Conference Agenda

“Raw materials, you can’t do well without them”. This statement echoes the needs for a reliable raw materials supply chain. Awareness of raw materials is an essential element for the manufacturing industry, infrastructure, digitalisation, and others has significantly increased in this decade. So did the demand.

The specific physical and chemical properties of the chemical element and the minerals they form make mineral raw materials special. The mineral surface reactivity for example, is an important parameter for pharmaceuticals [1]. COVID-19 refocused attention on the antibacterial behaviour of copper and copper alloys. Examples of its utilisation go from purifying drinking water, chirurgical instruments, meshes utilised by aquafarming to hospital handles [2].

The innovation leaps caused by using raw materials date back to the Chalcolithic Period with mining of copper. Thus, easily accessible targets in Europe are fairly mined out where mining goes back to the Bronze Age at least. Yet, Europe’s (historical) mining waste are still a very valuable source for several raw materials required for modern technologies and the Digital Era. Mapping and utilisation of covered deposits, deposits at greater depths or on the seabed, and complex polymetallic deposits will become the norm in Europe and elsewhere. Yet, those targets are very challenging and expensive to explore. High quality mineral analytics, cutting-edge technological developments and mineral-potential maps combined with other spatial data, social and environmental aspects are important science based information for decision makers and for allocating investments effectively.

The relevance of such smart big data combinations rely on data comparability. Geological Survey Organisations in Europe and beyond are working on this comparability throughout four GeoERA Raw Materials projects - EuroLITHOS, FRAME; MINDeSEA, MINTELL4EU. The projects build on and continue the work of national and EU-funded projects (e.g. ProMine, Minerals4EU, EURare, SCRREEN, ORAMA, EMODnet-Geology). These previously compiled data are underpinned with new information requirements and encompass extension of INSPIRE Mineral Resources data model, addition of codelists and project vocabularies. UNFC pilot examples utilise guidelines prepared by ORAMA and add to the comparability check. Together it ensures harmonised and interoperable raw materials data to be delivered to the European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI). This first compilation of Europe-wide comparable data on mineral deposits on land and in the seabed are part of the common understanding of critical and strategic mineral resources in Europe and their metallogeny the GeoERA Raw Materials projects provide.

GeoERA has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 731166.

References:

[1] Carretero, M. I. & Pozo, M. (2009). Applied Clay Science 46, 73-80.

[2] Warnes, S. L. & Keevil, C. W. (2016). Applied and Environmental Microbiology 82, 2132-2136.

The EU’s Green Deal policy recognises that Europe needs a new growth strategy that transforms the Union into a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where 1- there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050 and 2-economic growth is coupled to efficient use of resources.

To meet the future energy demand through zero emission renewables, the power sector faces a massive deployment of wind and PV technologies. The result will be a drastic increase in the consumption of raw materials (RM) necessary to manufacture wind turbines and photovoltaic panels.

On the eve of the EU’s “Green Deal”, one of GeoERA’s RM projects, FRAME, is clearly aware of this need for increased mineral RM demand and was structured to carry out much needed research into strategic and critical mineral RM (SRM and CRM).

FRAME is completing and updating existing minerals data sets (ex. Minerals4EU available through EGDI - EuroGeoSurveys' European Geological Data Infrastructure). The latest GIS techniques are employed allowing prediction of new mineral RM sources for promising development, including economic geology updates on battery and conflict minerals. Phosphate deposits are critically being looked at for their CRM content and detailed research also focuses on the Energy Critical Elements (Li, Co, C). In light of modern analytical techniques, old mining sites are potentially a new source of mineral RM. Additionally, FRAME anticipates the Commission’s responsible sourcing policy to be enforced in 2021 to stem the trade in conflict minerals and is researching possible EU sources of the so-called “conflict minerals”.

Critical raw materials (CRM) made it back on the EU Commission’s (EC) agenda in 2008. To date three CRM lists have been published (2011, 2014, 2017) and a new list advised for 2020. Invited experts also from National Geological Surveys added their expertise to determine the lists underpinned by projects (e.g. ERECON, EURare) and financial efforts. EU’s Green Deal affirms this manifest of the importance that these materials have in our daily lives.

Implementation of future-oriented technologies (e.g. zero emission renewables) will increase drastic the consumption of CRM necessary to manufacture those. At the same time recycling will not meet the demand due thermodynamics and the share of CRM in the raw material value chain and. New sources of the resources will come from land-based but also from seabed deposits.

Two projects running under the EU’s GeoERA’s Raw Materials theme, FRAME (Forecasting and Assessing Europe’s Strategic Raw Materials Needs) and MINDeSEA (Seabed Mineral Deposits in European Seas: Metallogeny and Geological Potential for Strategic and Critical Raw Materials) are using innovative techniques to research the next possible sources of CRM. Compilation maps are providing a first vision of the onshore and offshore metallogeny in the pan-European context. The reports and maps include a wide range of submarine and on-land mineral deposit types, source of cobalt, lithium, graphite, phosphorous, niobium and tantalum.

