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GTK’s MINERAL RESOURCES RESEARCH
State of art Raimo Lahtinen
26.06.2015
Fennoscandian Shield – Mineral resources • Precambrian shield area similar to
Canada & Australia & South Africa
• Long mining tradition
• Yet under-explored terrain
• Potential for many commodities
• Base metals, gold,
platinum metals, iron,
high tech metals, diamonds, …
Chile
Cu
Depth of Cover on gold discoveries
26.06.2015 3 Raimo Lahtinen
1950 2010
1200 m
Source: MinEx Consulting © November 2011
Global trend: new deposits in depth
or lower grade and huge
Primary resources; challenges for research
• China will reach the ”peak metals” within few decades
• India and Africa; urbanization and new middle class
• Increasing need of primary raw material stay high
• From one non-renewable (fossil fuels) to other non-renewable
(minerals) raw material in energy solutions
• Critical metals (small amounts, supply risks, substitution)
• From linear to circular economy
• Cutting edge science and multidisciplinary research
• T-shaped scientists
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GTK Research – focus areas
• Mineral potential
– Study reserves and discovery potential of minerals, and their life cycle and
total environment impact
– Study ores and ore-forming processes
– Create improved tectonic and metallogenic models
• Minerals processing
– Developing eco-efficient mineral processing methods
– Environmental technologies for mineral processing
– Process and environmental mineralogy
• Mining environmental research
– Methods to minimize emissions from mine sites
– Risk assessment and modeling at mine sites
• Research laboratory
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Assess reserves and discovery potential of metal ores
and industrial minerals, and evaluate their life cycle and
total environment impact
• Fennoscandian Ore Deposit Data Base and Metallogenic Map
• National resources of useful minerals
• High-tech metals
• Minerals intelligence
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GTK Special paper 53, 2012
Cu resources of Finland
• Layered intrusions and
porphyry Cu deposits
can be an important
source of undiscovered
copper in Finland.
Porphyry Cu:
– 0.9 % of known Cu
resources
– 25 % of total estimated
undiscovered Cu
resources
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Millio
n m
etr
ic to
ns
Known resources
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Millio
n m
etr
ic to
ns
Undiscovered resources
Known resources
Orogenic gold deposits in Archean and Proterozoic
greenstone belts
Proterozoic porphyry and epithermal systems in
southern Finland
PGE-enriched magmatic sulfide ores in and around
layered igneous complexes
Ore deposits with unconventional metal associations
Ore geology research projects
Principal investigatior:
Ferenc Molnár, GTK
Project 1: Orogenic gold mineral systems
Ferenc Molnár, GTK
Project 2: Magmatic mineral systems
Eero Hanski, University of Oulu
External collaborators:
University of Stockholm, Sweden
University of Lorraine, France
University of St. Andrews, U.K.
University of Cardiff, U.K.
State University of Colorado, U.S.A.
First Quantum Minerals Ltd.
Agnico-Eagle Finland Ltd.
Mineral systems and mineral prospectivity in Finnish Lapland
Academy of Finland supported consortium project
2014-2018
Support from Academy:
Project 1 – 568 322 Euros (GTK)
Project 2 – 287 613 Euros (Univ. Oulu)
Total 855 935 Euros
2 new postdoctoral researcher at GTK
11 researcher from GTK involved in the project
Mineral system approach
ORE
10-100s km
100s µm
OVERPRINT
REMOBILIZATION
Studies of minerals at the micro scale
can be used to decipher processes at
the km+ scale
BSE image, sulfides (bright) in primary silicates
(med grey) with alteration (dk gray)
Repetition of processes at all scales
11
Mineral prospectivity mapping
• Traditionally based on expert opinions on potential areas for a certain deposit type
• Digital maps allow quantitative analysis of data and numerical modelling for mineral
prospectivity mapping (also known as mineral potential mapping)
• Aim is to delineate areas favorable for mineral exploration
12 Raimo Lahtinen
Plate boundaries and metallogeny
Crustal- and mantle-scale
structures focus huge deposits
Lahtinen et al. 2005)
Lahtinen et al., 2009
Tampere
Lahtinen et al., 2014
Inferred material flow
(Hyvönen et al., 2007,
Plomerova et al., 2008)
-arc-continent collision > Lapland-Savo orogen
- subduction reversal and arc magmatism (Skellefte, Pohjanmaa, Tampere)
-Arc-arc or arc-continent collision > Fennia orogen
-Buckling of Fennia orogen > Bothnian coupled oroclines
- Free board and continental/passive margin setting (paleosol/quartzites)
New methods
In early 2014, GTK initiated
research collaboration with the
Department of Physics, Helsinki
University, to test the utility of the
newly installed µ-CT facility for
geological purposes. Outcome:
Sayab, M., Suuronen, J-P., Hölttä, P., Aerden, D., Lahtinen, R.,
Kallonen, A. P., 2015. High-resolution X-ray computed
microtomography: A holistic approach to metamorphic fabric
analyses. Geology. Doi:10.1130/G36250.1
New methods
Holotomography of Au and associated sulfides
from the Kittlä mine at the European
Synchrotron Radiation Facility ERSF
http://www.esrf.eu/).
