library of rare earth-bearing minerals, rare earth oxides, copper-bearing minerals and Apliki mine surface samples

Abstract. Mineral resource exploration and mining is an essential part of today’s high-tech industry. Elements such as rare earth elements (REE) and copper are, therefore, in high demand. Modern exploration techniques from multiple platforms (e.g. space- and airborne), to detect and map the spectral characteristics of the materials of interest, require spectral libraries as an essential reference. They include field and laboratory spectral information in combination with geochemical analyses for validation. Here, we present an extensive collection of REE- and copper-related hyperspectral spectra with associated geochemical information. The libraries contain spectra from rare earth element oxides, REE-bearing minerals, copper-bearing minerals and mine surface samples from the Apliki copper-gold-pyrite-mine in the Republic of Cyprus. The samples were measured with the HySpex imaging spectrometers in the visible near infra-red (VNIR) and short wave infra-red (SWIR) range (400–2500 nm). The geochemical validation of each sample is provided with the spectra. The spectral library is openly available to assist future mineral mapping campaigns and laboratory spectroscopic analyses. The spectral libraries and corresponding geochemistry are published via GFZ Data Services with the following DOIs: https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.1.4.2019.004 (REE elements, Koerting et al., 2019a), https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.1.4.2019.003 (Copper bearing minerals. Koellner et al., 2019), and https://doi.org/10.5880/GFZ.1.4.2019.005 (copper bearing minerals from the Apliki copper-gold-pyrite mine in Cyprus, Koerting et al., 2019b).