Critical elements for the European Union: geology, sources of supply, and their application in modern technologies 1300-PSKUN3L
Critical elements/minerals are the raw materials necessary for the development of highly advanced technologies. These critical raw elements are characterized by a limited base of reserves and the lack of opportunities to find their replacements, moreover, these raw materials are subject to high risk of interruption of the supply, which can have serious economic consequences for the economies of countries that develop highly advanced technologies. A classic example of the raw materials critical to the economies of many countries are rare earth elements (REE), where the market for more than 90% is controlled by China. The European Union listed 14 critical mineral elements for the EU economy in report presented in 2010. The following critical elements were listed in this report: antimony, beryllium, gallium, germanium, graphite, indium, cobalt, magnesium, rare earths (REE), niobium, tantalum, platinum group metals (PGE) and tungsten.
The seminar will focus on selected critical raw materials such as rare earth elements (REE), niobium and tantalum, gallium, germanium, indium, cobalt and platinum group elements (PGE). The economic geology and resource base of selected critical elements raw materials, their use of the highly advanced technologies and the characteristics of the current and the identification of potential sources of EU countries will be discussed.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
1. Ability to independent search of major sources of knowledge related to economic geology, mining, mineral processing and use of critical elements.
2. The ability of synthesizing the information related to economic geology of critical elements from scientific publications, geological survey and stock market reports.
3. The ability to analyze mineralogical and geochemical data from various reservoir formations in order to identify new potential mineral deposits of critical elements (e.g. In, REE, Ge, Nb, Ta). The major data sources are scientific publications, geological survey reports and databases.
4. Acquisition of unique knowledge about the economic geology of critical raw materials/elements, e.g. raw material base for EU countries, and use of critical elements in modern technologies.
5. The ability to self-referencing scientific issues, including the practical ability to use computer programs for the preparation of computer graphics (Corel Draw) and for displaying multimedia presentations (PowerPoint).
6. The ability to understand and use the English and Polish terminology in the field of economic geology and mining.
Assessment criteria
Evaluation of the students on the basis of substantive assessment of oral presentations.
Bibliography
Geological magazines in the field of geology and mining: Economic Geology, Geology of Ore Deposits, Gospodarka Surowcami Mineralnymi, Mineralium Deposita, Minerals Engineering, Ore Geology Reviews.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: