Base Metals - Vital Commodities for the Global Economy (Archive)

Base Metals Webinar Series

Copper - Red Metal for a Green Future

Thursday, April 27, 2023
1:00pm - 2:30pm MDT (UTC-6)
Webinar

This free webinar will consist of 60 minutes of mini-lectures followed by 30 minutes of panel discussion and audience Q&A. The webinar is free and open to public registration, pre-registration with Zoom required.

Series Sponsor

Thank you to Maptek for sponsoring the SEG 2023 Base Metals Webinar Series.

Description

Copper – Red Metal for a Green Future

The first installment in the SEG 2023 Base Metals Webinar Series will provide geoscientists with an open forum for interaction with industry and academic experts as they discuss the significance of copper exploration and the massive role that it will play in the evolving energy transition. With demand for copper expected to more than triple in the coming two decades there is a need for the next generation of geologists to better understand the full scope of the metal's value chain and exploration potential.

This webinar of focused mini-lectures will allow experts to share their knowledge on a variety of relevant themes, such as investigating copper with regards to the latest regional and global market trends, modern exploration highlights and frontiers, and significant advances coming from within academia. Following the lectures, a panel discussion will offer conversations on a wide range of key concepts and allow the panelists to bring their unique perspectives to the table.

Mini-Lecture Abstracts

"The future of copper - increasing production, increasing trade, and increasing challenges"

Jamie Brainard, USGS

Copper has garnered attention with the prospects of greening energy consumption, but this only adds to the ongoing trend of increasing copper demand. While mine production has increased globally, there has been an increased concentration of processing that has increased the risk of supply disruptions. We will discuss the impacts of these global forces on supply chain trends for copper, as well as additional hurdles to be overcome to ensure that supply continues to meet the projected demand growth.

"Prospectivity beyond known deposits: looking at broader controls on mineralizing systems in the context of the Central African Copperbelt"

George Gilchrist, Ivanhoe Mines

Using the context of the Kamoa, Kakula, and Makoko discoveries to highlight that mineralizing systems often operate over much larger areas than evidenced by the known deposits in an established district. Knowing the character of the reductant and the controls on its formation provide a great exploration tool to step out into new areas.

"Developing multidisciplinary tools for blind subsurface Cu exploration through collaborative research"

Helen Twigg, iCRAG

The SFI Research Centre in Applied Geology (iCRAG) had partnered with industry and other academic institutions to integrate research across scales and disciplines to characterize the basin processes which lead to base metal mineralization. Research combines traditional exploration research tools such as deposit tectonostratigraphic and paragenetic modelling, micron scale mineral mapping and geochemistry, with data analysis to understand district and basin scale systems and mineral zoning.

This talk provides an example of how to get the most out of exploration data and use district scale modelling as a tool to explore for Zn-Cu-Pb massive sulphide and vein-fracture hosted Cu mineralisation in the Southern Congolese Copperbelt.