Conveners:
Francesco Putzolu (Università di Napoli Federico II)
Federico Farina (Università degli Studi di Milano Statale)
Barbara Marchesini (Sapienza Università di Roma)
The transition towards a net-zero society, together with the ongoing population growth, have intensified the demand for critical and base metals. Meeting this growing demand requires an integrated understanding of metallogenetic processes operating at different scales, which is essential for developing effective exploration strategies aiming at targeting new resources, as well as for repurposing brownfield mining areas. This session focuses on the metallogenetic processes that originate mineral systems and the exploration protocols supporting mineral discoveries in globally significant jurisdictions. We encourage contributions exploring the metals' endowment processes in various types of mineralization and across different crustal scales, as well as the mechanisms of transport from source to trap, and the influence of structural architecture on mineral system evolution and preservation. Studies that adopt integrated, multi-methodological approaches, including, mineralogy, petrology, structural analysis, fluid inclusions, isotope geochemistry and thermodynamic to numerical modelling are particularly welcomed. This session also highlights significant advances and innovations in exploration techniques, and hence welcomes contributions focused on big data analysis through machine learning techniques applied to mineral systems, and remote sensing analysis to vector towards undiscovered or poorly constrained mineral resources. Contributions on social and environmental assessment in the framework of critical and base metals exploitation will be also appreciated.