Exploration and mining are human endeavors, relying on teams who work in the field and offices globally. The human factor in our work is also critical to establishing strong and meaningful relationships with local communities. So should those teams of professionals include social scientists, and what is the role of the exploration geologist? The answers are complicated, but this episode is packed with information. We talk to Monica Ospina (O-Trade) and to Susan Joyce (On Common Ground) to learn more about what impact exploration has on communities and where we can improve. We also explore what influences our practices, is it regulatory frameworks, investors, or the companies themselves?

Next we check in on a community engagement process – an open house held by Geoscience BC in a small town in British Columbia, Canada. The purpose of the meeting was to share the results and implications of a regional geophysical survey with people working and living on the north end of Vancouver Island. We went to the open house to see the process in action and hear from Richard Truman about why community engagement is important for a publicly funded research oriented organization.

Lastly, community is important for sharing science as well, so when as economic geologists we lost our ability to gather at conferences and seminars due to the pandemic, two early career scientists, Alannah Brett and Tom Belgrano, took action. A tweet and an email later, the Ore Deposits Hub – an online platform for seminars - was founded. Three months later they have established a diverse and inclusive community to share knowledge of ore deposits.

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When it comes to gold, we’ve got a number of tools and methods available to help find ore deposits. But what techniques should we be using – and more importantly – how should we be using them?

Some of them are right on our desktops – from machine learning and artificial intelligence, to codifying geological knowledge. But these tools are only as powerful as the context they’re used in. Shawn Hood (GoldSpot Discoveries) shares best practices for applying computer science technology to geoscience, to make the best use of exploration data.

The other side of gold discovery is not the tools on our desktop – but the methods we have available in the field. And when it comes to the future of gold exploration, it may well be undercover. Does water hold the answers? Join Amanda Stolze (ALS Geochemistry) and James Buskard (Nevada Exploration) for a discussion on hydrogeochemistry, and how and why it should be used in gold exploration.

Our episode wraps up with a 5-minute interlude from Matt Leybourne (Associate Professor in Geochemistry, Queen's University). He shares common pitfalls and best practices for setting up a hydrogeochemistry program.

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The world class gold deposits in Superior Province in the Canadian Precambrian Shield are being studied with in a broad and comprehensive research program called ‘Metal Earth’ at Laurentian University. In this episode we delve into their multidisciplinary and system-scale approach to learn some of the insights coming from this innovative program.  

To set up the framework we talked to Richard Goldfarb, world-renowned orogenic gold expert, who introduces the orogenic gold model and the importance of understanding this model to assist in future exploration efforts for deposits under cover. 

We explored the research and ideas being generated by Metal Earth with several post-doctoral researchers and Ph.D. students. They discuss the fundamentals of gold endowment and why some regions of the Superior may be more prospective than others. 

Kate Rubingh takes us into the well-endowed Larder Lake area in the Abitibi subprovince and Ben Frieman compares the Abitibi and Wabigoon subprovinces and speculates on gold endowment in the Wabigoon. David Mole discusses his post-doctoral research on craton-scale isotopic mapping and what insights can be gained regarding the location of world-class mineral deposits. 

We then move from the subprovince scale down to the microanalytical scale and discuss trace element mapping and gold fingerprinting in the Swayze greenstone belt with Ph.D. candidate Evan Hastie.  

All of these researchers discuss where they see exploration in the Superior in 20 years and the potential for new world-class gold discoveries coming out of the research being conducted by the Metal Earth.

Learn more about the Metal Earth program
merc.laurentian.ca/research/metal-earth

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There are many different aspects of 'critical resourcing' that mining and geology play a part in.

For example, as we look to de-carbonize our economies, renewable energy will become even more important. Dr. Mark Coughlan (Post Doctoral Researcher, Irish Centre for Research in Applied Geosciences) talks about his time at sea – working on research cruises to map the subsea floor for offshore wind farms in Ireland, and the mineral resources needed to build them.

But what about storing that offshore wind energy? That’s where batteries come in. Lucy Crane (Exploration Geologist, Cornish Lithium) takes us through the importance of lithium, new technologies available in that area, and what it means to give back to your local communities.

Lastly, perhaps the most important part of resourcing is being able to staff our future geoscience industry. Nicole Tardif (Laurentian University) talks us through challenges with current demands for geoscientists, and how we can provide our students with the best education going forwards.

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Join us for system-scale thinking in geoscience and a view of a more sustainable world from magmatic -sulfide sources of PGEs and Ni to innovative mineral processing work and technology metals.

Steve Barnes (CSIRO) has spent a career working on magmatic sulfide deposits, leading him to some big thinking over multiple length and time scales. He talks about how his ideas were formed by key individuals and circumstances and where the multi-scale system thinking might lead us in studying other geological processes. We also talk to Steve about the supply of PGEs and what might affect the market in the future, from the impact of lower grade deposits to co-production of other base metals.

Our second story centers on the one hundred-year old process used to extract metals from sulfides – froth flotation. Kathryn Hadler (Imperial College London) introduces the key concepts and then poses some important questions about what the next steps are in mineral processing. How can we address the issues of what mineral processing needs to look like in 30 or 40 years, and not just the immediate challenges?

