Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

The elements indium and germanium are considered critical or electronic metals. Critical metals are those whose supplies are at risk for political or other reasons. Along with tin, these are used in a wide variety of electronics applications, optics, and in a range of other applications, and are concentrated, along with copper and silver, in the East Kemptville deposit in Nova Scotia. Demand for these metals is expected to grow and this deposit is now being re-investigated by Avalon Rare Metals Inc., a Canadian exploration company specializing in rare and critical metals. Our research is designed to understand the character of this mineralization and why the metals were concentrated, as well as the distribution of indium and germanium. The latter is important as these metals occur at low concentrations in some minerals, and understanding their location is important for efficient metallurgical processing. We will investigate the chemical composition of a variety of minerals to develop a model for the evolution of mineralization in the East Kemptville deposit. This is designed to help Avalon understand this resource and to better explore and develop these types of deposits. It will improve Canada's knowledge base for this aspect of mineral deposit geology and help Avalon move toward the development of a resource that will be important for the economy of SW Nova Scotia.