Economic geology at AGH - a summary of the 2023 activities
2023 was full of scientific and educational activities at the Ore Geology Group at AGH. Besides publishing scientific articles, members took part in numerous conferences, field works and excursions.
On April 4, 2023 public PhD defence of M.Sc. Aung Myo Thu took place, based on a thesis titled „Geology and genesis of the Nwe Yon-Kwinthoneze Gold District, Central Myanmar: insights from mineralogical, fluid inclusions and (S, C, O, H, Pb) isotopes”. The thesis was prepared under the supervision of prof. Adam Piestrzyński, and revieved by prof. Stanisław Speczik (UW), prof. Gregor Borg (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Niemcy) and prof. Vasilios Melfos (University of Thessaloniki, Grecja).
In April/May SGA Baltic Student Chapter organized an annual chapter meeting in Oulu (Finland). Students had a chance to visit underground Kemi and Pyhasalmi mines, took part in special lectures and relax in true finnish sauna. AGH students visited pegmatite localities on the way north, where they collected samples for their research project:„New, potential source of critical metals: mineralogy and geochemistry of sulphides from selected pegmatites", supervised by dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek.
Ore geology group memebrs participated in a comference Mineralogická konferencia Vyšná Boca 2023 (25-27.5 2023 in Vyšna Boca, Slowacja) and presented poster: Mineralogy and geochemistry of Cu-As-Sn-Bi in Miedzianka polymetallic deposit, Sudety Mountains, Poland; Kacper Muszyński, Jaroslav Pršek
In July 2023, students had an opportunity to participate in field practice in Slovakia, in the area of Banska Štiavnice where they visited Rozalia gold mine in Hodruša-Hámroch
On July 24, the European Commission announced the results of the Innovative technologies for sustainable and decarbonised extraction (RIA) call. One of the project to be financed is AVANTIS "Sustainable, decarbonised co-extraction of vanadium and titanium minerals from Europe’s low-grade vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite deposits", which will be carried out by the international consortium including KGZiG team under the supervision of prof. Adam Piestrzyński in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Engineering at WILiGZ AGH. The project is financed by Horizon Europe (HORIZON-CL4-2023-RESILIENCE-01-02).
Members of the Ore deposit group participated in 17th SGA Biennial Meeting 2023 and presented the following results
Book of abstracts is available HERE
At the end of September 2023, fourth edition of the Course for Young Geologists organized by the Geology Students Scientific Association AGH took place in Owl Mountains, Sudetes. It was led by employees and PhD students from AGH and Wroclaw University (former PhD student at WGGIOŚ AGH). Participants had an opportunity to learn tips and tricks useful in the field, especially related to soil sampling , panning and collecting rocks from the old mining dumps.
In academic year 2023/2024, Konrad Kluza become doctoral student of the Doctoral School at AGH Uninversity. His research topis is: Mineralogy and metal distribution in hydrothermal mineralization of magnesite deposit Hnusta - Mutnik, Slovakia supervised by dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek.
On October 17-18, 2023 members of the group participated in a conference “Metalogeneza i znaczenie gospodarcze polimetalicznych złóż miedzi w Polsce”(Metallogenesis and economic importance of polymetallic copper deposits in Poland), organized in Warsaw to commemorate 75th birthday of prof. dr. hab. Stanisław Speczik and 70th anniversary of the Facult of Geology UW.
Members of the group participated in the 28th Meeting of the Petrology Group of the PTMin and 9th Meeting of the Mineralogical Society of Poland (19-22.10.2023, Bielawa) presenting talk: "Cassiterites from the Western Sudetes, SW Poland" (Adam Piestrzyński, Władysław Zygo, Krzysztof Foltyn, Tonny Bernt Thomsen, Benjamin Heredia).
Book of abstracts is available: HERE
On November 13, 2023 public Phd defence of mgr inż. Sławomir Mederski took place. His thesis titled: „Characteristics of the hydrothermal base-metal mineralization of the Kizhnica ore field, Kosovo: Mineralogy, geochemistry and genesis” was supervised by dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek, while reviewers were prof. Panagiotis Voudoris (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Grecja) and doc RN dr Stanislav Jelen (The Matej Bel University Banská Bystrica, Slovakia).
On November 29, 2023 at the Wrocław University of Science and Technology, public defence of mgr inż. Wojciech Kaczan took place. His thesis titled: „Identyfikacja, metody pozyskania i wykorzystanie metali krytycznych na Dolnym Śląsku” was supervised by prof. dr hab. inż. Herbert Wirth and prof. dr hab. inż. Adam Piestrzyński.
On November 22, dr Christian Ihlenfeld and Stephanie Blåberg, geologists working for the Anglo American, gave a lecture: “From Exploration to Mining – Anglo American’s Activities in Europe”.
On December 1, 2023 we were visited by prof. David Holwell from the University of Leicester, who gave a talk „Magmatic Ni-Cu-Co-PGE deposits”. Profesor Holwell is SGA Regional Vice-Presidents (Europe), and was awarded 2023 SEG Distinguished Lecturer.
In December 2023, during 64th St Barbara Student Scientific Conference AGH, 5 presentations were supervised by members of the Ore geology group:
Aleksander Błasiak, Andrzej Burtan (supervisors: dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek, mgr inż. Konrad Kluza) - III place and audience award
Marta Wróbel, Jakub Maciejewski (supervisors: mgr inż. Konrad Kluza, dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek)
Agata Meszka, Aleksander Błasiak (supervisors: dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek, mgr inż. Konrad Kluza) - II place
Michał Dziedzic, Wojciech Prusinowski (supervisors: mgr inż. Konrad Kluza, dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek)
Wojciech Liwacz, Wojciech Rzepiela (supervisors: mgr inż. Konrad Kluza, dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek)
In 2023, four students defended master thesis:
Adam Tomczak, supervisor: dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek
Karolina Lizoń , supervisor: dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek
Konrad Pytel supervisor: dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek
Konrad Kluza supervisor: dr hab. Jaroslav Pršek
Graduates currently work for KGHM Cuprum, Kaunis Iron (Sweden), LKAB (Sweden) or continue education in Doctoral Schools.
On December 15, 2023 final meeting of the MinExTarget – Enhanced Use of Heavy Mineral Chemistry in Exploration Targeting project took place. The MinExTarget project developed 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 major expected outcome of the project is a new exploration tool ready for the market and the primary impact of the project is the enhanced capacities for discovering previously unknown mineral resources. More information HERE.
At the end of 2023, installation of an LA-ICP-MS system commenced in the AGH–KGHM Polska Miedź SA Laboratory of Critical Elements.
