N° 36 November 2013 EuropeanEuropean GeologistGeologist Journal of the European Federation of Geologists

Industrial minerals - materials in our everyday life USGS Hydrostratigraphy Sections Tornado Path and Magnitude Miami, Florida Midcontinent, USA

Earthquake Focal Mechanisms Wallkill Watershed Japan New Jersey

Wind Turbines Beer Consumption London, England Per Capita, USA

Public Land Survey Sections Foliation Orientations Kansas Talc Mind, SW Texas

Salt Diapirs Zagros Mtns, Iran FREE The RockWorks16 EarthApps is a FREE collection of over 70 programs for plotting your data within Google Earth. It does NOT require any other RockWorks16 software (other than Google Earth). EarthApps It’s FREE. Really. Gravity Profi le NW Oregon

NURE Uranium Trans-Alaska Air Temperatures by Elevation SE Missouri Pipeline Bay Area, CA

Oil Leases NW Colorado

Geophysical Logs Mining Claims New Orleans, LA W. Washington

Seismic Profi les Subdivision Lots Northern Afghanistan Ft. Myers, Florida

Proportional Zn Geochemistry Flight Paths NE Arkansas Persian Gulf

Weather Forecast Oil Field Pipeline Network Siberia, Russia NW Texas

Proposed Pipeline Lead Geochemistry Contaminant Plume Stacked Exploration Maps N. Arizona SE Missouri Washington, DC Kentucky

2221 East Street // Golden CO 80401 // t: 800.775.6745 // f: 303.278.4099 // rockware.com 2 Earth Science and GIS Softwar e USGS Hydrostratigraphy Sections Tornado Path and Magnitude Miami, Florida Midcontinent, USA

Earthquake Focal Mechanisms Wallkill Watershed Contents Japan New Jersey

Wind Turbines Beer Consumption Foreword London, England Per Capita, USA Vítor Correia 4 Topical - Industrial minerals Essential but overlooked – the rocks and minerals that shape society Ruth Allington 5

Public Land Survey Sections Foliation Orientations Interview with Mr. Mattia Pellegrini, Head of Unit – Raw materials, Kansas Talc Mind, SW Texas Metals, Minerals and Forest-based industries, European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry Isabel Fernández Fuentes 7 Salt Diapirs Zagros Mtns, Iran FREE Limestones, dolostones and derived processed products in Belgium: The RockWorks16 EarthApps is a FREE well-hidden important industrial rocks though still present in our collection of over 70 programs for everyday lives plotting your data within Google Earth. Eric Goemaere and Pierre-Yves Declerq 9 It does NOT require any other Correlations between mechanical and geometrical parameters in RockWorks16 software (other than Google Earth). Gravity Profi le aggregates: a tool for quality assessment and control EarthApps It’s FREE. Really. Dimitrios M. Xirouchakis 15 NW Oregon Geology of the perlite bodies at Pálháza NURE Uranium Trans-Alaska Air Temperatures by Elevation Tibor Zelenka 19 SE Missouri Pipeline Bay Area, CA Aggregate potential mapping in Ireland Gerard Stanley and Phelim Lally 22 Using engineering geosciences mapping and GIS-based tools for georesources management: lessons learned from rock quarrying Peer reviewers: Helder I. Chaminé, Maria José Afonso, José Teixeira, Luís Ramos, We would like to express a particular thanks to all Oil Leases Luís Fonseca, Rogério Pinheiro and António Carlos Galiza 27 those who participated in the peer reviewing of this NW Colorado issue and thus contribute to the improvement of Industrial minerals & rocks: our invisible friends the standards of the European Geologist magazine. Manuel Regueiro y González-Barros 34 The content of this issue has been reviewed by Geophysical Logs Mining Claims Ruth Allington, Barry Balding, Christoph Bärtschi, New Orleans, LA W. Washington Hard rock – the raw material of mobility János Földessy, Marisa Garcia Romero, Jim Griffiths, Donat Fulda 40 Jean-Marc Marion and János Szepesi. Salt in the UK Advertisers: Mark Tyrer 46 Rockware (pages 2 and 64); Geobrugg (page 26); Ventyx (page 54); MOL (page 6). PERC, CRIRSCO, and UNFC: minerals reporting standards Seismic Profi les Subdivision Lots Cover photo: Northern Afghanistan Ft. Myers, Florida and classifications © Stephano Salvi. Mining talc on the Pyrenees. Stephen Henley and Ruth Allington 49 2010. Participant of the EFG/EGS photo competition “Geology in the 21st century”. Proportional Zn Geochemistry Flight Paths European Minerals Day – an industry-led success story NE Arkansas Persian Gulf Amina Langedijk 55 Exploratory research in mining: defining FET* research topics supporting the ICT challenges of mineral extraction under extreme © Copyright 2013 The European Federation of Geologists. geo-environmental conditions All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or trans- Ben Laenen, Balazs Bodo, Günter Tiess and David Lagrou 58 mission of this publication may be made without Oil Field Pipeline Network written permission. No responsibility is assumed Weather Forecast News Siberia, Russia NW Texas by the Publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liabil- Book review: ity, negligence, or otherwise, or from any use or Proposed Pipeline Lead Geochemistry Contaminant Plume Stacked Exploration Maps Isabel Fernández Fuentes 59 operation of any methods, products, instructions or N. Arizona SE Missouri Washington, DC Kentucky ideas contained in the material herein. Although all News corner: Hydrogeology workshop - EFG Survey on users’ advertising material is expected to conform to ethi- need on geological data - PERC - Geotrainet events - Photo contest cal (medical) standards, inclusion in this publication EFG Office 60 does not constitute a guarantee or endorsement of the quality or value of such product or of the claims made by its manufacturer. ISSN: 1028 - 267X

