Preparation of the mission before leaving

This part should be considered like a list of the operations that are to be carried out, of the necessary documents and materials for the carrying out of a geological mission on the land that have a equatorial or tropical desert like climate. Naturally it should be adapted to each specific case and the economic possibilities that the project will bring about. 

Technical documentation phase
It is divided into the following parts:

• an engineer that has been recently hired by any organism or company will need to be informed of the organization of the office, its history, its objectives and above all its resources. For this it necessary to have a detailed visit of the installations, as well as conversations with the people that are responsible for the different support areas such as the physical chemical analysis laboratories, petrographics, geochemicals, graphic art etc. It is extremely important to talk with the person that receives the samples to judge which would be the best possible conditions for the sending, to avoid accidents, mixing, loss and any fact that could make the preparation of the sampling difficult and the coherence of the results.
• Take into consideration the objectives of the mission, of the resources that are at disposal, as well as the specific jobs of each one of the constituents within the group. At the same time it will be necessary to take consciousness particularly if the work is being done in another country or unknown region, of the geographical conditions, climatic, political, ethnological and human. This data needs to be studied by all the components of the mission in order to face any problem that could arise be it with authorities, with the local population, both in the human aspect as well as in political aspect.
• Bibliographical information is necessary in order to obtain the most out of the information of the area of interest for the project by studying: geological maps, geological relations about the type of deposit that is being searched, previous jobs that should come along with the geological maps or most recent data, contacts with other geologists that have already worked in the area or in a similar context etc.
• Cartographic information about the working area is necessary. A number of copies will need to be made for all the components of the mission and for the foreseen duration of the project. Eventually some areas will need to be further developed. If it is possible union of maps will need to be prepared as well as the mesh for the geochemical sampling. 
• Air photos and its analysis will also be necessary. Land stereoscopes will be needed and two sets of photos of the investigation area. If it is possible, talk with the experts in photogeology of the rich points and the prioritized areas as well as with some lithologic contacts that can be defined with priority.