EU deposits will create sustainable supply of raw materials, reduce CO₂ emissions due to reduced transport distances of source to factory and contribute for the EU Green Deal objectives.

The growing need for energy storage for e-mobility and other battery-intense applications has created a large interest in the key battery commodity lithium (Li). A recent hard rock lithium exploration and evaluation project is being conducted at Georgia Lake in Ontario, Canada. The Georgia Lake pegmatites contain Li- and rare metals-bearing spodumene in the area. In addition, previous work also identified beryl, columbite, molybdenite, amblygonite, apatite, and bityite, enhancing the Li and rare metals potential of the area.

The recent investigation focuses on the area where several spodumene-bearing pegmatites occur at the surface. Their length at the surface is between 50 m and 1.8 km along strike and 1-10 m width. More than 200 boreholes were drilled with a spacing below 50 m. The drill holes hit the pegmatites in a maximum depth of 350 m below surface, but continuation towards depth is expected. The varying Li₂O content of the retrieved core samples reaches up to 2.7%.

The majority of the pegmatites are hosted by metasediments or biotite-rich granite. The internal zonation of the pegmatite dykes is in general characterized by a granitic or aplitic border zone with a spodumene, albite and quartz central zone. In some cases aplite layers and quartz tourmaline veins occur.

Mineralisation consists of coarse-grained fresh pale green spodumene crystals oriented perpendicular to the strike of the dyke. In some areas, the length of these crystals reaches up to 1 m and a thickness of up to 12 cm.

Five main pegmatite bodies have been newly modelled and a resource assessment made. The NI43-101 compliant technical report shows a measured resource of 1.89 million tons (Mt) @1.04% Li₂O, an indicated resource of 4.68 Mt @1.00% Li₂O, and an inferred resource of 6.72 Mt @1.16% Li₂O. To extract these resources, the initial mine planning foresees open pit excavation of the top parts combined with underground sublevel stoping with backfilling of the deeper deposit.

Based on considerations such as economic importance and potential challenges to supply security some mineral raw materials are considered “critical”. One prominent example is tungsten, for which supply is strongly dependent on mining in China.

One notable exception, representing primary EU-domestic tungsten supply, is the Felbertal scheelite deposit in Austria. Recent investigations regarding ore formation indicate a magmatic-hydrothermal origin of a vein-stockwork scheelite mineralization during the Variscan orogeny, which subsequently experienced significant metamorphic overprint and associated remobilization. Trace element data of scheelite (LA-ICP-MS) demonstrate that primary and metamorphic scheelite have different signatures.

Following the discovery of the Felbertal deposit in 1967 substantial greenfield exploration during the 1980s defined many scheelite occurrences in Austria. Different geological settings are known, including strata-bound scheelite mineralization in meta-carbonate and calc-silicate rocks, orogenic Au-W veins, scheelite-bearing metamorphic veins etc.

The WAlps project aims to develop assessment criteria for the evaluation of regional tungsten potentials in Austria. This includes field-based investigation of tungsten-bearing geological units in order to evaluate their origin in the context of the current geological-tectonic concept for the Eastern Alps. This will be integrated in a metallogenetic model of Alpine W mineralization. Importantly, we will define the scheelite trace element characteristics from different deposit types to calibrate an exploration tool that can be applied to samples lacking geological context (i.e. stream sediments). In conjunction, we aim to provide a consistent set of geological and geochemical data in order to define areas of high prospectivity for W mineralization in the Easter Alps.

The Mirdita ophiolite in Albania is part of an ophiolite belt occurring between the Apulian and Pelagonian subcontinents in the Balkan Peninsula. Within the Eastern Mirdita Ophiolite major chromite deposits are currently under production. Chromite is an important mineral for the supply of chromium that is a crucial component for steelmaking (ferrochromite market). The German market is almost entirely dependent on external suppliers. The main chromite production worldwide occurs as stratiform deposits associated with layered ultramafic-mafic intrusions as well as podiform chromite deposits within ophiolites. Chromite deposits in Bulqiza, Batra, Thekna, Katjil and Xisellas are studied here for a mineralogical characterization. Various different chromite ore-textures range from massive, nodular and disseminated mineralization. The Cr# (Cr/Cr+Al) and Mg# (Mg/Mg+Fe) of chromite are useful ratios to study the crystallization history as well as post-magmatic processes affecting the chromite chemistry. The mineral chemistry of these studied chromite deposits analyzed by electron microprobe indicates that pristine chromite cores exhibit a narrow range in Cr# (80 – 85) and are more widespread in Mg# (60 – 80). Ferrian chromite rims show the same variation in Mg#, but reaches higher numbers of Cr# (> 85). Serpentinization is typically observed within all investigated chromite deposits. The degree of serpentinization increases from harzburgitic host – dunite envelope – nodular chromitite – disseminated chromitite to massive chromitite. Serpentine mesh cell pseudomorphs after olivine and pyroxene are frequently observed. The mesh cell rims are composed of lizardite, whereas mesh cores are either relict olivine or distinct serpentine. Different generations of serpentinization and postmagmatic processes are generally present. A two-stage process of serpentinization in sub greenschist facies conditions is proposed. The first stage of serpentinization is the hydration of magmatic silicates to form pseudomorphs. Fe³⁺ and Mn enter the fluid phase and lead to the formation of a ferrian chromite rim around pristine chromite cores (2. stage of serpentinization). Further cooling and introduction of more fluid cause serpentine recrystallization and replacement with fibrous chrysotile veins. At a last stage, calcite introduced and developed veinlets and replacement of serpentine.

