Exploration, Geometallurgy and Geoenvironmental Assessment of Economic Deposits
A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Deposits".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2025) | Viewed by 970
Special Issue Editors
Interests: mineral deposit systems and exploration; total/ore deposit knowledge, geometallurgical and geoenvironmental characterisation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: geometallurgical and geoenvironmental characterisation; tailings characterisation and reprocessing; acid mine drainage; mine waste characterisation and repurposing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The growing demand for base, precious and critical metals requires new approaches for the discovery, extraction, processing and geoenvironmental management of new economic deposits. Such resources may be located under cover or at greater depths and require novel or advanced exploration methods for discovery. Secondary resources of these metals may also occur in existing or historical mine waste/tailings or low-grade stockpiles/dump materials and represents a significant exploration target. Definition of economic mineral resources requires the integration of multiple techniques including new and emerging characterisation technologies which present the opportunity to collect multi-scale data, relevant across the whole mining value-chain, at early exploration stages. However, following discovery, both future and current mines face a range of engineering and processing challenges including increased depth of mine development, lower ore grades and increased mineralogical complexity, particularly for critical metals. Geometallurgy aims to fully integrate multi-scale/multi-dimensional geological information with rigorous metallurgical test work and lower-cost proxy tests to develop robust 3D/4D block models for a range of predicted variables including hardness, recovery, throughput, energy consumption and detrimental mineral distribution (e.g., talc/muscovite). Characterisation of non-grade zones using the same geometallurgical tools facilitates the development of geoenvironmental block models which map acid forming, acid consuming and metal leaching risk domains leading to enhanced waste segregation and potential reuse opportunities. In summary, a Total Deposit Knowledge (TDK) approach spans discovery, resource development, mine planning, extraction/processing and waste management/treatment and is underpinned by detailed understanding of mineralogical, chemical and textural variability across a mineral system at different scales.
This Special Issue encourages submissions relating to all aspects of exploration (geochemistry, geophysics), geometallurgy and mineral processing, geoenvironmental characterisation and waste repurposing with the aim of providing significant contributions to the sustainable development of future mineral and metal resources globally.
Dr. Nathan Fox
Dr. Anita Parbhakar-Fox
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- exploration geochemistry
- geophysics
- mineral characterization
- geometallurgy
- ore sorting
- mineral processing
- geoenvironmental characterization
- acid mine drainage
- tailings
- reprocessing
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