2221 East Street // Golden CO 80401 // t: 800.775.6745 // f: 303.278.4099 // rockware.com Earth Science and GIS Software European Geologist 36 | November 2013 3 EUROPEAN GEOLOGIST Foreword

is published by the EurGeol. Vítor Correia, President European Federation of Geologists C/O Service Géologique de Belgique Rue Jenner 13 his edition of European Geologist is a thematic issue B-1000 Bruxelles, Belgium dedicated to industrial minerals. This is opportune since industrial minerals are present in our every- Tel: +32 2 7887636 Tday life and are critical to a wide range of industries, from [email protected] pharmaceuticals or food processing to isolators or civil www.eurogeologists.eu construction. Our society depends on industrial minerals and it is there- fore our responsibility, as professional geologists, is to ensure EFG BOARD that related exploitation and processing activities are carried out in accordance with the best available practices. PRESIDENT In Europe there are more than 30,000 quarries and mines, EurGeol. Vitor Correia producing more than 3 billion tonnes of industrial minerals [email protected] every year. The number of direct jobs from the European mining industry exceeds 350 000, and the estimate of indi- VICE-PRESIDENT rect jobs exceeds 500,000. More than 14% of the jobs in Europe are maintained by industries that use industrial minerals as raw materials. EurGeol. Nieves Sánchez Quarries and open pit mines may give rise to negative impacts on people and the envi- [email protected] ronment during the exploitation phases. Given this enormous importance, and significant impacts, one might expect huge negative impacts and changes in the landscape disseminated SECRETARY-GENERAL all over Europe. On the contrary; quarries and open pit mines occupy less than 0.1% of the EurGeol. Domenico Calcaterra European territory. Furthermore, many of the negative impacts of this activity can be suc- [email protected] cessfully reduced or eliminated during the exploitation phases and most will cease altogether following rehabilitation and closure. The keys to this are proper management, based on TREASURER integrated environmental impact assessment, and environmental and social monitoring to Bob Hoogendoorn ensure successful regeneration of the areas affected by exploitation activities. [email protected] Considering the importance of industrial minerals and the need to increase the sustain- ability of their exploitation in Europe, four established activities of the European Federation of EU DELEGATE Geologists are relevant: 1) setting and promoting best practice and public reporting standards; 2) disseminating best practices and reinforcing the need for sustainability; 3) increasing public EurGeol. Éva Hartai awareness of the importance of minerals to our everyday lives; and 4) providing continuing [email protected] professional development opportunities for geologists to support and improve their technical and scientific skills. This issue of European Geologist highlights all of these themes, and we hope you find the articles enclosed useful. EDITORIAL BOARD This is my first foreword as President of the EFG, and I take this opportunity to express my Éva Hartai (Editor in chief) conviction that geoscientists have now a unique opportunity to actively contribute to Europe’s Edmund Nickless short-term development. The instability of global supply chains, the need for solutions to face Manuel Regueiro water scarcity and climate changes and the reinforcement of participative policies in Europe Isabel Fernández Fuentes justifies the EFG’s focus on the following topics in our interactions with the EU and the public: Hans-Jürgen Gursky 1. The EU’s future supply of raw materials (including the availability and sustainability Pierre Christe of critical minerals, urban mining, recycling, new exploration techniques, mining at increased depths and from the deep sea floor); 2. Water management (droughts and flood control, underground water exploitation Translations by and water governance); Antoine Bouvier 3. Natural hazards and urban planning policies; Manuel Regueiro 4. The global professional mobility and recognition of geoscientists (an important aim, considering the role of geoscientists in delivering and adding value to sustainable construction, mining, energy and natural hazard mitigation projects); COPY EDITOR 5. Public education and awareness about the way geology shapes the landscape, our Robin Lee Nagano cities, our houses and our lives. To conclude, I want to express my gratitude to Ruth Allington, my predecessor, who patiently provided me with the inner knowledge of the EFG projects and responsibilities STAFF AND LAYOUT EDITOR and who shared with me her wise vision on the need to reinforce professionalism among Anita Stein geoscientists. I must also express my thanks to all the colleagues of the Office and Board who [email protected] patiently provide me guidance in my first steps as President of the EFG.

