IN THIS ISSUE
TRANSECT DATA RELEASES
MERC SHORT COURSE
ANNUAL REPORT
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
CONFERENCE ACTIVITIES
UPCOMING MODULAR COURSES
CAREER & RESEARCH OPPORTUNITIES
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Greetings to all readers,
As Director of MERC and Metal Earth, I'm pleased to present our winter 2024 newsletter, featuring the last of the Abitibi transect data releases, an upcoming short course, the MERC Annual Report, featured publications, modular courses, and career opportunities. We invite you to share our news with colleagues and always appreciate your feedback.
Ross Sherlock, Director, Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC) & Metal Earth
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ABITIBI TRANSECT DATA RELEASES
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Interactive web maps detailing sampling locations, collected field data, and analysis for all Abitibi Transects are available on the Metal Earth GeoHub. This includes Chibougamau, Malartic, Rouyn-Noranda, Larder Lake, Cobalt, Swayze and Matheson.
These new tools display:
- data collected at sample locations
- gravity and magnetotelluric source data files
- geochemical analysis in spreadsheet format
- instructions to download full seismic datasets.
This work was undertaken thanks in part to funding from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. Special thanks to Anne Barr and Pouran Behnia for their diligence in preparing this data for public release.
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The influences of tectonics and crustal architecture on gold and base metal endowment in Archean terranes compared with modern oceanic arcs
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At PDAC 2024, join MERC and Metal Earth researchers from Laurentian University, Université Laval, and the University of Ottawa for this full-day comprehensive course examining findings and analysis from Canada's Metal Earth project.
Date: Saturday, March 2, 2024
Time: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
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The Mineral Exploration Research Centre (MERC) released its 2022-23 Annual Report in early January. This report provides a detailed overview of our MERC and Metal Earth team members' activities, achievements, progress, and plans. If you have not yet reviewed it, the link is below. We look forward to your feedback!
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Density and magnetic susceptibility of major rock types within the Abitibi greenstone belt: a compilation with examples of its use in constraining inversion
Esmaeil Eshaghi, R. Vayavur, R. S. Smith, C. Mancuso, F. Della Justina & J. Ayer (2023), Exploration Geophysics, 54:6, 647-669, DOI: 10.1080/08123985.2023.2236154.
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Development and application of feature engineered geological layers for ranking magmatic, volcanogenic, and orogenic system components in Archean greenstone belts
R.M. Montsion, S. Perrouty, M.D. Lindsay, M.W. Jessell, R. Sherlock, Geoscience Frontiers, Volume 15, Issue 2, 2024, ISSN 1674-9871,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gsf.2023.101759.
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Zircon U-Pb-Hf isotope evidence for juvenile Penokean sources (ca. 1.9 Ga) in the SW Grenville Province
J.W.D. Strong, A.R. Cruden, P.A. Cawood, A.P. Dickin, Lithos, Volumes 462–463, 2023, 107420, ISSN 0024-4937, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lithos.2023.107420.
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UPCOMING CONFERENCES & EVENTS
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Meet MERC and Metal Earth Director Ross Sherlock, research associates, and graduate students at AME Roundup in Vancouver, January 22-24, 2024. Please find us at the MERC booth (#318) to receive updates on current and upcoming research projects, discuss career opportunities, and learn about our laboratory services.
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Join researchers, faculty, and students from MERC, Metal Earth, and the Harquail School of Earth Sciences at the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) Convention from March 3-6, 2024. Join us at our Short Course on Saturday, meet us at the Laurentian University booth, and check out the student research presented at the Student Minerals Colloquium.
Metal Earth Short Course
Saturday, March 2
Metal Earth researchers will present a 1-day Short Course: The influences of tectonics and crustal architecture on gold and base metal endowment in Archean terranes compared with modern oceanic arcs.
Morning presentations will highlight Laurentian University’s Metal Earth program, where over 1,000 km of reflection seismic, magnetotelluric and gravity surveys have provided crustal-scale imaging from 13 areas with differing mineral endowment, including world-class base metal and gold camps in the southern Superior Craton. Presentations will highlight the crustal architecture of endowed and less endowed transects in the Abitibi and Wabigoon terranes through geophysical studies integrated with geological, geochemical and geochronological data, followed by researcher presentations on the radiogenic isotopic characteristics of endowed and less endowed areas; architectural features of transects with variable metal endowment in the Beardmore-Geraldton area; and a model for hydrothermal fluid evolution and gold mineralization in orogenic deposits.
