SOCIETY OF ECONOMIC GEOLOGISTS, INC. 7811 Shaffer Parkway Littleton, CO 80127-3732 USA Tel: +1.720.981.7882 Fax: +1.720.981.7874 E-mail: studentprograms@segweb.org Student Chapter Annual Report Form This form is used to report on Student Chapter activities over the previous year. The report provides a useful medium to document the status and progress of individual chapters. Annual Reports are used to evaluate applications for SEG support and to keep information up-to-date on the SEG website. Please provide a summary of chapter activities in a concise form as suggested below. Description of programs may be supported by a limited number of photographs and figures in a format appropriate for publishing on our website. Submission Deadline: September 30th Submit to: studentprograms@segweb.org Month/Year Reported: From (mm/yyyy) 10/2016 To (mm/yyyy) 10/2017 Chapter Name: Cardiff University SEG Cardiff SEG Chapter, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT Chapter Mailing Address: Chapter E-mail: cardiffsegchapter@gmail.com Chapter Website: @CardiffSEG on twitter Chapter Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cardiffseg/ Chapter Executive Committee (in office during the time frame captured on this report) (type Vacant if position not filled): President: Andrew Martin MartinAJ4@cardiff.ac.uk Name E-mail Vice President: Jamie Price PriceJJ1@cardiff.ac.uk Name E-mail Secretary: Aled Evans EvansA69@cardiff.ac.uk Name E-mail Treasurer: Hannah Stephenson StephensonHG@cardiff.ac.uk Name E-mail Chapter Academic Sponsor (SEG Fellow membership in good standing): Dr James Lambert-Smith Lambert-Smith@cardiff.ac.uk +44 2920874323 Name E-mail Phone School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Main Building, Park Place, Cardiff CF10 3AT n/a Address Fax Chapter Industry Sponsor (SEG Fellow membership in good standing and not affiliated with the student chapter s institution): Mark Davis mdgeoinfo@gmail.com +44 (0)79 1033 5520 Name E-mail Phone Saudi Arabia Address Fax Sponsoring Institution or Company (name): Fugro-Suhaimi Ltd Attach: 1. a list of names of all Student Chapter members (please indicate by * if SEG Student Member). 2. complete Student Chapter Membership Information form with the current Executive Committee listed on page 1. On a separate page(s) provide a summary of student chapter annual activities: 1. Regular meetings, lectures 2. Field trips (dates, area visited, field trip leaders, number of participants, sponsors, benefits for students). Note: this is not the place for a detailed field trip report that is required from a chapter who has received funding from the Stewart R. Wallace Fund. 3. If your chapter received funding from the Stewart R. Wallace Fund, please submit a separate actual 4. Organization of conferences, workshops, short courses (theme, number of participants, benefits for students) 5. Participation in conferences, workshops, short courses (theme, number of participants from the chapter, benefits for students) 6. Fund-raising programs 7. Other programs accounting of how chapter funds were spent/used. 8. Future plans Aug2015VS
Cardiff University SEG Student Chapter Annual Report (2016-2017) President: Andrew Martin; Vice President: Jamie Price; Treasurer: Hannah Stephenson; Secretary: Aled Evans Exploration is the engine that drives innovation. Innovation drives economic growth. So let's all go exploring - Edith Widder Figure 1: The SEG committee and students in Sweden Over the past year the Cardiff SEG Student Chapter has continued to provide our students with the opportunity to engage with industry professionals and leading academics in the field of economic geology. Highlights from the past year include a keynote presentation by Professor Frances Wall on rare earth elements which 85 students attended, four students represented the Chapter at the last Mineral Deposit Studies Group (MDSG) meeting in Bristol and finally our annual fieldtrip to Sweden was a resounding success. We have made great progress in the past year but there are still areas we need to improve on. Participation is up to 65 members compared with 32 last year. This number is good but still disappointing given the 90 exploration students who study at Cardiff. We have an active Facebook and Twitter feed to promote economic geology and our weekly talks. Since becoming affiliated with the students union (SU) in 2016 we have benefited from improved advertising. We can now advertise at the Fresher s Fair and on the SU website. Based on last years Fresher s Fair we may not participate in this years, we feel spending the time going into lectures may be more beneficial. To improve talk attendance the SEG gave a short presentation in every undergraduate lecture last year at the beginning of the year, the aim of this was to remind people to renew their membership and introduce the SEG to the new intake of students.
