Project title: Abundance of the full range of ECE in Cu and Zn ores
Researcher: Dr Lingli Zhou
Research purpose Delivering tailored approaches to metal visualisation and quantification by LA-ICPMS/OES, and applying these approached to historic mines.
Project hypothesis Collaboration with two industry collaborators in having produced ECE and precious metal characterisation of sulphides of their selected tailings and ore bodies or prospects; Delivery of 3 technical manuscripts in leading journals
Project objectives i) to develop analytical methods for quantifying the occurrence of precious metals and energy critical elements in a variety of Zn and Cu minerals ii) to apply the methods to sulphides from a variety of past and active ore bodies and tailings.
Project aims i) Development of protocols in LA-ICP-OES and MS analysis for 2D and 3D mapping of precious and energy critical metals in sulphides; ii) Expanding existing data reduction schemes to combine signals from the OES and MS; iii) Further developing LA-analysis as a tool for the mineral exploration and mineral processing industries iv) Quantifying the economic potential of mining historic mine tailings for precious and energy critical elements.