4 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Introduction by the EFG Panel of Experts on resources and reserves - Minerals and their sustainable use Essential but overlooked – the rocks and minerals that shape society

Ruth Allington*

s the President has rightly high- but not a lot else). Children can usually pro- – mines and quarries would be welcomed lighted in his Foreword, the pro- vide some more examples – sand to make as a public good. duction of industrial minerals in glass is a favourite in my experience – and It is, of course, an over-simplistic propo- AEurope is very significant and their extrac- I live in an area where the old houses are sition that public information about the tion takes place in a large number of quar- built from stone, which they may also have rocks and minerals essential to daily life ries and pits. The exploitation of these rocks noticed. Readers may then have proceeded – however accessible and excellent it may and minerals employs a large number of to point to everyday articles and parts of be – will equate to public acceptance of people both in primary extraction and in buildings, naming the rocks or minerals mining and quarrying, or even to an explo- downstream industries. He has also intro- from which they were made. sion in the status of the professions of geol- duced the vital roles that these materials, In short order, it is possible to demon- ogy and other geosciences. It is a part of and the products manufactured from them, strate that everything that we use (includ- the human condition that we can accept play in everyday life. ing some of the things we eat or add to the need for all kinds of things as for the The papers in this issue of European our food) which cannot be grown or fished ‘public good’ but, when they affect us and Geologist Magazine emphasise the vari- from the sea has to be mined, and there- our communities and families directly, we ety of industrial minerals (including con- fore we can say that geological science is can think of many good and compelling struction materials) produced in Europe as essential as medical science to main- reasons why the development in question and their applications, and provide some taining human life. People of all ages find would be much better placed elsewhere. valuable insights to support the profes- this revealing and fascinating and, when Effective public engagement and secur- sional practice of geologists working in thus informed, they generally have little ing acceptance of mining and quarrying this industry. difficulty accepting societal dependence by communities (often termed securing a The title of the paper by Regueiro refers on such a variety of earth materials – and ‘social licence to operate’) is about more to this group of earth materials as ‘our therefore they accept, in principle, the need than just providing accurate and accessi- invisible friends’. Similarly, Goemaere for mining and quarrying to recover them. ble information. However, it is very clear and Declerq refer to them as ‘well hidden The papers by Goemaere and Declerq that raising public awareness and public but always present in our everyday life’. For and Tyrer provide fascinating and compel- education are the foundations for success anyone with a geology degree, these descrip- ling accounts of the range of uses of lime- in this regard. The European Minerals Day tions are, perhaps, rather surprising – how stone and salt, respectively. The paper by described in the paper by Langedijk pro- can rocks and minerals – without which we Regueiro provides an overview of indus- vides a case history of a well-established know modern life would be simply impos- trial minerals and rocks and reminds us and highly successful annual public engage- sible – reasonably be described as invisible that in a relatively short period, we have ment initiative. Members of the public visit or hidden? become dislocated from the sources of the operating quarries and, through this experi- As a descriptor of the perspectives of the raw materials we depend on. The paper ence, understand more about geology and general public, however, ‘hidden’ and ‘invis- by Fulda celebrates hard rock as a natural the roles and responsibilities of geologists, ible’ seem much more appropriate. Many of resource that makes the construction of and appreciate that a well managed quarry the readers of this magazine may have chal- modern transport infrastructure possible. or mine does not give rise to unaccepta- lenged friends and family to identify non- One might think that, if the simple ble environmental impacts, nor do most fuel items from amongst their possessions conversation that I described above were of them exist in a constant state of conflict or in their houses or offices that originated arranged in the manner of a chain so that it with the local population. Events such as from a rock or mineral, and received blank was passed on around the whole population this do much to allay the fears that lead to looks or a very short list (probably with of Europe, and if this were supported by protest groups and antagonism when mines metals – especially gold – at the top, and provision of accessible information (such and quarries are at the planning stage. possibly also including concreting aggre- as that in the papers by Goemaere and It is an often quoted truism that minerals gates and aggregates used in road building Declerq, Tyrer, Regueiro and Fulda) this can only be worked where they exist and would achieve two things: first to elevate this determines the distribution of mining * Joint Senior Partner of GWP Consultants geological careers to an aspirational status and quarrying operations. One of the spe- LLP, UK; member of the Minerals PE; alongside, for example, medical or legal cial difficulties that can occur with public EFG representative on PERC; EFG Past careers, and second, to wipe out anti-min- acceptance of industrial minerals produc- President, [email protected] ing protests and ‘NIMBYism’ at a stroke tion relates to the ubiquity of these materials

