Tuesday, April 30, 2013

CRITICAL METALS MEETING (sponsored by International Association on the Genesis of Ore Deposits (IAGOD))


Announcement from International Association on the Genesis of Ore Deposits (IAGOD)
CRITICAL METALS MEETING (sponsored by IAGOD)
2013, JULY 3-5, ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA
(Register soon, see website link))

Critical metals are metals whose availability is essential for high-technology, green and defense applications, but vulnerable to politically or economically driven fluctuations in supply. At present, this designation applies particularly to the rare-earth elements (REE), tantalum (Ta), niobium (Nb), lithium (Li), molybdenum (Mo) and indium (In). Their areas of application, supply market and mine to end-user pathways have undergone major changes in the past decade. Some of these changes have greatly affected metal prices, or raised concerns regarding the future of advanced technologies dependent on critical metals, and the national security of those countries whose demand for these metals for industrial and defense applications is satisfied entirely by imports.

In recent years, great progress has been made in the understanding of those geological processes that produce industrially viable concentrations of critical metals in igneous systems and supergene environments. At the same time, many aspects of metal transport and enrichment in the mantle and lower crust remain unclear, as do the driving forces and mechanisms behind hydrothermal and metasomatic processes leading to the formation of such important deposits as Bayan Obo, Mineville and Steenkampskraal. CM2013 will provide a forum for further discussion of the origin and evolution of REE, Nb, Ta, Li, Mo and In deposits, and related processes in igneous, hydrothermal, metamorphic and supergene environments. The Workshop will be held in conference facilities at the Mongolian University of Science and Technology in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, in central Mongolia. The meeting will be accompanied by a rich cultural program and followed by a fieldtrip to several large REE and Cu-Mo-Au deposits in the Mongolian “outback”. Geologists, petrologists, mineralogists, geochemists, explorationists, technologists and market experts are all welcome to attend, contribute to the Workshop, and explore wonderful Mongolia!

The First Workshop on the Geology of Critical Metals (CM2012) was held September 4-7, 2012, at Peking University in Beijing, China. The meeting was a great success, attracting many distinguished speakers from China and abroad (USA, UK, Germany, Canada, Japan, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia) and delegates from as far away as Brazil. The topics discussed ranged from the geology and evolution of Bayan Obo and other deposits, to regional metallogeny, to method development, to market considerations. The Workshop was followed by a fieldtrip to Xi’an and Mo deposits in central China.

For further information, please contact Dr. Jindrich Kynicky, Chair of the Organizing Committee: kynicky@mendelu.cz

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