We plan to increase student membership by making a short promotional video and highlighting our adventures from the SEG fieldtrips. We considering getting more undergraduates involved through appointing course representatives. This would be one student member from each year who would be responsible for advertising the SEG in their year. Insurance for the Chapter remains covered by the School of Earth and Ocean not the SU. To conclude, the year has been successful, our attendance is up but could still be improved as mentioned above. We plan to achieve this through making a promotional video and appointing a course representative from each year. We will continue to promote our weekly presentations via social media and by advertising in lectures. We are looking at changing our financial accounts so they are centralised and more easily accessible through the SU. SEG Cardiff Presentation 2016-2017 Over the past academic year the Cardiff SEG Student Chapter has hosted a wide variety of talks from industry professionals and academics. The presentations aimed to give students a flavour for industry and give context to skills they learn in lectures and how they may be applied to industry focused research. These talks also provide an excellent opportunity for students to network and meet future employers. We sincerely thank everyone who presented! 14 th November 2016 Oliver Jones, SRK Consulting Talk title: From first setting foot on the ground to mining a commodity, in a nutshell Oliver s talk aimed to give an overview of the mining cycle from exploration through to extraction. The talk focused on deposits SRK have worked on from around the World. The talk discussed common processes used to define a resource such as grade estimation, exploration techniques and common issues associated with opening a mine. The highlight of the talk was an ore test for the undergraduate students. Oli supplied a selection of his favourite minerals from mines he had visited and got students to identify them. The winner of the 5 prize (!) was Vlad an environmental applied geology MSc student. 21 st November 2016 Dr. Dominique Tanner, University of Wollongong Talk title: High sulphidation gold deposits under the microscope: the record from minerals beneath the El indo Au-Ag-Cu deposit (a fossil fumarole system) Dom wanted to show the students how good research can be used in industry and that defining good genetic models is key in understanding mineral deposits. Dom showed some encaptivating footage from White Island Volcano (NZ), an active high-sulphidation deposit which really captured the student s attention. The talk then focused on how we can use mineral scale studies using textures, trace elements and isotopes to help predict the area s most likely to be enriched in gold. Once you understand the processes you can then apply this technique to any HS epithermal gold deposit in the world- a handy tool for predicting grade distribution and nugget effect.
2 nd December 2016 Ian Bliss, Northern Shield Talk title: All in a day s work Ian is the CEO of a Northern Shield, a mineral exploration company focusing on exploration in Arctic regions such as Quebec and Greenland. Iain gave the students a real insight into what it s like to be an exploration geologist. The talk focused on the challenges associated with Arctic exploration and working in remote areas. Iain touched on codes of practice including how his company meets the requirements of NI-43-101 reporting code. This was an excellent opportunity for the students get a sense of the quality control needed to prove a reserve/resource. The talk also provided the opportunity for students to ask about summer placements and what can be expected of them as a graduate geologist. 5 th December 2016 Aoife Blight, Boliden Talk title: Adventures in Elephant Country Aoife is a recent graduate from Camborne School of Mines with previous experience working in Au in South Africa and currently works in exploration for Boliden, Sweden. Aoife s talk focused on life after university and her experience as a women in mining. Aoife gave the students an honest opinion of her career pathway and what she would do differently if she had to do it all again. The point of interdisciplinary communication (mining-exploration-engineering) was at the forefront of the talk. The talk provided a good role model for all but especially women thinking of pursuing a career in mining. 23 rd January 2017 Professor Frances Wall, CSM (Keynote) Talk title: An introduction to REE s Frances gave an excellent talk on all things REE related. The talk covered a range of topics including the uses of REE, the supply of REE and metal criticality. Frances is the leader of the SoS MinErals program funded by NERC and a world leader in REE, it was great pleasure to have her present at Cardiff. Over 85 students attended this presentation- a new SEG record for Cardiff. Frances s talk focused on issues surrounding the supply of REE; over 95% of all REE are sourced from China. The environmental impact associated with REE is huge as they are often associated with thorium; this leads to huge environmental problems in China! The talk was followed by drinks and nibbles to honour the memory of Professor Hazel Prichard who sadly passed away on the 01/01/2017.
30 th January Andrew Martin, Cardiff University Talk tile: An idiot proof guide to mining economics Andrew presented an interactive insight to mining economics. Mining economics is a mine field filled with jargon. The aim of this talk was give the students a sense of the numbers behind commodities and how much it costs to mine material. This was achieved through a game of mining themed higher or lower. The talk focused on metallic minerals and key terms like net present value and all in cash costs etc. were disgust. The students were shocked at the money behind mining but also how low the industry is as a whole when compared to 2007-08. It s a message the students need to know if they plan to get a job in mining! 6 th February 2017 Phalene Gowling, Halliburton Talk title: Exploring subsurface risk at the Zambezi Delta using 3D modelling Phalene, a Cardiff graduate returned to talk about her role in the petroleum industry. Phalene showed some amazing graphics of various software packages Halliburton use. The software packages are advancing the way we view the sub surface as we move away from easy oil. Phalene focused on one example from the Zambezi Delta where a 3D depth model had been used to assess source rock distribution and maturity leading to the production of regional prospectively maps. 14 th March 2017 Tome Cotterell- National Museum Wales Night at the Museum II (organised by Cardiff SEG) After the success of our first night at the museum three years ago we decided it was time for a revisit. A small group of students were allowed a free of charge visit behind the scenes of the National Wales Museum. We were given access to the fossil and mineral stores with some exceptional specimens, some of the best Welsh gold we ve ever seen. We then took a tour of the analytical and rock preparation facilities at the museum and performed some XRD analyses of a gold rich sample. This was a good opportunity for the students to get an idea of more complex mineral identification techniques.