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 5 – members of the public who feel threat- technology to ‘overlay’ all relevant spatial of their development, are described in the ened by plans to establish a mine or quarry information. The essential foundation for paper by Henley and Allington. argue, not unreasonably, that there is plenty this approach is geological mapping and At the core of the CRIRSCO codes and of ‘the same’ material elsewhere – distant modelling – studies such as the Irish aggre- standards is the ‘competent person con- from their community – and seek to per- gate potential mapping described in the cept’. This aims to ensure that those who suade planners and mineral companies that paper by Stanley and Lally and the geology report on solid mineral reserves, resources they should therefore look anywhere but in of perlite bodies in Hungary in the paper and exploration results hold appropriate their ‘back yard’. The other side of this coin by Zelenka. professional qualifications, have sufficient is that quarries and mines for the exploi- The results of mapping and modelling relevant experience and expertise and take tation of industrial minerals tend (with to characterise deposits, resources and personal responsibility for what they write exceptions) to be smaller and shallower reserves of industrial rocks and minerals in the reports they sign. An important pillar than, for example, open pit metal mines. are often used for establishing and keeping of the ‘competent person concept’ (and a This gives rise to an opportunity for reha- up to date regional, national and European mandatory requirement for holders of the bilitation which can make the land suitable inventory for planning purposes. For such European Geologist qualification and other for a wide range of beneficial after-uses – inventories to be useful, they should ideally qualifications with equivalent standing in in the UK planning system, and in others be reported using consistent terminology the CRIRSCO codes and standards) is con- internationally, quarrying and mining are and within a consistent framework. The tinuing professional development (CPD). defined as temporary uses of land. United Nations Framework Classifica- The range and nature of CPD activities car- The need to identify sufficient resources tion (UNFC) has been developed for this ried out by individual geologists is a highly in the public interest underlines the need purpose and is under consideration as a personal matter – the individual should for soundly based spatial planning for pan-European system for harmonising undertake activities that genuinely sup- mining and quarrying activities. This must such reporting. Similarly, it is vital, for port and develop their professional practice. anticipate the way that land will be used the protection of the public as investors, However, in all cases, CPD will necessar- after quarrying and mining is complete, regulators and neighbours of mines and ily include a commitment to keeping up to as well as identifying deposits of industrial quarries, that companies provide trans- date with relevant technical literature. The minerals of all kinds which – after exclusion parent and accurate public disclosure of papers by Xirouchakis and Chaminé et of areas within which there are overriding their resources and reserves in a consistent al. describe studies that will be of interest social and environmental constraints – can form. The internationally accepted system to engineering geologists concerned with be safeguarded to provide ‘land banks’ of for company reporting to financial markets both the design of hard rock quarry faces such minerals with a reasonable prospect is that developed by CRIRSCO. The rela- and the prediction of aggregate quality from of being exploited to meet future needs. tionship between the UNFC framework rock mass properties. This is achieved through strategic envi- classification and the CRIRSCO codes and ronmental assessment, often using GIS standards, and the drivers for and history

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6 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Interview with Mr. Mattia Pellegrini, Head of Unit – Raw materials, Metals, Minerals and Forest-based industries, European Commission DG Enterprise and Industry

Isabel Fernandez Fuentes*

1. The raw material markets are increas- when access is distorted in this way. Such measures ingly distorted by protectionist trade poli- As a response to these priority trade may affect devel- cies, and maintaining fair and undistorted policy issues, the EU’s trade strategy has oped and devel- access to these materials for EU industry been threefold: oping countries and citizens is increasingly difficult. 1. Propose trade disciplines on export alike, as virtually To what extent has this been a driver for restrictions in bilateral and multilat- no economy is the Commission’s policy in the field of Raw eral negotiations, self-reliant for all Materials? 2. Tackle trade barriers through dia- raw materials”. Raw materials are fundamental to logue but also other tools including The dependency Europe’s economy and recently securing WTO dispute settlements and the of EU industry on reliable and undistorted access to crucial Market Access Partnerships, and mineral raw mate- non-energy raw materials has been of grow- 3. Raise awareness and support aware- rials that are exploited in regions where geo- ing concern in economies such as the EU, ness-raising in international fora political risks are high is often indicated as US, Japan, with several responses. The Euro- such as the G8, G20, OECD and the main trigger for recent EU support for pean Commission launched the Raw Mate- UNCTAD. increasing mining exploration activities in rials Initiative (RMI) in 2008 to manage raw Regarding the critical raw materials, Europe. materials issues at an EU level. The RMI which are those displaying a particularly has been developed based on three pillars: high risk of supply shortage in the next 10 2. Long- term strategic planning for sus- 1. Ensuring a level playing field in access years and with a great importance for the tainable raw materials supply is an essen- to resources in third countries; value chain at EU level, a report “Raw Mate- tial part of policy in individual Member 2. fostering a sustainable supply of raw rials: Study on Critical Raw materials” dated States – and this can lead to protectionism, materials from European sources; 2010 was prompted by the highlighted con- either politically or because the collection 3. boosting resource efficiency and pro- cerns over securing reliable and undistorted and presentation of data and statistics are moting recycling. access to non-energy raw materials, and the not harmonised. In the first pillar of the EU Raw Materi- detrimental impact on the wider European Do you think the European Strategic Imple- als Strategy the EU has committed itself to economy to which supply issues may lead. mentation Plan arising from the work of pursue Raw Materials Diplomacy, reaching In total 41 raw materials were assessed on the European Innovation Partnership will out to third coun- their criticality and reach a pan European long term strategy « The dependency of EU industry on tries through strate- 14 are considered on Critical Raw Materials and, if yes, how mineral raw materials that are exploited gic partnerships and to be critical. It will the necessary harmonization and high in regions where geopolitical risks are policy dialogues. was agreed that the level co-operation be achieved? high is often indicated as the main trig- It is essential for Commission would The study on critical Raw materials ger for recent EU support for increasing the EU that interna- undertake a study which is being carried out is part of the mining exploration activities in Europe. » tional raw materials at least every three Raw Materials initiative. The original RMI markets operate years. A review of communication has now been followed up in a free and transparent way. However, the study on Critical Raw materials” is now by further communications on “tackling the many countries are increasingly applying been carried out by the European Commis- challenges in commodity markets and on measures – such as export taxes, import sion and will be published in 2014. raw materials” in 2011, and reporting on duties, price-fixing, and restrictive invest- A growing concern in the critical raw the progress of the RMI in 2013. ment rules -- which distort these markets. materials markets relates to measures The Strategic Implementation plan, The net effect of these distortions is that imposed by certain countries to ensure which was adopted on 25 September 2013, the manufacturing industry, in developed, privileged access to raw materials for their is part of the European Innovation Partner- emerging and developing countries, suffer domestic industry including through export ship which is embedded in the wider strat- restrictions. These measures create distor- egy of the Europe 2020 strategy. The work * EFG Executive Director, is structured under three pillars, reflecting [email protected] tions in the global markets and uncertain- ties in the regular flows of commodities. the nature of 97 actions:

