Scientific Program

The organising committee is working hard to pull together a great conference. We are planning a series of technical sessions with presentations on the latest research for a wide range of topics on Ni-Cu-PGE mineral systems.

Given the location of the conference, a number of sessions will be dedicated to deposits in the Midcontinent Rift System (MRS), but talks on other global settings, including more unconventional deposits, such as those in collisional/post-collisional settings, will also be a focus.

Below is a list of session themes that cover a broad range of topics that are of interest to mineral deposit geologists, isotope geochemists, petrologists, and geophysicists:

  • MRS magmatism and sulfide deposits
    • Discussion on the magmatic evolution of the Midcontinent Rift System, with emphasis on how this evolution relates to the formation of sulfide deposits in the region.
  • Structure in regional exploration
    • The importance of structure to focusing magma flow and controlling magmatic processes (e.g., contamination).
    • Applicability of structure to identifying mineral deposits at the regional scale.
  • What we know and don't know about magmatic sulfide deposits
    • Title speaks for itself!
  • Geophysics and petrophysics applied to magmatic sulfide deposits
    • Application of rock properties to help guide exploration for magmatic sulfide deposits.
    • Novel geophysical techniques that can help delineate orebodies, vector towards mineralization, and characterize the structure of mineralizing systems.
  • Hydrochemistry of Ni, Cu, and PGE
    • Mobility of Ni, Cu, and PGE in hydrothermal fluids related to magmatic sulfide deposits, focusing primarily on experimental work, but field-based studies are also welcome.
    • Work relating magmatic sulfide deposits to hydrothermal deposits via fluid-related processes may also be welcome.
  • Metal stable isotope systematics of magmatic sulfide deposits
    • Emphasis on the application of non-traditional metal stable isotopes (e.g., Cu, Fe, Zn, Mg) to magmatic sulfide research
    • Comparative research with traditional (e.g., S, C, O) stable isotope techniques.
  • Mineral chemistry as petrogenetic and exploration tools
    • Discussions on the utility of mineral chemistry to characterizing magmatic and hydrothermal processes in sulfide deposits, and to identifying and vectoring to fertile rock in these systems.
  • Mantle sources to magmatic sulfide deposits
    • Contributions of mantle sources (e.g., plume, SCLM, subduction-modified mantle) to the generation of metal-rich magmas that feed fertile intrusive systems.
  • Convergent margin-related sulfide deposits
    • Development of Ni-Cu-PGE-rich sulfide deposits in convergent-margin settings, with a focus on identifying how these mineral systems differ from the more typical plume-related deposits (e.g., physicochemical conditions, mineralizing processes).
  • Machine learning for petrogenesis and exploration
    • Development of machine-learning algorithms to assist in differentiating between barren and fertile rock, vectoring towards mineralization, characterizing physicochemical conditions (e.g., fO 2 ), and identifying mineralizing processes.
  • General topics in Ni-Cu-PGE sulfide deposits
    • Ni-Cu-PGE research on themes that may not fit into the broad topics above.