WP4: Innovations in Metal Ore Exploration

Ongoing demand for base metals to satisfy the needs of the world economy requires exploration in more challenging environments. Whereas elemental anomalies in lake and river sediments are widely and successfully used to find new deposits, these tools are only successful with proximal deposits and are rarely scrutinized using the tools of academic research. In this WP, we will develop new tools based on novel stable isotopes to detect metal ores and decipher the processes generating them. This WP will serve as a basis for the isotopic fingerprints of metal pollutants studied extensively in WP3, while the “natural” processes characterized in WP1 will constitute the background against which the processes of ore deposit formation can be detected. A whole new toolbox for detecting and exploring metal ores will be developed from the findings of this WP. WP participants will work closely with ore exploration companies.

WP Leaders

John Ashton, Boliden Tara Mines Ltd.
Balz Kamber, Trinity College Dublin 

Further WP Partners

Teck Ireland Limited.
Çaldağ Nikel Madencilik San. Tic. A.Ş.
University of Southampton
Trinity College Dublin
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
Institut de physique du globe de Paris