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 7 • Technology Pillar problems in the longer term. Now, the gen- States, NGOs; or geological surveys (data). • Non-Technology Pillar eral objective is to adjust the EIA Directive In particular: How do you find communica- • International Cooperation Pillar to developments in the policy, legal and tion with geologists? As a whole this work aims to ensure technical context over the past 25 years. We Generally good. Via different channels, smart, sustainable and inclusive growth want to correct shortcomings, reflect on- I am in touch with geologists, through and is closely linked to the flagship initia- going environmental and socio-economic experts groups, representatives of industrial tive for a resource efficient Europe. We are changes and align it with the principles of associations but also via experts from geo- very encouraged by the high spirit of co- smart regulation. The new Directive would logical surveys, with whom we also share operation that we have seen so far in the actually provide a clearer, more coherent some common events. I find the exchanges European Innovation Partnership, from and simplified legal with geologists very industry as well as from governments and framework. It will also « I think it is important for the valuable and they con- other stakeholders. This augurs well for the reduce administrative community of professional geolo- tribute in establishing implementation phase of the Partnership costs (both direct gists to listen to the needs of society a comprehensive Euro- (2014-20). costs and costs due to and industry, to find a way how to pean policy in the field delays), most notably share their expertise and to commu- of raw materials, min- 3. Decision making related to strategic plan- by simplifying screen- nicate with European policy makers erals and metals. ning for raw materials in Member States ing procedures. and stakeholders in a way to make is closely linked to scientific knowledge of Two specific objec- a real difference. » Do they understand existing resources and the levels of develop- tives can be consid- and provide the infor- ment and quality and availability of fun- ered as essential in the revision of the EIA mation needed by the policy maker? damental geological and exploration data Directive: In my view, it is recommended to closely varies widely. 1. To strengthen the quality of the assess- follow the calls for expression of interests If a pan-European raw materials supply ments 2. To improve coherence and syner- that DG Enterprise and Industry are pub- strategy is a real possibility, how will scien- gies with other EU laws and simplify proce- lishing in the field of raw materials. On tific knowledge will be taken into account dures. To achieve this, the various environ- a regular basis, new calls are published in decision making? mental assessments should be streamlined addressed to different stakeholders. This Through the Strategic Implementation and timeframes for the various stages of the was the case for existing experts groups Plan which details actions necessary to EIA process should be introduced. such as Call for expression of interest in achieve the European Innovation Partner- the High Level Steering Group, Sherpa ship through research, raw materials knowl- 5. The global trend shows that an increasing Group and the Operational Groups of the edge, exchange of best practices, revision of number of geoscientists work at the inter- European Innovation Partnership on Raw selected legislations, licensing steps, stand- national level and that the requirements Materials or the Raw Materials Supply ardisation, and policy dialogues. It targets for quality assurance by their clients and Group, the Ad Hoc Working Groups on innovation in both technology-focused employers, the public, governments and critical raw materials and the SIP groups and non-technology policy areas, as well insurance companies are increasing. (call for commitment). as international cooperation. In this frame- In the development of EU policies for work, scientific knowledge will be essential decreasing reliance on imported Critical Do they work effectively with policy makers and one of the actions areas is to strengthen Raw Materials, how is it proposed to build to identify problems and approaches to the EU knowledge base on raw materials. in EU and wider international mobility of developing solutions? In this regard, a Knowledge and Innovation these essential professionals and associated They should keep closely in contact Community (KIC) on Raw Materials will quality assurance? with stakeholders, following the meetings be launched next year. The specific aim of We organise regular contacts with our of the experts groups in order to provide KICs is to bring together industry, higher counterparts worldwide as part of the Raw their inputs and to better understand the education, and research, in areas of societal Materials Diplomacy Events which are part societal needs. challenges that are of utmost relevance for of the Raw Materials Initiative. For exam- our common future. ple, in early December a US-Japan-EU high What advice would you give to the com- level workshop is being organised dealing munity of professional geologists to make 4. Within the EU, exploration and extrac- with criticality on Raw Materials and how to their communication efforts more success- tion have to face increased competition for foster better cooperation between the three ful in supporting policy making in the EU different land uses and a highly regulated partners. Through these contacts, expertise and providing the data upon which that environment. The revision of the Directive is being shared and it involves a wide range is based? of Environmental Impact Assessment pro- of experts. Again, the role of the Knowledge I think it is important for the commu- poses an increasing regulatory burden on and Innovation Community on Raw Mate- nity of professional geologists to listen to mining activities. rials will be fundamental. the needs of society and industry, to find How can this be balanced with the need for a way how to share their expertise and to EU policies to foster an increase in mining 6. During your work, you are in contact communicate with European policy makers activity in Europe? with numerous geologists. Could you tell and stakeholders in a way to make a real Under the Environmental Impact Assess- us some characteristics that you have found difference. Most of all, communicating in ments (EIA) Directive, any project that is in common? an effective and understandable way and likely to have significant effects on the envi- Through my work, I am constantly in regular exchanges of view are crucial to me. ronment has to be studied carefully before it touch with experts, as for example the ones is approved. This helps minimise any nega- who attend the RM Supply Group which tive impact on the environment, and avoids includes Industrial Associations, Member

