National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) This page is a page of the former research institute. We stopped updating on March 31.2001.
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Sections and their principal activities

Resources Analysis Section

The department has accumulated basic data of mineral resources pertinent for the resources analysis, exploration and development of mineral resources. A series of maps on the scale of 1/2,000,000 have been published to characterize the regional distribution of Japanese mineral resources. In FY 1995, a new plan has been started to compile metallogenic maps of Japan (1/ 500,000 map series). The information on the meneral resources of Asia is also being piled up and the mineral resources map (1/5,000,000) of Japan and adjoining areas published in 1992, including about 600 metal and industrial mineral deposits.

Pubications of mineral resources maps ( 1/2,000,000 )

  1. Metallogenic Map of Japan, 1973.
  2. Metallogenic Map of Japan, Plutonism and Mineralization (1) Mo, W, Sn, 1973.
  3. Metallogenic Map of Japan, Plutonism and Mineralization (2) Cretaceous-Tertiary, 1992.
  4. Metallogenic Map of Japan, Plutonism and Mineralization (3) Tertiary-Quaternary, 1992.
  5. Distribution Map of Kaolin, Pyrophyllite and Sericite Clay Deposits Japan, 1976 ( An Outline of Kaolin, Pyrophyllite and Sericite Clay Deposits in Japan, 1976).
  6. Distribution Map of Lead and Zinc Ore Deposits in Japan, 1979.
  7. Distribution Map of Copper Ore Deposits in Japan, 1979.
  8. Distribution Map of Manganese Ore Deposits in Japan, 1979.
  9. Distribution Map of Gold, Silver, Antimony, Mercury and Arsenic Ore Deposits in Japan, 1979.
  10. Distribution Map of Sulfur, Iron, Sulfide, Gypsum and Barite Ore Deposits in Japan, 1979.

Ore Gegesis Section

The section seeks to understand the genesis of mineral deposits and the associated alteration processes. The result of geological and geochemical deposit modeling is applied to practical mineral exploration.

Experimental Mineralogy Section

The origin, transport, and deposition of metals in hydrothermal systems are being studied by using isotope geochemistry, high P-T experiments and trace element analyses, to contribute to the understanding of ore-forming processes.

* Epithermal gold deposits, geothermal systems and volcanoes


To Mineral Resources Department