A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Mineral prospectivity mapping under extreme imbalance using contrastive embeddings balanced learning and integrated uncertainty analysis;




AuthorsNidhi, Dipak Kumar; Mohapatra, Sudhir Kumar; Nevalainen, Paavo; Heikkonen, Jukka; Kanth, Rajeev

PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC

Publication year2026

Journal: Discover Computing

Article number288

Volume29

Issue1

ISSN2948-2984

eISSN2948-2992

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1007/s10791-026-10192-z

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.1007/s10791-026-10192-z

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/523548688

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

Mineral Prospectivity Mapping (MPM) is an pivotal methodology for identifying prospective deposits across large regions using complex geophysical datasets. The application of machine learning could significantly improve these processes. However, a critical challenge in data-driven mineral prospectivity mapping is the class imbalance between the mineralized locations and large background, which can severely limit model performance. To address this, this study systematically evaluates two machine learning workflows: a supervised Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and a contrastive representation learning with radius classifier. The algorithm applied to a geophysical dataset from Finland included integrated data balancing (M=N), nested cross-validation, and methods for uncertainty quantification (radius distance and Shannon entropy) and interpretability (Shapley Additive exPlanations(SHAP)). The supervised MLP performed well with an Area Under the Curve (AUC) of 0.99, perfect of recall 100%, and Geometric Mean (G-mean) of 0.9937. The Shapley Additive explanations analysis showed that magnetic and pseudo-gravity anomalies are among those more significant features. Findings indicate that a well developed MLP can address significant data imbalance, successfully reducing the investigation footprint to around 1% of the total area while detecting all known deposits. The use of uncertainty maps showed that such deposits are found in high-confidence zones (low-uncertainty) along transitional corridors at geological boundaries, providing a reliable and economical framework for directing mineral exploration.


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Funding information in the publication
The Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Grant Agreement number 101057357, is funding the compilation of the work, EIS - Exploration Information System (https://eis-he.eu).
Open Access funding provided by University of Turku (including Turku University Central Hospital).


Last updated on 25/05/2026 08:32:40 AM