News

The European Technology Platform on Sustainable Mineral Resources (ETP SMR) invites you to join a series of three short webinars that aim to showcase some of the most prominent ongoing activities and ideas within the EU raw materials research and innovation community. In the drive for ever more advanced applied research and innovation and higher technology readiness levels required for a move towards climate neutrality, basic research should not be left behind as the foundation for major breakthrough discoveries. These webinars will demonstrate the current landscape of raw materials research across the EU and new ideas being developed among core researchers to help a critical industry adapt towards a greener and more environmentally conscious society.

How to join? Register here by Thursday 12th November 2020.

Regional Kick-off Meeting in Oslo on 20th November 2020 now online! Freiberg/Saxony Regional Kick-Off meeting scheduled 24th of November 2020 is now postponed to spring 2021.

The aim is to introduce GREENPEG to stakeholders from the regional and national industry, research and academia who will be benefitting from GREENPEG activities and outcomes. The Oslo meeting will introduce into the GREENPEG project and focus on the Norwegian raw materials sector and contributions from Finland.
The Freiberg based RegKOM will part of the European Raw Materials Day of GKZ. In addition to the presentation of the aim and objectives of GREENPEG four more European funded projects of GKZ will be presented. They comprise coordinate and support actions aiming to improve the framework conditions for smart specialization and networking in the raw materials sector as well as giving the mining and metallurgy European regions a voice in Brussels.
Find here the programme of the Oslo RegKOM and the Freiberg RegKOM.

The first GREENPEG field season came to completion at the Wolfsberg demonstration site (Austria) at the end of September with the application of regional geochemical sampling to the mineral quartz from lithium-bearing and associated barren pegmatites. The trace element signatures of the quartz samples and their prospect (<25 km2) to district-scale (25-500 km2) distribution will reveal regional chemical zoning of the pegmatite field (previously only possible by costly drilling or blasting of pegmatite bodies). Trace elements in quartz from pegmatites are indicative of the economic potential of the ore and allow for vectoring towards areas of highest ore potential. This geochemical exploration method was developed in 2015 by the GREENPEG coordinator (Müller, A., et al. 2015, Economic Geology 110, pp. 137-157). Quartz analysis via laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry will be performed over the winter season.

Tranøy, September 2020

The first GREENPEG field season was on the Tysfjord demonstration site, testing a set of helicopter-borne, drone-borne and ground based exploration techniques on high-purity-quartz-bearing pegmatite type occurrences. The testing revealed that for the Tysfjord area these type of raw material (RM) occurrences have specific gamma ray signature, which can be useful to delineate the lateral extension of near surface pegmatite. Complementary ground-borne georadar and geoelectric measurements were carried out to study potential signatures in the data, confining host rock and pegmatites. Drone-borne ortho photography was acquired to facilitate a high-resolution transfer of all data and interpretation in a 3D view. We also tested gravimetric and magnetic methods to investigate potential petrophysical contrasts between RM material and wall rock. Data processing and evaluation is ongoing.

GREENPEG Tysfjord Jennyhaugen field work | Wolfgang Reimer

Tranøy, August 2020

Although the GREENPEG kick off was still online GREENPEG partners united in a first physical meeting which took place in the far north of Norway at Tysfjord test site. Remote sensing and ground truth as well as sampling and visiting GREENPEG partner Quartz Corporation high purity quartz quarries were the bullet points on a dense agenda. Right at the eve of the launch of the European Commission, Critical Raw Materials for Strategic Technologies and Sectors in the EU foresight study, GREENPEG started contributing to a number of European agendas by developing and validation of new cost-effective exploration approaches to unlock domestic critical mineral resources. GREENPEG outcomes will contribute to both the Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials as part of the new EU Industrial Strategy, the European Green Deal, and the EU COVID-19 Recovery Plan for Europe ensuring resilience through a secure and sustainable supply of critical raw materials.

Events

The European Union will be at the virtual mineral exploration and mining convention, PDAC 2021, in Toronto, Canada from 8-11 March. GREENPEG project is presented at the EU Research & Innovation - Mineral exploration and extraction booth. Our project partners will keep office hours over the entire duration of the trade show. Join us! Book a meeting or have matchmaking with our researchers, exploitation manager, and coordinator.
The EU is attending the annual PDAC convention from 2018 to 2022 as part of its efforts to secure a sustainable supply of raw materials with the support of the ‘partnership instrument’ that funds global EU cooperation.

QUARTZ2021 – International Symposium on Quartz – organised in the framework of the GREENPEG Horizon2020 project "New Exploration Tools for European Pegmatite Green-Tech Resources"

QUARTZ2021 gathers petrologists, mineralogists, sedimentologists, economic geologists, mining and processing engineers with one study object in common: QUARTZ. Quartz, the source of crystalline silicon metal in solar cells and about 1000 other applications, is classified as EU’s critical raw material. It is one of the target commodities of the ongoing GREENPEG exploration technology project. Besides its broad industrial applications, quartz is increasingly used for improved understanding of ore-forming and petrogenetic processes. The conference is followed by an exciting 3-day excursion to industrial mineral and metal deposits in southern Norway, including the Tørdal pegmatites, Litangen quartzite mine and Kongsberg silver mines. Join the symposium and be with us on the forefront research!