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The energy transition is driven by the objective to help mitigate climate change through a progressive global switching to lower carbon energy sources. Minerals such as lithium, copper, cobalt and rare earth elements will be needed in greater amounts for electrification, infrastructure upgrades as well as for providing the raw components for electric vehicles, renewable energy generation, battery storage and modern devices.

However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find large tonnage and high-grade mineral deposits at or near the surface, especially of commodities that will increasingly be needed for the energy transition. We believe those prospecting to expand mineral portfolios will need to increasingly look deeper and beyond known occurrences. Therefore, new ways of thinking about exploration and, ultimately, production will need to be adopted. 

Working with our mining partners, we are taking applicable geological subsurface screening methods and digital tools from the hydrocarbon industry and applying them within a broader approach to mineral system exploration to help guide the explorationist in the right location. 

In this webinar we will:

  • Analyze the role of copper in the energy transition. 
  • Showcase how global plate tectonic models can be used to map out the location and duration of volcanic arc magmatism related to subduction zones and also to identify zones of lithospheric and crustal metal endowment. 
  • Explore how hydrocarbon tools can be used to screen for sedimentary hosted copper, which requires a significantly larger integration and manipulation effort of many differing geological datasets (from sources to sinks, tectonics and gross depositional environments). 
  • Discuss some of the differences in the scale at which some of the hydrocarbon and mineral exploration concepts can be implemented, as well as the terminology used, to ensure the most effective transfer of expertise and knowledge between these sectors, to test more concepts, make better predictions and ultimately reduce the time to resource discovery through efficient subsurface decision making. 

Watch Now:

Presented by:

Dr Graeme Nicoll

Dr Graeme Nicoll

Solution Owner for Global Geological Systems

Dr Jean-Christophe Wrobel-Daveau

Dr Jean-Christophe Wrobel-Daveau

Structural Geology and Geodynamics Principal Advisor

Dr Paul Helps

Dr Paul Helps

Senior Geoscientist – Critical Minerals