Project partners
Note! Recent updates available on our new website: https://projektit.gtk.fi/minextarget/
MinExTarget - Enhanced Use of Heavy Mineral Chemistry in Exploration Targeting
New ore deposits supplying the raw materials for our societies and support the green energy transition are becoming more and more difficult to find. The industry is in need of new tools for exploration, because undiscovered mineral deposits are partly or completely buried and reside deeper in the crust. This also means that exploration in recent years has become less efficient and more expensive.
The MinExTarget project aims development and introduction of a new exploration tool which provides better targeting capacities in the early stages of mineral exploration. The innovative concept of the project is that the primary sources of geochemical and mineralogical anomalies can be better targeted and qualified by the determination of associations and concentrations of trace elements together with stable and radiogenic isotope compositions in selected types of heavy mineral grains. This approach is based on the introduction of automated electron-optical and laser ablation inductively couple mass spectroscopic analytical methods into the everyday practice of characterization of heavy mineral separates. The test areas of the project are located in intensely explored terrains with diverse types of metallic mineral deposits in Northern and Central Europe and Greenland.
MinExTarget is a European Union project supported by EIT RawMaterials. The project is led by the Geological Survey of Finland. Members of the consortium are: Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, University of Oulu (Mining School and Business School), UiT Arctic University of Norway, AGH University of Science and Technology, CRS Ltd, Palsatech Ltd and Mawson Oy.
