Preface: State of the art in mineral exploration

Minerals that comprise raw materials for energy, metal, construction and other industrial applications are considered strategic commodities, fundamental in stock markets worldwide, and key ingredients to sustain our ever more technology-based society (Wellmer et al., 2019). The utilization of such economically important minerals has shown a continued steady increase since the early twentieth century, with a greater focus in recent years on resources required for the development of renewable technologies, such as wind and solar operations, and for electrification of domestic and transportation systems (e.g. concrete, aluminium, chromium, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, zinc or rare earths) (Meinert et al., 2016). As our society ramps up the global transition to low-carbon energies and a reduced reliance on fossil fuels, the inevitable rise in consumption and demand for a more diverse range of resources can only be facilitated through increasingly novel methods of mineral exploration (Ali et al., 2017).