The role of land gravity data in the Neves-Corvo mine discovery and its use in present-day exploration and new target generation

Abstract Several blind massive sulphide deposits associated with the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) Volcano-Sedimentary Complex (VSC) (Figure 1) were discovered in SW Iberia using joint interpretation of geological and geophysical models, such as Neves-Corvo (Albouy et al., 1981; Leca et al., 1983) and Lagoa Salgada (Oliveira et al., 1998) in Portugal, and Valverde and Las Cruces in Spain. In the IPB Portuguese sector, the former government agencies Servico de Fomento Mineiro (SFM) and Instituto Geologico e Mineiro (IGM), as well as LNEG, fostered the acquisition of systematic geophysical surveys, in particular gravimetry, in the region during the second half of the 20th century.