Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The platinum group elements (PGE), including platinum and palladium, are metals that are both rare and valuable. Their most important use is as catalysts, particularly in automobile catalytic converters and in petroleum refining, but are also used in the electronics and glass industries. Canada has only one primary producer of PGE and the ultimate objective of our research is to help Stillwater Canada Inc explore for and develop PGE deposits, which also contain copper, another valuable metal, in the Coldwell igneous complex, near Marathon, Ontario. These deposits formed approximately 1 billion years ago, and our goal is to understand the processes that led to the formation of the deposits, and hence their character and distribution, in order to develop more effective exploration strategies, both around the known deposits and in new areas. We will achieve this by studying the chemical variations seen in the rocks and minerals within and around the known mineralization using sophisticated analytical techniques that allow us to assess the history of the magmas and fluids that formed the deposits. The potential benefit to Canada is the discovery of new PGE-Cu deposits and the attendant economic benefits for northern Ontario.