Mineral Exploration Symposium
In the current context of transition towards a climate neutral economy, the required “decarbonisation” of our economy implies a rapid implementation of clean energy, efficient energy storage and clean mobility. The European industry requires significant amounts of metals, industrial minerals and particularly Critical Raw Materials (CRM) to produce the clean technologies needed. Unfortunately, recycling efficiencies are not yet sufficient to cover the current industrial demand for raw materials. Moreover, for many materials, even a 100% recycling rate would not cover present and future needs.
The discovery and acquisition of new mineral deposits amenable to economic extractive operations is definitely part of the solution for securing a sustainable access to raw materials for the European industry. Mineral exploration can be defined as “all the activities and evaluation necessary before an intelligent decision can be made establishing size, initial flow sheet, and annual output of nee extractive operation.
The main objective of mineral exploration is to find and acquire a maximum number of such economic mineral deposits at a minimum cost and within minimum time. Exploration is conducted by one or a combination of multiple techniques and depends on the demand of the commodity being searched for, convenience of infrastructures, funds from the exploration institution, size and complexity of the deposit, price of end products, government policy, good will, and tax and royalty structures. Various exploration techniques have been followed over the centuries. In today’s mining sector, exploration companies need new tools, methods and technologies to make quality and deeper discoveries, conduct innovative and cost effective exploration programs and risks to gain the trust of the civil society. The most promising technologies must be scaled-up to end up on the market, to strengthen the competitiveness of the European industries in this sector.
The event focused on the recent and innovative developments in integrated exploration solutions focused on finding new deposits, benefitting from multidisciplinary and integrated approaches of advanced mineralogical, geochemical, geophysical, remote sensing, multi-dimension modelling, automation and robotisation techniques.
Special attention was given to the role that the EU is playing in sustainable supply of raw materials.