News of June 27, 2024

Freiberg geoscientists successful at global Future Explorers Challenge

Copper and gold are two of the most sought-after metals, and mankind has mined and used them for thousands of years. Because of its high electrical conductivity, copper is one of the key metals for the global energy transition. Gold, on the other hand, is a precious metal that has mainly been used in the jewelry industry or as a store of wealth, but, more recently, has also become increasingly important for the electronics industry.

But first, these metals have to be mined. Gold and copper remain limited resources that are becoming increasingly difficult and costly to obtain. The Chelopech mine in Bulgaria, located around 75 kilometers east of the capital Sofia, is operated by the Canadian mining company Dundee Precious Metals, and is a large copper and gold producer. The mine exploits high-grade ores from a series of geologically complex orebodies. Late last year, Dundee Precious Metals announced the Future Explorers Challenge to find further orebodies around Chelopech. Geoscientists from around the world were asked to use innovative approaches to predict the likely locations of new mineralization around the existing mine site. This open innovation challenge also raised the interest of five young researchers in Freiberg (heralding from five different countries on three continents), all affiliated with the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology (HIF).  

Through evenings and weekends the Freiberg team – consisting of Dr. Sam Thiele, Marie Guilcher, Dr. Max Frenzel, Dr. Jan Cerny, and Akshay Kamath – worked with the comprehensive dataset provided by Dundee Precious Metals, finally identifying a few discrete places they regarded as the most prospective for future discoveries of Cu and Au ores around the Chelopech mine. Their innovative approach convinced the high caliber technical team of Dundee Precious Metals and they awarded the Freiberg team second place in the Future Explorers Challenge.

Dr. Sam Thiele, head of the successful Freiberg team, explains the approach as follows: "we were able to reconstruct the geometry of the past volcanic environment at Chelopech and, based on this, place the known orebodies into their original context. This helped us puzzle together the mineral system that formed the Cu and Au ores and, with the help of a machine learning model, identify geologically similar but yet unexplored areas that may host undiscovered mineralization."

Prof. Jens Gutzmer, geologist and director of the HIF congratulates the successful Freiberg team. “We view this success as a tangible expression of the excellent knowledge base that we have established at our institute – and the capability of our young researchers to translate their knowledge into much needed meaningful innovation for the global raw materials industry.”

Announcement of the award: link to video