Description du projet
Stimuler la prospection minière en Europe grâce à des technologies écologiques et peu coûteuses
Pour ne plus dépendre d’importations de métaux et de produits minéraux, l’Europe a tout intérêt à adopter des méthodes de prospection respectueuses de l’environnement et rentables pour localiser et exploiter ses propres ressources minérales. Le projet PACIFIC, financé par l’UE, entend développer et démontrer deux techniques innovantes de prospection des minerais qui sont efficaces, économiques et dont l’impact environnemental est moindre que les techniques actuellement mises en œuvre. La première de ces techniques est une méthode de sismique passive par réflexion qui permet de localiser les gisements de minéraux dans les zones inexplorées. La seconde est une méthode multi-réseaux permettant une prospection de plus haute résolution sur les sites de forage. Ces méthodes seront validées par deux sociétés de prospection minière participantes sur des sites au Canada et en Suède.
Objectif
"The PACIFIC consortium will develop a new, low-cost and environmentally friendly tool for exploring for mineral deposits beneath the surface. The approach will build on the ""traditional"" passive seismic method, which is capable of providing useful broad-brush background information about the geological and structural setting of mineralised regions, but lacks the resolution needed for reliable identification of ore bodies. Two radically new developments are planned; reflection passive seismics, which is appropriate from greenfields exploration, and the multi-array method, which will typically be deployed during drilling or in brownfields exploration. Both techniques have major advantages over current techniques, namely relatively low cost and minor impact on the environment. Through the participation of two mineral exploration companies in the project, the two techniques will be validated on test sites in Canada and Sweden, thus brought from TRL2 to TRL5. Research on social acceptance and public perception of risk for mining activities will accompany the deployment and testing of the techniques.
The PACIFIC consortium comprises a major university and a research institute who will develop the theoretical background and codes for data treatment, a mid-tier mining company and a junior exploration company who will provide logistic support and access to test sites, two small service companies who will conduct the surveys and analyse the data, a geological survey who will conduct research on public opinion, and a company who will manage the project.
The PACIFIC project will thereby transfer the fruits of cutting-edge scientific research to industry and launch the development and deployment of new mineral exploration methods. This will enhance the competitiveness of the European mineral exploration industry, contribute to the discovery of new European ore deposits and decrease the dependence of European industry on imported mineral products.
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Champ scientifique
- humanitiesartsmodern and contemporary artradio and television
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturehorticulturefruit growing
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringmining and mineral processing
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- social sciencessociologygovernancecrisis management
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinateur
38058 Grenoble
France