A synchrotron is a stadium-sized machine that produces
many beams of bright X-ray light, Grenoble, France.
Au in arsenopyrite
Kittilä mine
Nano-scale research
Microcrystals/lattice
Structural control
Age
Mineral processing laboratory and pilot plant in
Outokumpu: GTK Mintec
Tailored ore and metal beneficiation
testing for mining and metal industry
• Mineralogical research and process
mineralogy
• Mineral processing testwork from lab
scale to pilot plant
• Bench scale tests
• Mini-pilot tests 10 - 50 kg/h
• Pilot plant tests 0.2 - 5 tons/h
• Environmental and recycling research
Focus of the R&D activities
Development in mineralogical research • Mineralogical basic classification
• Basic and precious metal mineralogy
• High-tech and industrial mineral mineralogy
Process development for ores and by-products of industry
• Comminution studies
• Low and high intensity magnetic separations
• Gravity concentration and DMS processes
• Flotation studies and process chemistry
• Biotechnology in processing of minerals and by-products
• Leaching of concentrates and ores
Process water research
Recycling of materials
Environmental studies
• Methods to minimize emissions from mine sites
– Predicting long term stability and reactions of mining wastes
– Promoting utilization of mining wastes (environmental properties)
– Environmentally friendly methods for storage of mining wastes
– Treatment and recycling of mine waters
– Mine site reclamation (waste storage, backfills, pit lakes…)
• Risk assessment and modeling at mine sites
– Environmental risk assessment methods for mine sites
– Risk assessment geochemistry for soils and sediments (baseline concentrations,
modes of occurrence, bioavailability, contamination vs. pollution)
– Hydrogeological and geohydrological modelling for mine sites
– Flow and reactions of water and contaminants
– Minerals-based contaminants at mine sites
Mining environmental research
19.4.2015 Outotec-GTK Partnership Seminar
Focal equipment • Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy System • TIMS • Electron microprobe • LV-SEM-EDS • XRD • Automated ion chromatograph • High voltage fragmentation • SQUID magnetometer
The Finland Geosciences Research Laboratory (SGL) GTK • Aalto University • University of Helsinki • University of Turku • Åbo Akademi University • University of Oulu
• Field emission scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer (2014) FE-SEM-EDS • Multi collector high resolution inductively coupled mass spectrometer (2007) MC-HR-ICPMS • Single collector high resolution inductively coupled mass spectrometer (2014) SC-HR-ICPMS
Research Laboratory GTK Espoo, Finland Electron optics and microanalysis - X-ray diffraction (XRD) - Radiogenic and stable
isotopes - Selective fragmentation - Geophysical measurements
Photo: GTK
High resolution imaging and analysis
Gold particle in goethite Fe3+O(OH)
HR elemental maps of a gold particle
BSE signal strength (mean atomic number) can
be used to target the heaviest mineral phases.
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Km
60
200
Km
42
240
Paleoproterozoic ArcheanMarginal basin
Paleoproterozoic SCLM Paleoarchean
SCLM
2.1-2.0 Ga S NS
I s l an d a r c 1 . 92 Ga
S = stretched NS = non-stretchedK = kimberlite field e = eclogization
S
“Ultradepleted” arc mantle + mixed A/P
Archeanmetasomatised2.1-1.95 Ga
Mixed A/P
K K
e e e e e e
50 km
GTK Research – co-operation possibilities
• Mineral potential
– Study reserves and discovery potential of minerals, and their life cycle and
total environment impact
– Study ores and ore-forming processes
– Create improved tectonic and metallogenic models
• Minerals processing
– Developing eco-efficient mineral processing methods
– Environmental technologies for mineral processing
– Process and environmental mineralogy
• Mining environmental research
– Methods to minimize emissions from mine sites
– Risk assessment and modeling at mine sites
• Research laboratory
26.06.2015 24 Raimo Lahtinen
Thank You !
6/26/2015