Identifying the Promising Areas of Zailik Gold Mineralization in the Northwest of Iran Using Fuzzy Overlay of Information Method

This research aims to simultaneously use geochemical modeling and geological parameters for gold grade estimation to identify promising zones of epithermal gold mineralization in the Zailik region, northwest of Iran. For this purpose, the employed geological evidence includes lithology and alterations like silicification, iron oxides, phyllic, and propylitic. For  geochemical modeling two methods were utulized: 1) artificial neural network (ANN),  2) integrating ANN with the Firefly algorithm. Geological evidence after quantification, along with the estimated amounts of gold in artificial intelligence methods, was entered into the hierarchical system in Expert Choice software for weighting. In this method, the weighting and determination of the degree of relative importance of geological parameters were attempted after consulting geological and exploration experts. Subsequently, artificial intelligence methods were also compared with each other using quantitative criteria such as the coefficient of determination and the root mean square error function. The results showed that the combined method of artificial neural networks with the Firefly algorithm provides better results due to the higher coefficient of determination (R2=0.643) and lower error function (RMSE=0.754). Therefore, it has a higher degree of importance to identify promising areas for mineralization. Finally, all the above parameters were combined with each other in the Arc GIS software using the fuzzy overlay method, and the optimal exploration targets were detected in the north and northeast of the region, enabling to continue the exploration targets along the root of gold mineralization in the neighboring areas according to the introduced model.