Drinks and Nibbles Frances Wall Aoife Blight Ian Bliss Figure 2: Selection of Images from our guest lectures. Field trips and Conferences After the success of our 2016 Finland trip we decided to hop across the border to Sweden. Sweden is listed as number two on the Investment Attractiveness Index (IAI) for Europe and number eight in the world, clearly a top mining destination! Considering the feedback from our 2016 fieldtrip we aimed to take more people to Sweden however the maximum number mines could accommodate was a limiting factor; most mines could only accommodate a maximum of 8 people underground (including two staff members) which limited us to 12 people in total. The trip was open to all 2 nd, 3 rd and MSc students who were SEG student members. We had an excellent response and were over subscribed for the trip. Places were allocated on a 1 st come 1 st served basis however a preferences was given to 2 nd and 3 rd years over MSc students. We gatefully acknolwedge the support of SRK and SEG Stewart R. Wallace fund.
Sweden 12 th -19 th June The week long field trip was organised by two Chapter members Andrew Martin and Hannah Stephenson for a small group of undergraduate and postgraduate students. The fieldtrip was generously subsidised by the SEG Stewart R. Wallace fund and our Industry sponsor SRK Consulting (UK) Ltd. During the trip we visited a wide range of base and precious metal mines and exploration projects. The trip gave the students an industry focused insight into mining practice and the role of a geologist or exploration geologist in industry. We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to everyone who helped make this trip possible. During the week we visited the underground Kankberg Au-Te mine- one of the only Te mines in the world! We then headed north to Aitik, Europe s largest open pit Cu mine before heading even further north well up into the Arctic Circle to the Kiruna Fe mine. Kiruna is the world s largest underground Fe ore mine and type locality for Kiruna-type IOCG deposits. Heading down south towards Skelleftea we visited the Renstrom area and spent a day looking at near mine exploration for Au. We then headed down to southern Sweden to Granna where we spent a day looking at REE mineralisation at the Norra Karr REE prospect; this deposit is thought to be Europe s best shot at mining REE. The final stop on the tour was Europe s second largest underground Zn mine; Garpenberg. For further detail please see our submitted fieldtrip report. Some of our favourite photos are highlighted overleaf in Figure 3. Chapter member s conference contributions and short courses Poster presentation at MDSG: Martin A.J., McDonald I, MacLeod C.J. A new insight into off axis mineralisation from Alpen Rose, Troodos, Cyprus. Poster presentation at SoS MInErals summer school: Martin A.J., McDonald I, McFall K, Trace element geochemistry of pyrite from VMS of the Troodos ophiolite. Oral presentation at Goldschmidt: Martin A.J., McDonald I, Prichard H. M, MacLeod C.J, McFall, K, Jenkin, G.R.T, Just Plain Pyrite? Understanding Tellurium and Selenium in Cyprus-type VMS deposits. Oral Presentation at Overview of Geochemical Exploration: Martin A.J., H.M Prichard, I. McDonald Distribution and enrichment of Te and Se in VMS hydrothermal systems. Andrew Martin and George Guice attended the Overview of Geochemical Exploration course at Camborne School of Mines, 10-12 March 2017 DTP Industry Partners Event, Bristol University, 19th January 2017 Price J.J, A. Kerr- Poster Presentation, 'Gold Mineralisation in the Yalgoo Singleton Greenstone Belt, Western Australia'. MDSG Conference, Bristol University, 19th-21st December 2016 Price J.J, Kerr A., T. Blenkinsop Poster Presentation 'Gold mineralisation in the Yalgoo Singleton Greenstone Belt, Western Australia'. Wessex Conference, Bristol University, 10th-11th April 2017 - Price J.J, Kerr A. 'A hard problem to solve: an unidentified unit on the lode-gold bearing Mougooderra Shear Zone, Western Australia'. MDSG Conference, Bristol University, 19th-21st December 2016 Poster Presentation Stephenson H.G, Tanner D, Muir D, McDonald I and Grobler D. 'Development of a new automated technique for PGM identification a SEM running AZtec software'.
The Aitik open pit, Gallivare Haul Trucks at Aitik UV minerals- Kankberg Blasted drift at Kiruna Garpenberg Eudialyte from Nora Karr Figure 3: A selection of our favourite Sweden photos. All photos taken by Andrew Martin
Future Plans The following points are ideas we have to further promote our society within the University: 1. Introduce an SEG representative for each year group to promote SEG activities within their cohort. This will shift the focus of the SEG from PhD students toward the undergraduates. PhD students will remain responsible for organisational matters but promotion will fall to the SEG representatives. 2. Create a short promotional video to advertise the SEG to students and prospective students. 3. Plan more local residential trips to places in the UK, including N. Wales, Ireland and Cornwall. These trips will cost less and be able to accommodate more people giving more students the opportunity to attend. We will also be considering another trip abroad, most likely Greece or Portugal. 4. Organise an SRK day. This will be a day focused around SRK Consulting who are our local industry partner. The day will focus around activity based tasks such as core logging, P-XRF analysis, mock geochemical exploration case studies and presentations from industry professionals. We have approached SRK and they are happy to help in this matter.