Copper Exploration: Impact, Collaboration, Future Generations

A special issue of Geosciences (ISSN 2076-3263).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 June 2022) | Viewed by 3242

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Interests: porphyry copper; indicator minerals; mineral chemistry; geochronology

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
previously of Mineral Deposit Research Unit, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada
Interests: exploration geochemistry; porphyry copper; geomorphology; buried deposits

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Demand for copper is increasing, with its consumption projected to reach up to 60 million tonnes by the middle of the century. Increasing demand, especially in the renewable energy and battery sector, with decreasing active copper mine life, highlights the importance of copper exploration and the future of the exploration industry. Methods and techniques that improve our capability of targeting and vectoring towards large scale deposits are essential, as well as the education and training of those geoscientists who will be the next generation of explorers and mining engineers. Given increasing global interaction along with the push to develop and maintain sustainable resources, it is also important to understand how these factors will affect exploration in the future.

Copper deposits range in type from large tonnage porphyry copper deposits to volcanogenic massive sulphide hosted deposits, with worldwide districts dependent upon the tectonic setting, source and host rock composition, and systematics of the hydrothermal fluids related to mineral deposition. Discovery of new deposits requires integration of techniques, including geophysics, petrophysics, lithochemistry, mineral chemistry and basic understanding of geology setting. Collaboration between specialists in these fields in both academic and industry allows for improved understanding of how features of copper deposits appear proximally and distally allowing for greater chance of exploration success.

This topic collection aims to bring together a detailed assessment of exploration techniques and methods for different copper deposit types. Ideally, these will include case studies of successes and failures to highlight key workflows and applications to improve the interpretation of data collected during exploration programs. Collectively, we hope to show the long-term impact of copper exploration, and its importance, while moving forward towards providing sustainable resources for global consumption.

Additionally, we aim to provide a section for students and junior scientists to present their work as the next generation of exploration and mining geoscientists, showcasing new and innovative techniques from improved equipment to modelling and machine learning techniques for the benefit of the exploration industry.

Dr. Robert G. Lee
Dr. Alexandra Brown
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • copper
  • mineral exploration
  • mining
  • economic geology
  • sustainable resources
  • geophysics
  • geochemistry
  • policy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 8778 KiB  
Article
Interpretation of Trace Element Chemistry of Zircons from Bor and Cukaru Peki: Conventional Approach and Random Forest Classification
by Dina Klimentyeva, Milos Velojic, Albrecht Von Quadt and Shawn Hood
Geosciences 2022, 12(11), 396; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences12110396 - 26 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2465
Abstract
The deposits of Bor and Cukaru Peki are important contributors to the Apuseni–Banat–Timok–Srednogorie (ABTS) belt’s metallogenic endowment. We use decision tree and random forest algorithms applied to zircon geochemistry data from Bor, Cukaru Peki and a selection of other localities within the ABTS. [...] Read more.
The deposits of Bor and Cukaru Peki are important contributors to the Apuseni–Banat–Timok–Srednogorie (ABTS) belt’s metallogenic endowment. We use decision tree and random forest algorithms applied to zircon geochemistry data from Bor, Cukaru Peki and a selection of other localities within the ABTS. The resulting predictions, supported by high scores on the test set predictions for the random forest algorithm, suggest that it is possible to fingerprint the studied deposits and localities from the ABTS belt based on zircon geochemistry. These results take into account the multivariate geochemical patterns and can be used in combination with a widely accepted Eu anomaly indicator or assist in finding more subtle geochemical differences for systems where applying a single cut-off value does not result in a good separation between barren and mineralized rocks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Copper Exploration: Impact, Collaboration, Future Generations)
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