BGR – Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (2020): Bericht zur Rohstoffsituation in Deutschland 2018 ,148 S.; Hannover. – URL: https://www.bgr.bund.de /ISBN: 978-3-943566-55-0 (print), 978-3-943566-56-7 (PDF)

In the quest for new resources for battery metals, the demand for cobalt has increased. This study aims to investigate the trace elements concentrations of base metal sulfides from the Dolostone Ore Formation (DOF) deposit, a sediment-hosted copper-cobalt deposit located in the Kunene Region, northwestern Namibia. Although there is plenty of literature on base metal sulfide trace element geochemistry by LA-ICP-MS (e.g. Frenzel et al., 2016; George et al., 2018; Duran et al., 2019), there is little to no published data on in situ trace elements from sediment-hosted copper deposits such as the Central African Copperbelt, Kupferschiefer and the DOF.

The results briefly presented here is LA-ICP-MS data (NWR ESI 213 nm laser, Agilent 8800 MS) from a typical association of more coarse-grained sphalerite—chalcopyrite—iron-sulfide ± cobalt-sulfide phases from the high-grade ore horizon. Three samples were analyzed from two different boreholes. Samples from one borehole contains sphalerite—chalcopyrite—pyrite—linnaeite, whilst sphalerite-pyrrhotite dominate in the sample from the second borehole. All of the analyzed sulfides contain notably high median cobalt concentrations: Sph 0.88 %; Ccp 53 ppm; Py 1.3 % and Po 0.46 %. In contrast, Ni concentrations are elevated only in pyrite (331 ppm) and pyrrhotite (198 ppm). The concentrations of critical elements (e.g. Ga, Ge, Cd & In) as well as of As are generally low in the analyzed sulfides. Indium in sphalerite does show two populations, one from each borehole, where one populations contains 50 ppm whilst the other contains 8 ppm (all presented values are medians).

The societal development towards climate neutrality and the ambition for economic growth and well-being in Europe rely on mineral raw materials. Mineral occurrences can be seen as manifestations of specific geological processes that happened in the subsurface, or geomanifestations. Locating and better understanding mineral occurrences and deposits in Europe is crucial for future informed decision making on local resourcing.
The GeoConnect³d project is developing a multi-scale structural framework in which geological maps and 3D models can be inserted and related to. In our novel approach, the structural framework reorganises geological information in terms of geological limits and geological units. Limits are defined as broadly planar structures that separate a given geological unit from its neighbouring units, e.g. faults (limits) that define a graben (unit), or an unconformity (limit) that defines a basin (unit). Geomanifestation data are then added to the structural framework model aiming to show where and how processes and structures may be linked.
This approach was tested in Belgium, where a structural framework was created at different scales, from most detail at 1:250,000 to more generalised at 1:2,000,000. Mineral occurrence data from the Minerals4EU database were used to test the model. As an example, a spatial link between Pb-Zn deposits and structural framework elements is identifiable in the Herve-Vesdre and Landenne areas. Although the deposits are located within the Variscan orogenic front, deposition is post-Variscan and spatially associated with transverse NNW-SSE faults part of the Rhine graben network (Dejonghe, 1998). With a combination of database attributes and SKOS vocabulary, the information of deposition age and time of activity of faults displayed in the structural framework helps to quickly place these deposits in the context of the Lower Rhine embayment. Therefore, the structural framework can translate highly technical scientific knowledge by using an interactive tool that presents information in a more understandable way.
We consider the outcomes of this test promising to fulfil one of the main goals of GeoConnect³d: preparing and disclosing geological information in a way it is more useful for stakeholders. We also consider this as the way forward towards pan-European integration and harmonisation of geological information, where the ultimate challenge is to correlate or otherwise link information from different geological domains and of different scales. This will be beneficial for the identification and better geological understanding of European mineral resources.
This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 731166.
Reference: Dejonghe, L., 1998. Zinc-lead deposits in Belgium. Ore Geology Reviews 12, 329-354