When: Friday 26th May 2023
The field trip focuses on exploring opportunities for critical minerals associated with historical or abandoned mine sites. As part of the trip two mines will be visited within 1 hour drive from Adelaide. The first stop will be Brukunga Pyrite Mine in the Adelaide Hills, where GSSA and SMI currently are undertaking a mine waste study on the old tailings and waste rock dumps. The site visit will also include a tour of the onsite treatment and storage facilities, hosted by site manager from the Department for Energy and Mining ('DEM').
After lunch the field trip will head past the Barossa Valley to Kapunda including a stop at Map the Miner. EnviroCopper will provide a tour about its Kapunda copper & gold In-situ Recovery ('ISR') project and visit to its test site. This will be followed by a short walking tour of the old Kapunda Copper Mine where the fieldtrip leaders will talk about cobalt potential in sediment-hosted copper mineral systems.
What are critical minerals?
On the CRITCON 2023 webpage for the conference, it said "Critical minerals such as rare earths, graphite, lithium, cobalt, nickel, platinum group elements, indium, tungsten and gallium, are essential to modern technology and the clean energy transition."
However, on its main webpage (bottom of the page) the Australin Critical Minerals Research Centre gives examples "that include rare earth elements ('REEs'), cobalt, lithium, indium, germanium, tellurium and tungsten, but they can also be more abundant elements like copper and nickel. Any mineral can become ‘critical’ in the right conditions."
Source: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/australian-critical-minerals-research-centre/
I am still expecting both the United States and Australia will add copper to their respective critical minerals lists, which would spur increased exploration and development.
Cheers
These are only my thoughts and it does not constitute investment advice. Before acting on any information you read and before making any financial or investment decisions, you should always consult your advisor(s) or other relevant professional experts.
TZN Price at posting:
2.0¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
