GeOCHemISTea

For this episode we read Rob's paper: Natural attenuation in the vadose zone: Nature's gift to mine closure (Bowell, 2023)

Along the way, we may even learn about the vadose zone and the potential to remediate sites naturally.

At GeOCHemISTea we love it when someone is so passionate about their geochemistry topic that they reach out and request(!!) to be on the show. An honor, Ben!

So what ground did we cover... manifest your own destiny (or was that the US in the 1800s?). Ben has been a geochemist, a geophysicist, and a data scientist; there's lots of nuggets in there for young geos who are looking for the how-to... so how did Ben become a geochemist?

Our topic of interest this month was to talk about methodology selection to solve geochemical, geometallurgical, and dare I say geophysical situations that arise during the course of exploration and mining programs... and dare I say... Ben has a lot of opinions, advice and ideas on the matter!

For this episode we read:

For this episode we read:

Join us as we talk about dimensionality reductions, transformations, and workflows pre- and post- her introduction to the realm of data science. And talk about a really neat paper that used random forest to predict sodium for an alteration study.

For this episode we read a chapter from Sam Cantor's thesis entitled: Exploration Tool: Tracking Cryptic Alteration Surrounding the Iscaycruz Zn (Pb-Cu-Ag) Skarn-CRD Deposit, Central Peru (Cantor, 2020)  

Have you implemented UV lamps into your exploration programs to help try and sort out complex mineralogy and vein paragenesis? Sam Cantor explains his side hustle at the Mineral Deposits Research Unit at the University of British Columbia, where he was able to start to build out workflows to tackle this in a complex skarn and carbonate replacement deposit in Peru.

If this has not yet peaked your interest, perhaps come for the tea where he talks about his role as a green junior geologist in Nicaragua using hyperspectral to overturn high sulfidation epithermal mineral identifications using the field geologist's tried and true method of tasting minerals :)

Honestly... I don't know which is more interesting... the content of the mesothermal gold chat or the tea.

Almost 17 years after the work was originally presented, we dive into Jeff's honors project - a study on gold mineralization at the Callie Deposit, Dead Bullock Soak, NT, Australia. The evolution of the research to present day is fascinating for all the fans who have asked for some orogenic gold love on the show!

A big thanks to Heidi Pass, Michelle Carery, Dave Lawie, Pim van Geffen, Putra Sadikin, Mike Whitbread, Des Pascoe, & Steve Sugden for rolling with this as we tried for our Holiday special to embody the Dickens-esq theme of Geochemistry: Past, Present & Future.

Everyone on the show this month was part of the ioGlobal team, a global applied geochemistry consultancy for the mineral exploration and mining industries, the likes of which has not been seen since the company was bought in the early 2010s.

Part charming family reunion, part educational, and many parts geochemistry. Happy holidays to everyone from GeOCHemISTea <3

We always talk about fluids in geochemistry. How the ore metals are moving and how they are depositing - we think in pressure-temperature-redox space.

However, when we get our geology, structure and geochemistry in 3D... and then we start to rotate a model for the first time... it is the most rewarding moment because we see the fluid pathway and why our metals have deposited.

Nothing, perhaps, in exploration geochemistry is more rewarding then spinning a 3D model. I've paraphrased myself from this interview here, but I hope everyone listening finds a friend in Julia because all geochemistry is 3D and deserves to be seen as we discuss!

For this episode we read:

https://www.seequent.com/technical-tuesday-linking-lithology-and-geochemistry-with-iogas-and-leapfrog-geo-workflows/

https://www.seequent.com/connect-your-exploration-teams-with-the-power-of-a-fast-and-agile-workflow/

https://www.seequent.com/mapping-metal-deposits-in-canada/

https://www.seequent.com/data-is-a-solid-investment-for-junior-exploration-companies-2/

https://www.seequent.com/modelling-large-and-complex-data-in-the-integra-gold-rush-challenge/

There are geochemists and isotope geochemists... this episode we're speaking with the latter and this discussion could not be more interesting! Seriously. I found myself at different points so riveted (by that I mean thinking too hard) that I forgot I was supposed to be asking more questions.

As usual, my favorite part of the episode is Tea Time, but for a different reason. As an undergraduate, Libby asked a question to established researchers that were giving a talk to her university 8000+ of miles from their lab en route to do some fieldwork at the Platreef (Bushveld Complex, South Africa) that became a huge contribution to science and ore deposits research, as well as the focus for her MSc and PhD research. So cool.

For this episode we read:

Critical metals are merely lists built based on geopolitics and supply chain, but are nonetheless essential for advanced technology and particularly the 'green' energy transition.

Our interview spans softball critical metal questions to talking about the dredged material containing sulfate-reducing bacteria that is generating pyrite on the bottom of a canal in the Chesapeake watershed through to more typical acid mine drainage. All the while we retain focus on the recovery of critical metals from unconventional sources to supplement domestic supplies.

Critical metal geochemistry in groundwaters influenced by dredged material (Goodman et al., 2023)

Rare earth element recovery in hard-rock acid mine drainage and mine waste: A case study in Idaho Springs, Colorado (Goodman et al., 2023)

This episode returns to our roots... to our very first episode with Simon where we talked about the geochemistry of Carlin deposits, except this time we're talking about high sulfidation epithermal systems.

We're talking scale, exploration methodologies, geochemistry, and even a light amount of geophysics, all with a stiffly brewed cup of tea.

For this episode we read two papers:

Alturas: A Unique Discovery Within a Mature District Through Integrating Sound Geological Practices, Multidisciplinary Expertise and Leading Technology (Astorga et al., 2017)

Multi-Scale integrated application of Spectral Geology and Remote Sensing for Mineral Exploration (Zhou et al., 2017)