EXplORE activities calendar

Sweden is the most important producer of Zn and Pb and the second largest producer of Ag in the EU28. These metals are mainly produced from metamorphosed and deformed Palaeoproterozoic massive sulphide deposits in Skellefte and Bergslagen mining districts. This short course provides and overview of the tectonic setting of these deposits including their regional structural and stratigraphic context, key deposit characteristics and exploration history. A strong overprint by the c. 1.9-1.8 Ga Svecokarelian orogeny still present a considerable challenge to both ore genetic studies and exploration activities. Much of the exploration success during the last 100 years has resulting from an interplay between conceptual geological modeling, technological innovation and entrepreneurship. The short course will also review some of these success stories.

The course will be led by Nils Jansson (LTU) and will take place at the AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków on May 4th, 2020.

We are ongoing an online advanced IoGAS course with Nick Oliver of HCOV, Nick Cook of Mawson resources and James Cleverly of IMDEX. There are a couple of places secured for students enrolled in the MSc pograms tied to EXplORE at LTU, AGH, TUBAF and OMS – free-of-charge.

This is a unique opportunity; send an E-mail to Nick Oliver with Nils Jansson as CC, stating that you are an EXplORE student, and a 2-3 line motivation why you want to participate.

As many ore minerals host considerable amount of Re and Os, the Re-Os isotope system can be applied directly to study the ore-forming processes, including the timing and the source of metals. In addition, due to the different behavior during the crust-mantle fractionation, the Re-Os isotope between mantle and crust developed large contrast which makes it sensitive to trace the interaction between mantle and crustal derived materials. This isotope system has been widely utilized to study a large variation of mineral deposits including diamond, mafic-ultramafic igneous rocks related sulfide and oxide, porphyry, VMS, orogenic gold, and black shale hosted deposits. In the lecture, the principles of the Re-Os isotope system and its application in the study of economic geology will be introduced. The advantage and disadvantage of different minerals, and the recent development of analytical techniques and their challenge will also be covered.

Sediment hosted copper deposits are very important source of copper and other elements e.g. lead, silver, cobalt, nickel, gold, PGM, selenium, rhenium.

One of their world class example is located in SW corner of Poland, however in the past active mines were operating also in Germany and UK. The biggest known resources are located in Poland: after 55 years of active mining in the Lubin area there is still 1.2 Gt of ore grading 0.8-1.7% Cu and 40-60 g/t Ag. Roughly estimating, the Kupferschiefer system in Poland concentrated 500 Mt of metals and belongs to the biggest known in the world.

Following topics will be discussed in the lecture:
• History of deposit discovery
• Geological environments of metal concentrations, sedimentary versus epigenetic.
• Genesis, source of metals
• Factor controlling mineral zonation
• Basic exploration factors based on data from Poland and some international projects from Peru and Colombia.
• Sample presentation and explanation