Thinking about the future leads to a wide ranging discussion with Frances Wall (Professor, Cambourne School of Mines) from the definition of critical metals to the more descriptive technology metals, sourcing REEs from carbonatites, life cycle assessment and how it all can come together in the circular economy, if geoscientists are involved.

Steve Barnes lecture
oredepositshub.com

Technology Metals for a Green Future
www.futurelearn.com

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There’s one concept everyone in the geosciences can’t stop talking about – data. Whether we’re collecting it, analyzing it, or cleaning it, the work never seems to end.

As we face challenges like deposits becoming deeper and harder to find, how do we make sure we’re leveraging data in the right ways, to support us now and in the future?

The first part is using the right data management practices when we’re collecting data – whether historical or new. Joanne Wood shares how KoBold Metals is approaching data intensive approaches to exploration, and her best practices in data management.

Of course, we also need tools to manipulate and analyze this data once collected. Lindsey Heagy (Ph.D., UC Berkeley) talks about open source software development, and how it contributes to innovation and reproducibility in the geosciences.

And once our data has been manipulated, perhaps we need to pass it onto another team to use. Usually, this is a long and frustrating process involving scripts and error checking. But the Global Mining Guidelines Group has introduced an open standard to combat this – the Open Mining Format (OMF). Franklin Koch (Integration Lead, Seequent) shares why interoperability matters, and his experience writing the first iteration of OMF.

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The discovery of Olympic Dam in Australia captured the imaginations of exploration geologists around the world – over 40 years later we are just beginning to appreciate the nature and extent of what a ‘game changer’ Olympic Dam was for the mining industry. In this episode we talk to one of the most knowledgeable geoscientists about the deposit, Kathy Ehrig (BHP) about its discovery, mineralogy, structural control and massive size. That is all captivating in itself, but the discovery also prompted recognition of an entirely new class of ore deposits, Iron-Oxide-Copper-Gold, or IOCG and research around the world into the processes which may be at work to produce these enigmatic deposits. Tim Baker (Eldorado Gold), with extensive experience in IOCG deposit research, takes us through the various models.

The sheer complexity of Olympic Dam also created significant metallurgical problems. Kathy Ehrig led the team that developed new approaches and data analysis to identify the problems, effectively doing ‘geometallurgy’ before the term was widely applied, and setting standards for others to follow. Betsy Friedlander (Teck Resources), an exploration geologist now working on geometallurgy at the Trail Facility in British Columbia, sheds light on the how important the whole area of geometallurgy has become and why we should be thinking about it from the earliest stages of exploration.

So you might have guessed already, but where does this lead us back to? Big data, and Kathy comes full circle in this episode, helping to place the role of big data into the whole complex picture of a giant among ore deposits.

The Ore Deposits Hub is sponsored by SEG-SGA-IAGOD
oredepositshub.com

For more insights and stories with Kathy Ehrig, listen to Exploration Radio episode #34 sponsored by SEG
explorationradio.com

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This episode in the Seequent partnered series discusses how we’re leveraging different technologies for use in geology – and it seems the sky’s the limit. Join us as we talk about using VR, AR, and mixed reality to make better use of our data, how we can implement artificial intelligence to hit the next big deposit, and if we should be afraid of robots taking our jobs.

Featured on this episode are Dr. Cassady Harraden (Corescan), Samuel Cantor (Minerva Intelligence), and Charles Lavigne (LlamaZOO).

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The major metals in sedimentary mineral deposits include Pb, Zn, Ag, Cu, Co, and U. This episode in the Seequent partnered series dives deep into the geoscience needed to understand the formation of these important ore deposits hosted in sedimentary basins. We hear about the African Copper Belt, the Athabasca Basin and the great lead-zinc basins in Australia and Canada. You will hear discovery stories and about cutting-edge research framed by the careers of the people involved.

We kick off with Neil Fernandes and Brian Mahoney who cover 'the big picture'. Murray Hitzman takes us through the formation of sedimentary mineral deposits and Dave Broughton tells the story of the discovery of Kamoa in the African Copper Belt. Then we shift continents to hear how models for the uranium deposits in the Athabascan Basin in Canada changed over time and what key features guide exploration and discovery. Lastly, we hear from Sarah Gleeson who collaborates with industry in her research to work out the processes involved in forming ore deposits in sedimentary basins.

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Welcome to the very first episode of the SEG–Seequent partnered podcast, Discovery to Recovery. We are excited to kick off with an in-depth overview of the SEG 2020 Vision Conference in September, celebrating a century of discovery. Details at www.seg2020.org.

Listen in to hear why you should participate, what the comprehensive program covers and who the many people are that will be presenting.

We talk to Jean Cline, President of SEG, the Early Career Professionals Committee, and several key theme leaders for sessions at the conference. The conversations range from the impact of Lindgren on economic geology, to what a game changer is in our industry, understanding the scale and importance of sedimentary basins, exploring the numerous roles that structure plays in ore deposits and the breadth and depth of gold deposit geoscience. There is something for every economic geologist in this episode!

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