DoctorAngela Escolme

Project Total: $3,973,684; As explorers search large, high-grade resources at greater depths, and mining operations are required to manage mineralogically and texturally complex orebodies, it is more critical than ever to develop effective exploration and characterisation tools that can be applied at the earliest stages of exploration and resource definition to reduce cost and risk. AMIRA Global's P1249 research project will embrace the challenges and realise the opportunities provided by complex orebodies of copper, gold, critical and other metals by developing new tools, methodologies and workflows for early mineralogical characterisation of complex orebodies and their alteration halos that can be upscaled to facilitate exploration for and domaining of complex orebodies Funded by: AMIRA International Ltd ($3,973,684); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $61,190; This Ph.D. thesis will characterise the geology, alteration, and mineralisation of tourmaline breccia-hosted mineralisation at Soledad. It will constrain the ages of volcanism, intrusive activity and brecciation using U-Pb zircon dating, and will characterise the mineralogy of breccia cements and altered rocks using an array of petrographic and analytical techniques. The potential to use tourmaline (epidote, and chlorite) mineral chemistry as a tool to vector towards high grade mineralisation in the breccia pipes, and to assess the fertility of undrilled breccia pipes, will be assessed using LA-ICP-MS analyses of trace element chemistry of mineral grains. Detailed mineralogical characterisation of sulfides and sulfosalts will be conducted for geometallurgical purposes to optimise mineral processing options. A new genetic and exploration model for breccia-hosted mineralisation at Soledad will be proposed. Funded by: Chakana Copper Corp. ($61,190); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $643,333; Demand for Cu continues to increase as governments and corporations around the world increasingly invest in non-carbon-based forms of energy and transportation, such as wind turbines and electric vehicles. This places greater pressure on mining companies to find new Tier 1 resources. Mining companies that explore for Cu and other base or precious metals are increasing spending on deeper drilling campaigns targeted by ever more sophisticated geochemical, geophysical, and geostatistical techniques. However, new discoveries of Tier 1 Cu resources are occurring less frequently today than in previous generations, and the increase in exploration expenditure has not led to a direct increase in the number of discoveries (Fig. 1). Funded by: Department of Energy and Mining South Australia ($60,000); Department of Resources Qld ($133,333); Mount Isa Mines ($120,000); Oz Minerals Limited ($80,000); Evolution Mining ($60,000); Red Metal Limited ($60,000); Georgina Resources Pty Ltd ($60,000); BHP Billiton Ltd ($40,000); Department of State Growth (Tas) ($30,000); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $100,501; This PhD thesis will characterise the geology, alteration and mineralisation of breccias at the Grasberg porphyry Cu-Au deposit, Indonesia. Detailed core logging and (if possible) underground mapping will be supplemented with detailed petrographic and mineralogical characterisation to resolve the history of brecciation at Grasberg, its implications for the evolution of the hydrothermal system and for the understanding of ore genesis. Detailed breccia facies analyses will be used to help place brecciation events within the sequence of volcanism, intrusive activity and mineralisation at Grasberg, and to determine the processes that caused brecciation. Characterisation of individual breccia facies will also provide improved understanding of the mining and processing characteristics of breccia-hosted ore and will inform the development of new genetic and exploration models for breccia-hosted porphyry Cu-Au mineralisation. Funded by: Freeport McMoRan ($100,501); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $7,092; This project will provide geochronological context for mineralizing events at the Rincones de Araya porphyry project. Dating of molybdenite (Re-Os). alunite (Ar-Ar). and host intrusions (U-Pb, zircon) will ideally produce a geochronological framework for understanding the variable alteration and mineralization present at the site. This funding has been provided by the SEG and these analyses will supplement work that is part of AMIRA P1202, increasing the impact of the research. Funded by: Society of Economic Geologists Foundation Inc - Grant-Hugh McKinstry Fund ($7,092); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $20,000; Mining operations are increasingly reliant on digital geological data to inform all aspects of ore deposit extraction, refinement and remediation. These data, e.g. drill core hyperspectral imagery, contain information on geological features and processes that are typically interpreted by geologists using drill core logs and geochemical assays. Despite this, converting high resolution hyperspectral imagery and associated mineralogical classifications into geological knowledge that informs mine-scale block models is yet to be fully realised. This PhD project will make use of unprecedented access to multi-scale digital geological data from a variety of porphyry and epithermal ore deposits with the overarching aim of defining and characterising geological features relevant to mining operations. Research activities are expected to include investigation, assessment and implementation of image processing and supervised and unsupervised machine learning methods for defining patterns in multi-scale geological data. The outcomes of this project are expected to facilitate the integration of large volumes of digital data from diverse sources with existing geological knowledge in order to develop the next generation of models for ore deposit exploitation. As this PhD project forms part of the ARC Transforming the Mining Value Chain (TMVC) AMIRA P1202 funded 'Far-field and near mine footprints' project, specifically within Module 4 'The transition zone'. This project will involve close collaboration with TMVC and AMIRA P2102 project industry and academic partners. Funded by: Minerals Council of Australia - Grant ($20,000); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $50,000; Funded by: Newcrest Mining Limited ($50,000); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $15,320; Honours project for Hannah Couper. Funded by: Newcrest Mining Limited ($15,320); University of Tasmania.

Project Total: $122,660; The Productura deposit is a pre-feasibility IOCG-style breccia hosted Cu-Au-Mo deposit located in Chile. The aims of this PhD project are to investigate relationships between alteration patterns and ore textures at the Productora deposit, particularly in the transitional ore zone, which may impact on liberation behaviour and flotation response. It will develop quantitative and predictive geometallurgical models through characterisation of the ore(s) and altered rocks at Productora in order to facilitate modelling and prediction of processing behaviour. The emphasis will be on understanding mineralogical and geochemical zonation patterns and their relationship with geometallurgical characteristics of the ores, including mineral texture and physical properties related to processing behaviour. Research techniques will include drill core logging and high resolution imaging, automated optical microscopy, mineral liberation analysis (MLA), LA-ICPMS analysis and ore genesis/geochemical techniques as required. Funded by: CSIRO-Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organisation ($29,658); Hot Chili Ltd ($90,502); The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Education Endowment Fund ($2,500); University of Tasmania.