CHPM2030 Romania fieldtrip

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The CHPM2030 project participants visited the second study area in WP6 Roadmapping and Preparation for Pilots: Beius Basin, Romania. The field trip was organised by Diana Persa and Stefan Marincea from the Geological Institute of Romania.

In WP6, LPRC is deploying its foresight background for both the short-term and long-term planning of the CHPM (Combined Heat Power and Metal extraction) technology, with the involvement of the Partners and Advisory Board members. The short-term planning, by 2030, includes the study of 4 areas in the UK, Romania, Sweden and Portugal, with the help of the representing national geological surveys: British Geological Survey, Geological Institute of Romania, Swedish Geological Survey, Portuguese Geological Survey. The CHPM team recently visited the South-West England study site (read more at CHPM2030 Cornwall Fieldtrip), and now the focus was on the Romanian banatitic magmatic and metallogenic belt.

The participants first visited the town hall of Beius, located on the Northwest of Romania, where the local geothermal district heating system was explained. Some parts of the instrumentation were later visited by team. The field program included visits to several skarn related exposures of the banatitic magmatism, including Budureasa (Valea Mare, quarry with brucite bearing granodiorite-dolomite contact), Pietroasa (Dealul Gruiului, adit for exploiting magnesian borate bearing altered dolomite) and Baita (marble quarry, calcic skarns with base metal sulphides) in the Bihor Mts. and at Cazanesti (Cerboaia Valley, gehlenite bearing high temperature contact zone) in the Magureaua Vatei area. These skarns are especially interesting, as these are expected to be present 3-5 km depth at the host rock and magmatic intrusion contact zones. Since many of the surface exposure skarns were mineralised, it is expected to see similar processes at depth, being a special interest area for simultaneous geothermal energy and mineral extraction, the aim of the CHPM technology.

Besides the field exposures, the participants had the opportunity to visit the Turda salt mine, the Bears’ Cave at Chiscau and the Gold Museum in Brad. The study areas representative geological surveys will meet in October in Brussels, at GeoHub, to further advance discussions on the first pilots, to be developed by 2030.

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La Palma Research is proud to announce the launch of MacaroNight!

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MacaroNight is an MSCA Researchers’ Night action funded by the European Commission’s H2020 Programme. The overall objective of our project is to organise a shared Researchers’ Night for the Macaronesia Region connecting the population of these islands under the umbrella of the universal language of science.

Macaronesia is a biogeographical region of five archipelagos in the Atlantic Ocean of which four are inhabited: Azores (Portugal), Canarias (Spain), Madeira (Portugal) and Cape Verde (Cape Verde). These islands share common geographical traits and cultural heritage. The population of Macaronesia is around 3 million inhabitants, corresponding to the size of a smaller EU country.

MacaroNight aims at creating overall public awareness of science, research and innovation, especially in areas where the Region has outstanding performance and results even by international comparison. Our project will support the public recognition of researchers, creating an understanding of the impact of researchers’ work on citizens’ daily life.

The MacaroNight project Consortium:

1 Coordinator: La Palma Research Centre S.L. (LPRC), Spain
2 Fundo Regional para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FRCT), Portugal
3 Universidade da Madeira (UMa), Portugal
4 Fundacion Parque Cientifico Tecnico (FCPCT), Spain
5 Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Spain
6 Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), Spain
7 Universidade do Mindelo (UoM) – as observer in 2018, Cape Verde

MacaroNight is the fourth Researchers’ Night project coordinated by La Palma Research. We will be building on the success and experiences gained from our VOLCANOES’ NIGHT project series (http://nochedevolcanes.es/) adapting the content and scope to better satisfy public interest. MacaroNight will be a two-year project, and both years will be packed with exciting activities.

Mark the date: Friday, 28 September as this will be the peak of the action this year, an amazing Researchers’ Night organised simultaneously on the Canary Islands, Azores and Madeira.

We will be back with more information, follow @macaronighteu on Twitter, Facebook.

Delphi survey in the pipeline

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The LPRC’s foresight team is currently working on a two-round Delphi* survey for the CHPM2030 project in order to look into the future of important but uncertain issues related to CHPM -Combined Heat Power and Metal extraction – technology.

CHPM is a low-TRL, novel, potentially disruptive, but fragile idea, and therefore needs future oriented thinking and further nurturing beyond the duration of the project to become viable. LPRC’s Foresight team has taken on this challenge with the implementation of the Roadmapping and Preparation for Pilots work package. These forward-looking efforts aim to set the ground for subsequent pilot implementation by working on three interlinked areas: mapping convergent technology areas, study pilot areas and develop research roadmaps.

