Metallic Mineral Resources
0
2024-2025
01003864
Área Científica do Menor
Portuguese
Face-to-face
SEMESTRIAL
6.0
Elective
1st Cycle Studies
Recommended Prerequisites
The required course units are: Mineralogy, Igneous Petrology, Metamorphic Petrology, Sedimentary Petrology, and Structural Geology.
The students should have a comprehensive knowledge of the geological processes responsible for the origin of magmatic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks and also the processes that lead to the deformation of rocks.
The prerequisites skills include the ability to study minerals and rocks on a mesoscopic and microscopic scale and to read and understand Basic English.
Teaching Methods
Face-to-face teaching with the following components:
Theorical: expository teaching using audiovisual means to make easier to understand the concepts, models and methodologies; presentation and discussion of synthesis reports.
Practical and laboratory: methods of identifying “opaque” phases and ore textures using reflected light microscope; study of examples of metalliferous mineral deposits.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course students will be able to:
1. Recognize the geological characteristics of the main types of mineral deposits and to understand how do they fit into the Earth System.
2. Recognize and understand the principles that rule the natural concentration of minerals in the Earth's crust.
3. Characterize and identify ores using appropriate laboratory methods and techniques.
4. Communicate, in written and oral language, information concerning studied examples of mineral deposits, using literature sources and appropriate methodologies of analysis.
5. Understand and describe autonomously the geological characteristics and the processes of formation of the types or examples of mineral deposits not taught in formal classes.
Work Placement(s)
NoSyllabus
1. INTRODUCTION
A classification scheme for ore deposits. Mineral deposit. Viability of an ore deposit. Mineral resources and ore reserves.
2. IGNEOUS ORE PROCESSES
Igneous ore processes (layered intrusions, podiforme chromitites, komatiites, anorthosites, kimberlites and lamproites, carbonatitos).
Magmatic-hydrothermal ore-forming processes (pegmatites, porphyry Cu-(Mo), porphyry Mo-(Cu), and porphyry W-type deposits, skarn deposits, epithermal Au-Ag-(Cu) deposits).
3. HYDROTHERMAL PROCESSES
VMS-SEDEX deposits. Stratiform sediment-hosted copper (SSC) deposits. Mississippi Valley type (MVT) Pb-Zn deposits.
4. SEDIMENTARY/SURFICIAL PROCESSES
Lateritic deposits. Bauxites. Placer deposits. Banded Iron Formations (BIF). Ironstones. Mn deposits.
5. GLOBAL TECTONICS AND METALLOGENY
Patterns in the distribution of mineral deposits. Crustal evolution and metallogenesis. Metallogeny through time.
6. Reflected light microscopy. Study of ore hand samples and polished sections.
Assessment Methods
Assessment
Laboratory work or Field work: 10.0%
Synthesis work: 20.0%
Exam: 70.0%
Bibliography
CRAIG, J. R. & VAUGHAN, D. J. (1994). Ore microscopy and ore petrography. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 434pp.
CRAIG, J. R., VAUGHAN, D. V. & SKINNER, B. J. (2001). Resources of the Earth: origin, use, and environmental impact. Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 520pp.
DILL, H. G. (2010). The "chessboard" classification scheme of mineral deposits: Mineralogy and geology from aluminum to zirconium. Earth Science-Reviews, 100, 1-420.
GUILBERT, J. M. & PARK, C. F. Jr. (1986). The geology of ore deposits. Freeman, New York, 985pp.
PICOT, P. & JOHAN, Z. (1977). Atlas des mineraux metalliques. Mémoires du BRGM, nº 9, 403pp.
ROBB, L. (2005). Introduction to ore-forming processes. Blackwell, Oxford, 373pp.
ROBERTS, R. G. & SHEAHAN, P. A. (1994). Ore deposit models. Geoscience Canada, Ontário, 194pp.
SHEAHAN, P. A. & CHERRY, M. E. (1993). Ore deposit models (volume II). Geoscience Canada, Ontario, 154pp.
TAYLOR, R. (2009). Ore Textures. Recognition and Interpretation. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 288pp.