Geoscientific Input Feature Selection for CNN-Driven Mineral Prospectivity Mapping

In recent years, machine learning techniques such as convolutional neural networks have been used for mineral prospectivity mapping. Since a diverse range of geoscientific data is often available for training, it is computationally challenging to select a subset of features that optimizes model performance. Our study aims to demonstrate the effect of optimal input feature selection on convolutional neural network model performance in mineral prospectivity mapping applications. We demonstrate results from both exhaustive and algorithmic feature selection methods in the context of copper porphyry prospectivity modeling and analyze the performance and stability of optimally trained models. Using the QUEST dataset from central interior British Columbia, such a feature selection technique improves model performance by 6.8% over models that use all available features, yet consumes around 2.2% of the computational resources needed to exhaustively search for the optimal feature subset.