Afternoon presentations will be by Metal Earth’s partner research groups at Université Laval and the University of Ottawa. The Gold Fluid Window research group (Laval) will provide highlights from projects to define the P-T-t-X conditions of orogenic gold fluids from sedimentary source rocks and the geodynamic settings where favourable conditions are met to form orogenic gold deposits by modelling the composition, volume and timing of fluid generation from the Pontiac terrane and the controls and timing of orogenic gold in the Val d’Or and Malartic camps. Presentations by the Metal Oceans group (Ottawa) will focus on crustal growth and mineral endowment in the modern Indo-Australian Arc-Back-Arc microplate environment, currently the fastest-growing crust on earth, hosting 3 of the top 10 Cu-Au deposits in the world. The focus will be on the timing and scale of pulses of crustal growth and associated magmatic and hydrothermal activity, currently being studied with the same geophysical, geochemical and geochronological tools used on Metal Earth’s transects in the Superior craton. The presentations will compare features of rifting and auriferous faults in the Abitibi greenstone belt with those in a modern arc-back-arc environment most likely associated with VMS and gold mineralization.
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Exploration for Magmatic Ore Deposits
GEOL 5606
April 10-19, 2024
Join professors Dr. C. Michael Lesher and Dr. Pedro Jugo for this 10-day intensive course in magmatic Ni-Cu-(PGE), PGE, Cr, and Ti-V deposits, including 3 days of theoretical material, 5 days of case studies, and 2 days of exploration methods. Topics include: S and Cr solubility and metal partitioning in mafic-ultramafic magmas; generation of fertile magmas; applications of stable and radiogenic isotopes (including mass-independent S isotopes) in identifying S and metal sources; sulfide transport and localization mechanisms; textures and deformation of Fe-Ni-Cu sulfide ores, sulfide recalculation and plotting methods; geology/genesis of and exploration for Ni-Cu-(PGE) deposits in mafic-ultramafic lava channels, feeder sills/dikes, and magma conduits; geology/genesis of and exploration for PGE deposits in mafic-ultramafic layered intrusions; geology/genesis of and exploration for stratiform and podiform Cr deposits and Ti-V deposits in anorthosites and mafic-ultramafic intrusions. Case studies and laboratory exercises will include: Alexo (ON), Duluth (MN), Eagle (MI), Eagle’s Nest (ON), Kambalda (WA), Jinchuan and other deposits in China, Noril’sk-Talnakh and Pechenga (RU), Tamarack (MN), Thompson (MB), Raglan (Nunavik), Sudbury (ON), and Voisey’s Bay (Labrador) Ni-Cu-PGE; and Bushveld (SA) and Stillwater (MT) PGE and Cr; and ‘Ring of Fire” (ON) Cr. Exploration methods include geological/mineralogical/ lithogeochemical/geophysical applications to greenfields/regional/brownfields targeting.
Contact Roxane Mehes (rmehes@laurentian.ca) to register. Contact Michael Lesher (mlesher@laurentian.ca) for additional information.
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The Harquail School of Earth Sciences, MERC, and Metal Earth attract top-calibre professionals, graduate and undergraduate students, and postdoctoral researchers for academic and staff roles. Many of these opportunities are made possible with support/collaboration from industry, academic, and funding partners.
Staff/Faculty Postings
- Two Postdoctoral Fellow Opportunities - MERC/Agnico Eagle, Macassa Mine, Kirkland Lake
- Metal Earth Post-doctoral Fellow Position at Université Laval
- Assistant/Associate Professor in Ore Deposits, Critical Minerals (Tenure-track)
Student Research Projects
- Two MSc Projects - MERC/Agnico Eagle, Macassa Mine, Kirkland Lake
- MSc Graduate Opportunity – Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Applied to Geoscience
- MERC/Kinross MSc Project – Metamorphic P-T-t and Fluid History
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