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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ISPRS-Archives</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2194-9034</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/isprs-archives-XLIX-B3-2026-25-2026</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Comparative Evaluation of Machine Learning Models for Gold Prospectivity Mapping: A Case Study from Labrador, Canada</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Chebab</surname>
<given-names>Yahya</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0009-0008-8986-5022</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Zhang</surname>
<given-names>Kongwen</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Xie</surname>
<given-names>Shuyun</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Liu</surname>
<given-names>Jiangtao</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>School of Computing, University of the Fraser Valley, 33844 King Road, Abbotsford, BC V2S 7M8, Canada</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources (GPMR), Faculty of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Wuhan Center, China Geological Survey (Geosciences Innovation Center of Central South China), Guanggu Ave., Wuhan 430205, China</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>30</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>XLIX-B3-2026</volume>
<fpage>25</fpage>
<lpage>31</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Yahya Chebab et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B3-2026-25-2026.html">This article is available from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B3-2026-25-2026.html</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B3-2026-25-2026.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-archives.copernicus.org/articles/XLIX-B3-2026/25/2026/isprs-archives-XLIX-B3-2026-25-2026.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Machine learning methods are increasingly applied to mineral prospectivity mapping. However, systematic comparisons between modern ML techniques and traditional methods such as Fuzzy Weights of Evidence (FWoE) remain limited. In this study, we evaluated four machine learning models (Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Backpropagation Neural Network (BPNN), and XGBoost) alongside the FWoE method for gold prospectivity mapping in a remote region of Labrador, Canada. We used 1,159 lake sediment samples analyzed for 91 geochemical and physical properties. Rather than binary classification, we developed a four class system based on gold concentrations: Background (no gold), Low, Moderate, and High potential.&lt;br /&gt;Our results showed that XGBoost achieved the highest macro averaged F1 score (0.279), followed by Logistic Regression (0.270). SVM obtained the highest accuracy (0.724) but this reflects its strong performance on background samples rather than its ability to identify mineralized areas. FWoE scored 0.233 and BPNN scored 0.206. All models performed well on background samples but struggled to distinguish between low, moderate, and high gold classes. Feature importance analysis revealed that geochemical elements including copper, arsenic, and molybdenum were most predictive, though physical properties and field observations also contributed. Our findings indicate that XGBoost is the most effective model for multi class gold mapping, but additional data types such as geological maps and geophysical surveys are needed to improve discrimination between different gold grades.</p>
</abstract>
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