electric vehicles<\/a> (EVs), and with the increasing demand for EVs, the demand for copper is anticipated to exceed the current supply within the next three decades. This means that finding new copper deposits and learning more about deposit formation is vital going forward.<\/p>\nThis research, led by Massimo Chiaradia, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the UNIGE Faculty of Science, has led to an essential breakthrough. It emphasises that porphyry deposits result from mechanisms comparable to those that cause large volcanic eruptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have discovered that large reserves of copper are born of failed eruptions,\u201d explained researchers.<\/p>\n
Understanding deposit formation<\/h3>\n Copper forms from hot fluids \u2013 largely comprised of water \u2013 which is released by cooling magmas. These magmas, which are the basis of eruptions, originate from the layer of Earth between the core and the crust, called the mantle. Magmas then rise to the Earth\u2019s surface where they develop into what is known as a \u2018magma chamber.\u2019<\/p>\n
This chamber is typically situated between 5km and 15km in depth. \u201cIf the volume and speed of magma injection into this reservoir is very large, a large quantity of fluids can be emitted catastrophically into the atmosphere with the magma during a volcanic eruption,\u201d said Chiaradia. However, these fluids can also emerge under the Earth\u2019s surface and give rise to a porphyry copper deposit at a depth ranging between 1km and 6km.<\/p>\n
It is also significant to point out that this phenomenon is much less recurrent, which somewhat illuminates the rarity of copper deposits. \u201cIt takes tens to hundreds of thousands of years for a copper deposit to form, whereas volcanic eruptions are more frequent. A failed eruption depends on the combination of several parameters: the speed of magma injection, the speed of its cooling, and the rigidity of the Earth\u2019s crust that surrounds the magma chamber. The latter must be flexible to absorb the pressure exerted by the new magma arrivals, so that the eruption does not take place,\u201d added Luca Caricchi, second author and Associate Professor at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.<\/p>\n
Towards deposit exploration<\/h3>\n \u201cThe discovery of similarities between large eruptions and deposits will make it possible to use a large amount of knowledge acquired by vulcanologists to advance our understanding of the formation of porphyry deposits,\u201d commented Chiaradia.<\/p>\n
In order to achieve their results, the UNIGE team utilised data and figures supplied by mining companies as well as data accumulated in the field and the laboratory by various researchers. This was then combined with petrological and geochemical models.<\/p>\n
The team\u2019s exciting findings open novel opportunities for the development of geological, mineralogical, and geochemical tools for future successful exploration of the largest porphyry copper deposits on Earth. \u201cThe next step will be to work on a model that will help us to quantify the total copper content and therefore the quality of a potentially exploitable deposit as accurately as possible,\u201d concluded Chiaradia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Scientists at the University of Geneva have uncovered significant knowledge on the origins of copper deposit formation and finding new copper deposits. Copper is amongst the most utilised metals on the planet due to its impressive electrical and thermal conduction properties. The largest natural resources of copper are known as \u2018porphyry\u2019 deposits that originate from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":21099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24204],"tags":[24203,24335,582,24161,24163],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Finding new copper deposits for the green energy transition<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n