8 Topical - Industrial Minerals Topic: CCS Limestones, dolostones and derived processed products in Belgium: well-hidden important industrial rocks though still present in our everyday lives

Eric Goemaere* and Pierre-Yves Declercq

This paper focuses on the production, Cet article est centré sur la production, la Este artículo se centra en la producción, transformation and utilisation of Belgian transformation et l’utilisation des carbon- elaboración y uso de los carbonatos belgas. carbonates. It consists of a compilation of ates en Belgique. Il résulte de la compila- Consiste en una compilación de diferentes different sources from the industrial key tion de sources différentes appartenant aux fuentes de los actores industriales clave de actors in Belgium. acteurs clés industriels en Belgique. Bélgica.

2 elgium (30,528 km , population 11 Table 1: Major companies in the carbonates mineral industry of Belgium and their main products. million) is the third smallest country in the European Union after Cyprus Actors Aggre- Lime & PCC Dolime & White Grey Derived Band the Great-Duchy of Luxembourg. Its gates derived derived cement cement cement efficient, modern infrastructure and con- products products products nections with the North Sea, as well as Lhoist x x x x its open borders with all of its European Carmeuse x x x neighbors, have made Belgium an impor- CBR (Heidel- x x x x tant trading nation. The industrial sector bergCement) is strong and employs around a quarter of CCB (Italce- x x x its workforce. Belgium is a major importer menti) of raw materials, and exports finished or Holcim x x semi-finished products (Edwards, 2012). The Belgian carbonates are well known ture of the extractive sector in Wallonia lie in the northwestern part of the Rheno- as ornamental stones (“Petit Granit”, “Blue (the southern part of Belgium) has been Hercynian Fold Belt. Outcrops occur on stones”, “Meuse’s stones”, red, black and recently published by Poty & Chevalier both sides of the Midi-Eifel thrust fault grey “marbles”), and as hydrogeological (2004). zone, in the Brabant Parautochthon (north reservoirs. But specific strata (formations) Table 1 introduces the products of the of the fault) and in the Ardenne Allochthon are used as industrial raw material due to five main Belgian actors involved in the structural units; these units were formerly their high chemical quality and charac- industrial carbonates sector. known as Namur and Dinant Synclinoria teristics. The market is dominated by five and Vesdre Nappe, respectively (Figure 2) major international actors whose activities Geological and geographical setting (Poty et al., 2001). For more information, are in conflict with urbanisation processes a “redefinition of the structural units of because of the relatively small territory Belgium is well known for its wide the Variscan Front” has been recently pub- available. occurrences of industrial carbonates: lime- lished by Belanger et al. (2012). The FEDIEX (Fédération des Industries stones, dolostones and chalk. They have White and grey upper cretaceous chalks extractives de Belgique) is a regional and been mined for more than 20 centuries, are also mined as industrial rocks. The Bel- national trade association which brings thanks to their chemical, mechanical or gian Upper Cretaceous facies differ from together 60 companies involved in the ornamental qualities but also, for peculiar west to east and is divided in three basins mining and/or processing of non-energy “anomalies” like cherts and flint or phos- (Robaszynski et al., 2001). Only two of rocks. The total number of staff of FEDIEX phate concentrations of some layers! They them are of economic interest: the Liège- member companies is more than 3,450 mainly outcrop along the rivers and more Limburg area to the east and the Mons area employees, including 919 administrative rarely on the plateaus. to the west. staff. FEBELCEM (Fédération de l’industrie Stratigraphically (Table 2), limestones On the whole these rocks outcrops are cimentière belge) gathers companies active lying both in the Eifelian-Givetian-Frasnian localised in the southern part of the coun- in the cement sector. The detailed pic- and in the Tournaisian-Visean (Dinantian) try and have contributed to important are widely mined. Dolostones are mainly developments of the industry. The differ- * Geological Survey of Belgium, restricted to the Tournaisian. Middle and ent characteristics of the limestones and Jennerstreet, 13, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium Upper Devonian rocks, as well as Dinan- dolostones are linked to the sedimentation [email protected] tian rocks of southern Belgium (Figure 1) areas and their own evolution regarding

