GSQ UQ deliver impressive international geoscience webinar

On the 26th May the Geological Survey of Queensland (GSQ) and University of Queensland (UQ) held a 3.5-hour webinar on “Global Friends in Geoscience”. Helen Degeling undertook an active moderator’s role.

Rose Turnbull of New Zealand stated out by saying NZ hade few mines of gold, silver and iron sands, with most mines for aggregate. Desk top studies of old mines, regional geology, geochemistry and geophysics, along with fuzzy logic models, have identified some potential exploration regions for critical minerals of REE in mineral sands, Lithium in clays and tungsten by products of sand mining. NZ legislation needs updating to allow the potential extraction of minerals from geothermal operations, and therein start research into this area. Need to know what NZ has to offer, in order to attract investment in the mineral sector.

Taro Kamiya of Japan emphasized metal solutions associated with drainage from up to 6,000 old mines. An innovative research approach of using waste rice husks & water as a source of acid in a heap leach environment. Issues to overcome include cold weather and slow leach times, confined space. Further research work is being carried out on cobalt recovery from some Queensland mine waste sites. This research looks at magnetic separation to develop a pyrite rich concentration, followed by flotation, however the fine size of minerals presents problems.

Prima Hilman of Indonesia outlined the Indonesian geological agencies role in collating geological data, running open source software, conducting site exploration to drive the determination of exploration targets for the Minister to consider letting out to the public. Despite significant budget restraints, the Geological Agency is able to run a world class mineral potential program. Some data is freely available on regularly updated “One Map” digital on line system, that includes overlays of forestry classification, regional geology, mineral occurrences, geochemistry, geophysics, tenement boundaries etc. the Geological Agency has search tools to identify previously unrecognized commodity potential sites, such lithium.

Lesley Wyborn of the USA outlined the “OneGeochemistry” initiative to revive the international data base on geochemistry. To date USA, Canada and Australia have a number of similarities about laboratory methods, standards and assay suites. Sources of public data are fragmented (state by state, country by country etc). One significant difficulty is agreeing on how such a system is paid for. The system is looking to readily draw upon data held in each state area and supports machine searchable systems. The proposed data base follows the Findable Accessible, Interoperable Reusable [ FAIR] principals.

Simon P. Michaux of Finland delivered a mind-blowing outline of his research into the future global energy under scenarios of no fossil fuels. Solar, wind and nuclear are not enough to meet global demands as of 2018 needs, let alone for conservative global growth. This data driven research also looks at minerals required to support a fossil free future with the conclusion there are simply not enough such minerals, or biomass, and the speed to bring such metals to market is too slow to meet the present political goals. Apparently, many governments and global agencies are taking more notice of his research, and he is enthusiastic to come to Brisbane later in 2022 (Sep/Oct) to deliver a number of lectures.

Kari Aslaksen Aasly of Norway outlined their version of the Mines Departments role in collecting data, drilling, reviewing mine operations and developing models to identify further resource potential. Kari gave an excellent geological outline of Norway’s mines/ potential for graphite,  NI-Fe-Cu-Zn, Ti-V, Co, REE, Ni. The European Union (EU) list of critical minerals keeps changing and growing each year. Norway is open for private exploration / mining, though permit process is very slow and tedious. Noted that most of Europe has not been geologically surveyed below about 100m.

Roger Hamberg of Sweden outlined the Geological surveys long standing program of monitoring the metal content of waste water run off from old mines. A key take away is that early waste treatment can save 20+ years and millions of euros for state monitoring and research. Some geophysical work has recently started to begin evaluating old tailings dams for critical mineral potential.

Garth Graham of USA introduced the joint Canada, Australia, USA national collaboration program to synchronize their critical mineral data and future work programs. This work included synchronizing deposit types, geochemical data base, geological nomenclature, and develop modelling teams. Some public data bases have little company data. A knowledge driven approach is undertaken to drive the ultimate goal of determining in ground resources for present, and what may be expected in the medium / long term.