Grant: Alliance Grants

The transition to a sustainable economy requires the development and widespread availability of technologies that utilize a subset of minerals and metals collectively termed 'critical minerals'. Thirty-one such critical minerals, including copper (Cu) and molybdenum (Mo), have been identified by the Canadian Government as essential to the future economic success of the country. The development of a stable, local, and ethical supply of critical minerals, with minimal exploration-related environmental impact, necessitates a detailed understanding of how those minerals and metals accumulate in Earth's crust. Moreover, optimal extraction of the critical minerals from their host rocks requires an understanding of the micro-to-nano-scale characteristics of the mineral deposits. To meet those requirements, we will carry out a series of detailed interdisciplinary studies in collaboration with Enduro Metals in their Newmont Lake property. Newmont Lake is situated in the middle of the Golden Triangle region, a region so named for its gold and metal endowment. These studies will focus on understanding: 1) the magma source of major Cu and Mo deposits and how processes therein may favour segregation of metals and minerals of interest into mineralized horizons, 2) the evolution of fluids that circulate around evolving or changing magma sources through time and how variables such as temperature and pressure may contribute to whether or not a time-specific fluid event is able to transport critical minerals, 3) the role that multi-scale rock structures may play in localizing fluids and magmas and how deformation processes may help remobilize and upgrade local metal concentrations possibly making them more amenable to final extraction. The results of these studies will be compared to, and integrated with, both published data and new information that is actively being generated by the Geological Survey of Canada from the broader region around the Newmont Lake property. The outcomes of this project will be used by Enduro and other groups in the region to help inform best exploration practises and means to focus efforts on areas and rocks that are most likely to host critical minerals, helping minimize environmental impact.