GeoERA Raw Materials Monograph : the past and the future

ABSTRACT: GeoERA Minerals projects have produced data aimed at supporting Europe’s minerals sector and to assist the European Commission to realise its goals for raw materials. Data has been compiled on mineral occurrences and mineral provinces across Europe, in particular, areas with potential to host Critical Raw Materials. Anecdotal evidence from the minerals sector provides an indication of the likelihood of exploration leading to mine development. For every 1,000 mineral showings examined, only 100 may receive further exploration work and of those 100, only 10 may warrant more detailed sampling either through trenching, drilling or other means and of those 10 only 1 may proceed to an evaluation through a full feasibility study which itself has only 50% chance of being positive. Following this, any project for which a mine proposal is made must undergo a full evaluation and permitting by authorities including full public consultation. The proposal may or may not pass this scrutiny. In terms of a schedule, the generally accepted minimum time frame from discovery to production is 10 years and usually much more, up to 20 years.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ore mineralogy, geochemistry, and formation of the sediment-hosted sea floor massive sulfide deposits at Escanaba Trough, NE Pacific, with emphasis on the transport and deposition of gold

Abstract Recent sea floor sulfide deposits form when seawater, heated within the oceanic crust, discharges to the sea floor. Upon mixing with cold seawater, sulfide-forming elements such as sulfur, iron, copper, and zinc are precipitated from the fluid. Actively forming sea floor massive sulfide deposits are found from different lithologic and tectonic environments varying from mid-ocean ridges to back-arc spreading centers. At a few localities, sulfide deposits are associated with turbiditic sediments that cover the axial valley of the spreading center. The southern part (Escanaba Trough) of the Gorda Ridge (NE Pacific) is one such example. At Escanaba Trough, massive sulfide deposits are associated with small sediment hills, which were uplifted by the intrusion of sills and laccoliths within the sediments. Hydrothermal deposits are dominated by pyrrhotite-rich massive sulfides, with subordinate amounts of sulfate-rich precipitates and polymetallic sulfides. Compared to deposits hosted by volcanites, Escanaba Trough sulfides contain relatively low amounts of copper and zinc. However, the average gold concentration is relatively high for a sediment-hosted deposit, and is comparable with other, Au-enriched, sea floor sulfide deposits. Despite the relatively high Au concentration in many volcanic-hosted sea floor sulfide deposits, discrete Au grains are rare. They occur mostly with sphalerite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and tetrahedrite-tennantite. Sixteen of the pyrrhotite-rich samples from Escanaba Trough were found to contain visible Au grains. They occur mostly with native Bi and various BiTe phases, and to lesser degree, with Fe-Co sulfarsenides. Transport of Au in sea floor hydrothermal systems is attributed to the presence of Au(HS)2- complex, which is destabilized when the fluid mixes with seawater. Hydrothermal fluids are generally undersaturated with respect to Au complexes and additional mechanisms, such as remobilizing earlier precipitated Au is required to explain the high Au concentrations encountered in many deposits. At Escanaba Trough the mechanism is attributed to early precipitation of Bi as melt droplets, at temperatures greater its melting temperature, as liquid Bi is capable of collecting Au even from an undersaturated fluid. Upon cooling Au is exsolved from the Bi host as native Au or maldonite (Au2Bi)

Provide INSPIRE-compliant harmonised data on deposits and prospects of natural graphite, lithium and cobalt : DELIVERABLE D5.6

ABSTRACT: D.5.6 is the last deliverable of the work package 5 of the FRAME project. The two previous deliverables D5.4 and the D5.5 report the deliverable of the final work package data and products. All these three deliverables are related to products and data where the main results are presented on the web only. D5.6 with the title: Provide INSPIRE-compliant harmonised data on deposits and prospects of natural graphite, lithium and cobalt aims to deliver the data collected by the work package, to the GeoEra consortium and to upload the raw data, as comma separated file (CSV) format, to the European Geological Data Infrastructure (EGDI). The CSV file can then be integrated and downloaded to be used individually or with other data sets and web applications. Data is harmonised according to INSPIRE data specifications as far as it is possible. Since the main product of this deliverable is the release of the raw data and its availability on the net, this deliverable will be very concise.N/

Relevant metallogenetic maps : DELIVERABLE D5.5

ABSTRACT: The deliverable D.5.5 “Relevant metallogenetic maps”, is a technical report for a product where the actual deliverable is a web map and accompanying data. A description of the data collection, interpretation description of the geology, metallogeny and resource potential is done in the deliverable D5.3 and references therein.N/