Chromite is a strategic mineral resource for many countries, and chromite deposit occurrences are widespread in the ultramafic rocks of the Yarlung Zangbo ophiolite belt, particularly in the harzburgite unit of the mantle section. Conducting field surveys in complex and poorly accessible terrain is challenging, expensive, and time-consuming. Remote sensing is an advanced method of achieving modern geological work and is a powerful technical means of geological research and mineral exploration. In order to delineate outcrops of chromite-bearing mantle peridotite, the present research study integrates seven image-enhancement techniques, including optimal band combination, decorrelation stretching, band ratio, independent component analysis, principal component analysis, minimum noise fraction, and false color composite, for the interpretation of Landsat8 OLI and WorldView-2 satellite data. This integrated approach allows the effective discrimination of chromite-containing peridotite outcrops in the Luobusa area, Tibet. The interpretation results derived from these integrated image-processing techniques were systematically verified in the field and formed the basis of the feature selection process of different lithologies supported by the support vector machine algorithm. Furthermore, the distribution range of the ferric contamination anomaly is detected through the de-interference abnormal principal component thresholding technique, which shows a high spatial matching relationship with mantle peridotite. This is the first study to utilize Landsat8 OLI and WorldView-2 remote sensing satellite data to explore the largest chromite deposit in China, which enriches the research methods for the chromite deposits in the Luobusa area. Accordingly, the results of this investigation indicate that the integration of information extracted from image-processing algorithms using remote sensing data could be a broadly applicable tool for prospecting chromite ore deposits associated with ophiolitic complexes in mountainous and inaccessible regions such as Tibet’s ophiolitic zones.

The West Kunlun represents one of the largest and most economically significant rare metal metallogenic belts in NW China. The newly discovered Dahongliutandong Li deposit is the first Li deposit identified within the Permian Huangyangling Group in this region, and its discovery has important implications for regional lithium exploration. In this study, whole-rock major and trace-element geochemistry and cassiterite U–Pb isotope data from both Li-poor and Li-rich pegmatites of the Dahongliutandong deposit were analyzed to constrain the mineralization age and tectonic setting. Geochemically, the pegmatites are characterized by high SiO₂ (70.57–78.50 wt%), low TiO₂, MnO, and MgO (<0.2 wt%), and strongly peraluminous signatures (A/CNK = 1.45–1.95). They exhibit coherent chondrite-normalized REE patterns with LREE enrichment and negative Eu anomalies (Eu/Eu* = 0.03–0.77), along with consistent enrichment in LILEs (e.g., Rb, U, K) and depletion in HFSEs (e.g., Nb, Ti) on primitive mantle-normalized spider diagrams, suggesting a common magmatic source or evolutionary path. Cassiterite U–Pb dating yielded consistent lower-intercept ages of 208 ± 11 Ma (MSWD = 0.86) for Li-poor pegmatites and 206 ± 5 Ma (MSWD = 1.7) for Li-rich pegmatites, both indicating Late Triassic mineralization. Combined with regional geology, these data suggest that Li mineralization was likely related to post-collisional extension following the closure of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. This study provides new insights into regional rare metal mineralization in the West Kunlun orogenic belt.