the pacific project
Passive seismic techniques for environmentally friendly and cost efficient mineral exploration
PACIFIC is a research project in the field of mineral exploration. The project aims at developing new exploration techniques that respect the environment and incur relatively low costs.
Launched in June 2018, the project has received a funding of €3.2 million from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. It is set to run for 36 months and is coordinated by Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA).
WHY PACIFIC?
To satisfy the global metals and mineral demand, a new world-class ore deposit must be discovered about every two years. This task is becoming increasingly difficult as easily accessible deposits (close to populated areas and close to the surface) are becoming exhausted.
European industry consumes about 20% of the world’s mineral products but produces only 3% of them.
Many parts of Europe have not been explored for mineral deposits since the last century. In many regions, there is a strong chance of discovering new deposits and expanding the resource base of known ones; but only if modern, innovative technologies are employed.
Mining and mineral exploration is taking place at greater depths and in ever more remote locations. However, mineral exploration techniques have not evolved to meet the challenges that currently face the mining industry.
In this project, the PACIFIC consortium will conduct fundamental and applied research to develop two radically new and complementary mineral exploration techniques, both based on passive seismic imagery.
These techniques will have the accuracy and resolution needed for the minerals industry while at the same time having a relatively low environmental impact.
