"Characterisation of hydrothermal sediments at the TAG hydrothermal field (MAR, 26°N) and metal mobilisation in interstitial fluids." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 54–55
"Targeting VHMS mineralisation at Erayinia in the Archaean Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia: geochemical and hyperspectral halos." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 65–66
"Autonomous vehicles for ore prospecting: robots in the air and water." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 91–92
"Exhumation of Andean granites: implications for porphyry copper formation and enrichment." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), p. 52
Mining and exploration have always been changing. The first primitive miners responded to early metal use, and newmines and more sophisticated tools developed over the subsequent 8000 years. The industrial revolution and associated increasing demand led to further development including new bulk mining and underground methods, and dramatic changes in processing. Exploration became increasingly important, particularly in the last 50 years, with explorers going to new places, with new ideas and technology, and many excellent discoveries followed. The modern world continues to change with the rate of change accelerating. Most recently, we have witnessed unprecedented global connectivity and numerous advances in digital technology that have been termed the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’. This revolution is already impacting energy use, transportation, and employment. When combined with new materials and associated applications, there is potential for disruptive changes to metal markets and hence mining and exploration. These developments build on existing trends that already affect mining such as population growth, basic human needs, emerging economies, and heightened expectations for quality of life and a clean environment. Predicting how these factors will play out in the short to long term is challenging. Potential decline in metal demand would clearly reduce exploration expenditure while rapid increases in metal use, or supply constraints, could cause metal-specific exploration booms, as happened with rare earth elements in 2010–2011. Neither support consistent exploration efforts. Although mining and exploration have always adapted to fluctuating demand, successful exploration takes time, well-conceived efforts and appropriate budgets. While a spirit of adventure and field skills have remained consistent ingredients for exploration success, many aspects of modern exploration would be unrecognisable to practitioners operating 35 years ago. New technologies reflect the new digital era but maximising the benefits of these tools, and the vast amount of data they generate, requires care and creativity. Change will continue but predicting the endresult in 35 years is as difficult as it would have been to predict the present 35 years ago.
There appears to be no correlation between concentration and style of barite mineralisation (vein or clast). Trace element analysis by an electron probe microanalyser (EPMA) will be used to determine Ag-phases and mineral textures within the barite, further implicating prospectivity. The mapping campaign identified six major breccia body prospects within the region which contained significant trace metal by-product potential of barite. Dominant argillic-sericitic alteration and minor highsulphidation (HS) phases (Einaudi et al. 2003) e.g. enargite (Alfieris et al. 2013), indicates the submarine system to be of a previously evolving, but dominantly low-sulphidation (LS) epithermal system.
"Partitioning of Cu and Mo between felsic melts and saline magmatic fluids: influence of salinity, ƒO2 and ƒS2." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), p. 99
"An investigation into the relationship of orogenic quartz veins and disseminated mineralisation in the Klondike." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 59–60
"Regional controls on water table depth in the Northern Atacama Desert; implications for supergene enrichment." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 55–56
An unexposed belt of Li–Cs–Ta (LCT) pegmatites of the albite-spodumene sub-type emplaced in the East Carlow Deformation Zone along the margin of the S-type Leinster Granite, SE Ireland, was reveale...
"Contrasting Cu–Au and Sn–W granite metallogeny through the zircon record." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), p. 57
The Canakli deposit, a part of the Aksu Diamas project in western Turkey, owned by AMR Mineral Metal Inc., has an inferred resource of 494 million tonnes at 0.07% TREO (total rare earth oxide) in u...
"Bauxite in Abruzzi (Italy): the Campo Felice and Monte Orsello occurrences." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 86–87
"Climate controlling the formation of Zn-(Pb) supergene nonsulphide ores." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 42–43
components (Carmignani et al. 1977). The average depositional temperature for the second hydrothermal stage, calculated through arsenopyrite geothermometry is around 350°C. The deposit experienced a complex deformation, evidenced by a set of textures developed especially in stibnite, which are clearly associated with the Hercynian tectonics. Intra-crystalline deformation probably occurred when temperature reached 180°C (Carmignani et al. 1977). Brittle deformation is most likely related to the late phases of Hercynian crustal extension.
The bedrock sources of widespread alluvial gold in modern stream sediments in the Southern UplandsLongford-Down Terrane (SUDLT) in Scotland and Ireland are enigmatic (Leake et al. 1996). The geotectonic evolution of the terrane is well constrained and provides an excellent framework for investigating the processes and controls of mineralisation. Data from 11 known bedrock gold anomalies indicate that gold is dominantly refractory with rare native grains <10 μm and is geospatially associated with D1 Caledonoid shear-zones, and commonly hosted by D3 transverse structures of probable Early Devonian age (Leake et al. 1981; Morris et al. 1986). Fluid inclusion data indicate that gold was deposited from a low salinity mesothermal (∼330°C) carbonic fluid of probable mixed magmatic-metamorphic origin consistent with Caledonian orogenic conditions (Naden & Caulfield 1989; Steed & Morris 1997). Auriferous veins exhibit bleached sericite-chlorite alteration haloes and disseminated arsenopyrite. Mineralisation is spatially and temporally associated with Late Caledonian minor intrusions at several localities (Leake et al. 1981). The same relations are seen at the Black Stockarton Moor subvolcanic complex, interpreted as a porphyry Cu deposit (Brown et al. 1979). Caledonian gold in the SUDLT therefore appears compatible with both orogenic and intrusion-related gold (IRG) deposit types and postsubduction porphyry Cu–Au and related epithermal systems (Brown et al. 1979; Charley et al. 1989; Richards 2009). A contribution from magmatic fluid has been indicated for numerous orogenic gold deposits globally e.g. the Birimian of West Africa, the Lachlan Belt, Australia or Val D’Or and Timmins, Canada (Sillitoe & Thompson 1998). With careful consideration of the complex polyphase history of deformation and fluid flow the well-constrained geology of the SUDLT provides opportunities to investigate the relationships between various global models of gold mineralisation.
"The Bongará-Mina Grande (Amazonas, Peru) Zn-nonsulphide deposit." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), p. 40
land 2001). Closer inspection of Spence drill-core has revealed variation within the igneous textures and mineralogy of QFP1, suggesting a more complicated and protracted emplacement history than previously thought (Sillitoe 2011). A greater understanding of the relative timescales of intrusive and hydrothermal systems and their relationship to mineralisation is required in order to resolve conflicting models for PCD formation. Therefore, in an effort to develop a high-resolution magmatic timeline at Spence, we performed chemical abrasion isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry (CAID-TIMS) U-Pb zircon geochronology on samples across the Spence igneous suite (Figure 1). Our results reveal a prolonged history of emplacement for QFP1, which we suggest formed through a series of pulses over several hundred thousand years. Ages from QFP2 (Central South) and FP (South) are contemporaneous, but precede QFP1 (Central North), suggesting that the onset and cessation of magmatism may have migrated from SSW to NNE. Our results reveal that the intrusive units at Spence developed over several hundred thousand years and that magmatism progressed northwards over time. The timing of mineralisation at Spence will need to be precisely constrained in order to relate it to this complex magmatic history and build up a complete picture of PCD evolution in the Spence deposit.
"Hidden treasure: magmatic and geodynamic factors that influenced the development of Ni–Cu–PGE deposits in the northern bushveld complex." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 78–79
"High-Ce REE minerals in the Parnassus-Giona bauxite deposits, Greece." Applied Earth Science, 126(2), pp. 82–83
