Project: State-of-the-art geophysical and geological methods for delineation of mineral deposits and their associated structures

Acronym	StartGeoDelineation
Duration	01/12/2014 - 30/06/2018
Project Topic	Through this project Uppsala University, Nordic Iron Ore, and Yara in collaboration with researchers from the Geological Survey of Finland will expand their research profiles and expertise regarding exploration (mainly) for raw materials and mine planning (partly) in their respective countries. Along with the associated knowledge transfer, this is a first step towards preparing the partners for further collaborations and allowing technological and methodological developments that can be exported or demonstrated to other countries in Europe and even beyond. The project focuses on three important aspects of exploration namely geophysical, geological and petrophysical studies along with the development of tools and methods for a better delineation and characterisation of mineral deposits and their host rock structures through basic mapping, petro-mineralogical studies, deep imaging and targeting, 3D/4D geophysical and geological modelling at two sites in Sweden and Finland where active exploration or mining is currently ongoing.
Project Results (after finalisation)	StartGeoDelineation project officially started in the beginning of December 2014 and ended in May 2018. The project approaches were tested in two geologically different environments: Siilinjärvi alkaline-carbonatite deposit in Finland and Blötberget iron-oxide deposit in Sweden. Two PhD students were employed and 3 MSc- BSc theses were produced. A number of short-term researchers worked in the project along with the senior scientists and explorationists from the partner companies. All these contributed to the acquisition of new data, revisiting existing data and new knowledge on the geology of the sites and ways to explore in a systematic manner cost-effectively. The project covered all aspects involved in mineral exploration ranging from data compilation and historical data gathering, rock physical property measurements (both laboratory and downhole), mineralogical and petrological studies to geochemistry and systematic geophysical surveys. Innovative solutions were also experimented in the project. In the Siilinjärvi, the focus was to mainly test the capability of landstreamer seismics for open-pit mine surveying and better understating of dyke emplacement through combination with magnetic property measurements and sample geochemistry. In Blötberget, depth extension, deep targeting and emplacement of the deposits were focused. New ways of geophysical data acquisitions for the first time attempted including landstreamer seismics for deep-targeting and UAV-based methods for higher- resolution targeting iron-oxide deposits. Over dozen of peer-reviewed high-quality journal publications and tens of conference abstracts were produced ensuring the efficient dissemination of the new knowledge from the project. StartGeoDelineation took part in all organized events by the sponsors and presented the work in progress. The successes of the project and the great network resulted in collaboration among the partners for a H2020 project, Smart Exploration, where StartGeoDelineation continuity is guaranteed for another three years.
Network	ERA-MIN
Call	ERA-MIN 2nd Joint Call on Sustainable Supply of Raw Materials in Europe

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Uppsala University	Coordinator	Sweden
2	Nordic Iron Ore	Partner	Sweden
3	Yara	Partner	Finland