Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/R007268/1
An integrated accessory mineral approach to porphyry copper formation in the western Luzon Arc
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Dr AJ Miles, University of Leicester, Sch of Geog, Geol & the Environment
- Grant held at:
- University of Leicester, Sch of Geog, Geol & the Environment
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Earth Resources
- Mineral deposits
- Subduction zones
- Magma chambers
- Ore deposits & mineralisation
- Ore deposits & mineralisation
- Volcanic Processes
- Abstract:
- Economic growth, infrastructure development and ever increasing living standards are dependent on a sustainable and reliable supply of metals such as copper. This dependence has led to significant improvements in our ability to recycle metals and increase the efficiency of metal extraction, but new deposits must still be sought. The problem facing society is that most (if not all) large and easily accessible metal deposits have already been discovered. New deposits are increasingly difficult to find and are often located beneath deep water, dense vegetation or a thick cover of barren rock. They may also be in remote and underexplored areas. In addition to these logistical challenges, future exploration must also seek to reduce energy and water consumption and risk to industry in order to keep raw material costs down and environmental impact to a minimum. Porphyry deposits are currently the main source of copper, accounting for up to 60% of world production and 99% of molybdenum production. Their formation is linked to the subduction of tectonic plates and they frequently form at the base of volcanoes and above large magma bodies. However, not all magmas formed in subduction settings become mineralised. Understanding why only some magmas become mineralised is crucial to recognising and predicting where future exploration should be targeted. Mineralised, or fertile, systems reflect the successful passage of magmas through a number of key steps and processes, which may include volatile saturation, fluid extraction and injection of volatile-rich mafic magmas into existing magma bodies. Identifying whether all the necessary steps for ore formation have occurred is key to determining prospectivity in new areas. Porphyry magmas contain a number of robust accessory minerals such as zircon, apatite and/or titanite. These minerals are chemically zoned and preserve a reliable and time-sequential record of important magmatic and mineralisation processes. This project seeks to integrate high precision, in situ measurements of certain trace element and isotope suites in different accessory minerals to identify key processes in the formation of subduction-related mineralised and barren systems. With our Case Partner, Carl Zeiss, we will: 1) Develop a new, rapid and automated approach to prospectivity analysis using accessory minerals in exploration. The use of Zeiss' Mineralogic Mining system will provide high quality, non-biased and quantitative data on accessory minerals and will enable swift characterisation of samples with a higher degree of confidence in the representivity of the data; 2) develop sustainable mineral exploration tools for the screening of volcanic units for metallogenic potential and 3) help predict the location and extent of buried mineralised systems from drillhole samples. The project will focus on the western Luzon subduction system in the Philippines. The area is host to numerous mineralised and barren volcanic centres, including Santo Tomas II, a large copper-gold-Platinum Group Element deposit; Pinatubo volcano, with several porphyry copper deposits and geothermal systems, and the Taal volcano with no known mineralisation. New samples will be collected and supplemented by existing samples housed at the University of Leicester and by co-supervisors at Cardiff University and the Natural History Museum, London.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/R007268/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £89,114
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|
| £17,480 | £60,637 | £11,000 |
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