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 9 bathymetry and subsidence (Bultynck & Table 2: Stratigraphic chart of the carbonated industrial rocks mined and transformed in Belgium. Dejonghe, 2001; Poty et al., 2001). The colours correspond to the rock legend used for Figure 1.

Carmeuse and Lhoist groups as interna- tional actors

The Carmeuse and Lhoist groups are world reference producers of limestone and dolostone aggregates, lime, lime products, dolime and dolime products and also produce high calcium limestone and dolomitic stone dedicated to various well-hidden uses. Together, they have more than 200 quarries throughout the world. The two groups have more than 150 years of experience in quarrying and in trans- forming limestone and dolostones into many different products. For deliveries, they use any means of transport available in Belgium (road, rail and shipping on the Meuse River). Carmeuse has 94 production sites throughout Western Europe (Belgium, Italy, France and the Netherlands), East- ern and Central Europe (Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Turkey) and in North America (the United States and Canada) as well as in Africa (Ghana). Its coordination center is located in Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). Carmeuse focuses its Belgian activity on producing aggregates (different types of sand and granulates), ground limestone, crushed limestone, quicklime, hydrated lime, limestone filler and milk of lime. The Belgian facilities are located in Wallonia, in Liege and Namur Provinces and more particularly in Engis (Visean limestones), Moha (Wanze, Visean limestones), Seilles (Andenne, Visean limestones), Aise- mont (Fosses-la-Ville, Visean limestones) and Frasnes (Couvin, Devonian: Middle Frasnian limestones) (source: Carmeuse web site). needs with high consideration to environ- construction as a low-value commodity for The Lhoist Group represents a great mental protection. If minerals and rocks local consumption, because of the prohibi- number of quarries (more than 80) and are our hidden friends, quarries and plants tive transportation costs. transformation plants all over the world are not really welcome in our highly popu- Aggregates have classical applications in (France, UK, Czech Republic, Germany, lated European countries! ready mix concrete, road and concrete pre- Poland, Russia, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Together, these two industrial giants fabricated products. Pulverized limestones Malaysia, Vietnam, China, India, and other employ 10,000 people. Unfortunately, are used as a calcium source, as filler and nations), and is active in south Belgium statistics of production are not publicly as reactive material as well. in different sites like Marche-les-Dames available. Lime related products are used in mul- (Tournaisian dolostones), Hermalle-sous- tiple aspects of our daily life: steel pro- Argenteau (Visean limestones), Merlem- Products and derived products duction, masonry, mortars and building ont (Middle Frasnian dolostones), Jemelle materials, road construction, glass produc- (Gerny site: Middle Frasnian limestones). The major quantity of carbonates is tion, agro-food, paper, chemicals, plastics, Its administrative center is located in consumed by the construction industry. carpets, paints, pollution and gas control, Wavre. Dolomite and limestone are used in similar water treatment... The two groups are strong competi- ways; they are crushed and used as aggre- Hydrated limes have a number of appli- tors and very innovative, with high level gate for both cement and bitumen mixes. cations: construction, flue gas treatment, research and development teams. They Road builders mix it with concrete and gas desulphuration, chemical industry continuously propose new products and asphalt and railroads use it for ballast. As (for high purity products), food regulation applications answering to new societal well as limestone, dolostones are used in conformity, pharma-baby food, foods…