Schematic representation of a CHPM facility. ©CHPM2030 Team

The Delphi survey is in direct relation with the first area: mapping convergent technology areas, and represents long-term planning (for the year 2050). Preparation to the survey started with a small-scale Horizon Scanning exercise, including a literature review and an Experts’ workshop in Lanzarote in order to identify relevant factors, drivers, trends and issues to be further investigated in the Delphi. First, the structure and topics were drafted by LPRC and it was refined/completed during the Lanzarote workshop with the input from all Consortium partners. During this workshop, partners were mapping key interest areas (geothermal drilling, scaling, metal recovery, exploration, etc.), identifying gaps (challenges, bottlenecks, difficulties, enablers) within these areas, and then came up with ideas for statements to be used in the Delphi survey. The work has been split into two groups and facilitated by the moderators of LPRC.

Workshop in Lanzarote, Canary Islands

The final survey included 12 statements on topics from both geothermal (scaling, geothermal drilling, metal mobilization, etc.) and mineral (geophysical methods, use of AI and ML for data interpretation, deep exploration drilling, etc.) topics, together with overall operational challenges (Social Licence to Operate, market penetration, etc.). The participants were asked to freely comment on the statements in the 1st round. In the 2nd round, the previous comments and insight were already included, so the participants were invited to comment in light of previous Expert opinions, reaching towards a consensus. Additional input fields were added: time horizon and previously identified emerging issues. Together with the 1st and 2nd round, more than 160 surveys have been completed by Experts from both mineral and geothermal sectors, worldwide.

Global participation in the first 1st round of the CHPM2030 Delphi survey.

The 2nd round of the CHPM2030 Delphi survey has just finished! LPRC is currently processing the results. However, if you would like to participate in the following “open” round, with curiosity of the statements, please go ahead and read what the Experts have to say about the future of Combined Heat Power and Metal extraction technology and more: share your own opinion!

Access the Delphi survey here: https://goo.gl/forms/FWcgdHJsXqLfTv0I3

*The Delphi survey was originally developed as a technological forecasting technique, which aimed at reaching consensus over relevant technological developments. Nowadays, Delphi expanded into a variety of modified approaches. However, at its core Delphi stands out as a reliable method in situations where individual judgements must be tapped and combined to address an incomplete state of knowledge. Delphi is based on anonymous opinions of experts who are fed back the results of a round-based survey, allowing these experts to rethink their judgement and converge to consensus over key identified areas.

LPRC participates at BIOMOre final event, Brussels

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LPRC attended to BIOMOre, a H2020 funded project on an alternative mining concept, final event on last Friday, 6th of July, in Brussels. The event facilitated discussions between project partners and participants on BIOMOre’s main goal: extracting metals from deep mineralized zones in Europe by coupling solution mining and bioleaching.

The conference started with the presentation of the project by the coordinator, followed by two keynote presentations on the topic of raw materials. First, Massimo Gasparon, from the EIT Raw Materials, talked about the EU raw materials dependence, the need of these materials for the transition to the green economy, the EU Raw Materials Initiative, and the Knowledge Innovation Communities. The second presentation was by Bjorn Debecker, from the EASME, and explained how the EU is tackling the raw materials challenge, through funding project like BIOMOre. The afternoon session was based on BIOMOre-themed talks with the Work Packages leaders introducing the project in further detail: mining, bio-leaching and sustainability were amongst them.

The BIOMOre project has been working on a New Mining Concept for Extracting Metals from Deep Ore Deposits using Biotechnology. The final objective is to develop an optimized technological concept for in-situ recovering of metals from the surface, without the need of establishing an underground infrastructure. This technology, if successful, will make commodities accessible at depths greater than 1,500 m ( and temperatures around 50 – 60 ºC) which are currently not exploitable using traditional underground methods.

Watch the movie to learn more about the project concept.

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FORAM Pilot Event, Nancy

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LPRC has attended the pilot event for the World Forum on Raw Materials (FORAM) in Nancy, France, on the 27th of June of 2018. The FORAM project aims to create a Forum focused on raw materials, where the relevant stakeholders are involved. This pilot event served as a basis for the future of the platform.

One of the main goals of the event was to create a dialogue with FORAM stakeholders in order to clarify the future role of the World Forum on Raw Materials. First on the event, keynote talks were given, introducing the project and setting the scenery for discussions, which were followed by interactive workshops. Three workshops were organised in parallel sessions: Knowledge Management, Policies and Strategies and, International Cooperation.

The afternoon was place to more keynote talks, where issues around mineral raw materials were debated. The most important outcomes of this event, structured mainly from the workshops’ discussions, were presented and steps for the future mentioned, to an eager audience.

LPRC fully supports the idea of the creation of a World Forum on Raw Materials!

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