Application of Hydrogeochemistry in Mineral Exploration: A Systematic Review of Global Practices, Emerging Trends, and Future Directions

Abstract

Hydrogeochemistry is a practical and low-impact tool for mineral exploration that relies primarily on groundwater as sampling media. It is particularly valuable for blind or deeply buried deposits where surface geochemical methods are ineffective, as groundwater acts as a natural integrator of geochemical signals from depth. This study presents a PRISMA 2020-compliant systematic review of hydrogeochemical exploration practices published between 1946 and 2025, synthesizing 118 empirically screened case studies from diverse geological and climatic settings. The review evaluates the geochemical processes governing aqueous dispersion halos, including sulphide oxidation, water–rock interaction, redox controls, and physicochemical speciation, and assesses how these processes influence pathfinder behaviour and anomaly expression. Quantitative synthesis highlights consistent patterns in hydrogeochemical footprints across major mineral systems and demonstrates the effectiveness of thermodynamically informed and multivariate interpretation strategies over simple concentration-based approaches. Emerging trends identified include the growing application of non-traditional stable isotope fractionation, nanoparticle geochemistry using single-particle ICP-MS, and integration of hydrogeochemical datasets with GIS, geophysics, and machine learning-based prospectivity modelling. Unlike recent narrative reviews, this study provides a fully reproducible, structured evaluation of the global evidence base and formalizes a standardized end-to-end workflow.