10 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Companies have developed a range of active lime-based fillers for hot and cold mix asphalts. They can be used instead of traditional filler, without any modification of the dosing installations, or as an addi- tive, in bulk or in bags. Hydrated lime also improves the performance of the asphalt mixes used for road surfacing. It increases their resistance to stripping, rutting and age-hardening. Milk of lime (suspension of calcium hydroxide) is particularly suited for drink- ing water treatments, sludge treatments, flue gas treatments, agriculture (fertilizer), chemical industry (catalysts, neutralisa- tion, pH adjustment), civil engineering (soil stabilisation), paper and paint indus- try, glass industry, and others. Dolostones. The dolostones (also called “dolomite” in the literature) mines in Belgium are exploited in large quarries. Figure 1: Lithostratigraphic map locating the carbonates units of economic importance. © GSB. They are formed by the replacement of calcium by magnesium before the lithifi-

Figure 2: Structural settings of Devonian and Carboniferous formations in the Ardennes. Figure simplified after Bultynck & Dejonghe, 2001.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 11 called “aglime” and is used both in its natu- insulating properties and they are ral (carbonates form) and calcined state. easy to work with. • Sand-lime bricks have been devel- Well-hidden and high performance uses oped by Lhoist. This lime contains special elements such as silica, • Glass industry - Lhoist supplies the aluminium and iron that act as glass industry with extremely pure hydraulic components, improving dolomite of very constant chemical the “green” strength of the bricks. composition and particle size. Dolo- In their manufactures, the lime, mite is mainly used in the float glass sand and water mixture is pre- industry. This source of magnesium formed in presses. These bricks acts as a stabilizer to improve the gen- are hardened in autoclaves under eral resistance of glass to natural or steam pressure at temperatures chemical attacks. Lhoist also supplies between 160 and 203 °C. Lime special reagents for industrial flue gas and quartz sand react to form treatment. compounds that give those cal- Figure 3: Craftsman carving a Visean limestone • Iron & steel - Lime and dolime are cium silicate bricks their com- (Carrière de l’Etat de Gore, Andenne). (Goemaere, commonly used in converters and pressive strength. These special 2010a). electric arc furnaces, where they bricks are characterised by their help to form slag which draws off good sound-insulating proper- cation process occurs (diagenesis). Due to harmful impurities such as silicon ties and their high compressive their yellowish colors, dolostones of Mer- and phosphorus. Lime is also used strength. lemont are used as building stones and to improve productivity in the ore • Aerated concrete is made of lime gravel for garden paths and driveways (e.g. agglomeration process. The steel as well as cement, sand and water. “golden” gravel). Finely ground dolomite industry uses dolomite as a sintering After these components have is used for filler applications in plastics, agent in processing iron ore and as a been homogenised, aluminium paints, rubber, adhesives and sealants. Pure flux in the production of steel. The powder is added, which acts as a white (high brightness) filler grades are use of dolostone as a flux has notably gas-forming raising agent, pro- preferred. High-quality industrial dolo- increased since environmental con- ducing a frothy mass which is cut mites obtained after calcination are rare tamination has become an issue of with wires and hardened in auto- and dedicated to the fabrication of high concern, because the resulting slag claves. Aerated concrete facilitates value products. Dolostones are kiln-fired can be recycled, e.g. for lightweight construction and offers optimum in the manufacture of cement. Pure dolos- aggregate, without environmentally thermal insulation (Lhoist web tones are used in the chemical industry harmful effects. site). as a source of magnesium metal and of • Building specialties – Limestones and • Environment - Waste incineration magnesia (MgO). Pure dolime (CaO.MgO occasionally dolostones have been and many industrial processes gen- – also called dolomitic lime) is a constitu- important building stones since the erate flue gases which often contain ent of refractory bricks for furnace linings. Roman period. Nevertheless, other pollutants such as sulphur dioxide

Dolomite is used in the production of glass well-hidden uses have a strong eco- (SO2) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) and ceramics. Lime and magnesia improve nomic importance. Lime-based mor- as well as heavy metals, dioxins and the durability of the glass but magnesia also tars are more and more often used furans. Lime-based products are inhibits the devitrification. in masonry and in plaster mixes for efficient reagents for capturing these Magnesium is a nutrient for plants. In building facades. In addition, lime is gases. Quick lime (CaO) can further agriculture, dolomite is used as a nutrient being used increasingly in modern be hydrated, combined with water in for livestock but also as a soil conditioner. building materials to make aerated varying proportion. Dolomite and limestone both neutralise concrete and calcium silicate bricks • Soil stabilisation - Quicklime (and soil acidity but only dolomite can coun- (lime-sand bricks). These materials especially low-dust lime) is used to terbalance magnesium deficiencies in the are valuable for several reasons: they dry out damp soils and to improve soil. Agricultural finely crushed dolomite is have excellent thermal and acoustic the clay soils used in earthworks. Lime is also increasingly used to recycle excavated material from sites in urban areas. A recent application of lime is the use of hydrated lime in the cement filler that consolidates underground works such as tunnels. These new fillers extend the lifespan of mixes by improving resistance to stripping and to rutting, reducing brittleness at low temperatures, and improving resistance to strain. Figure 4: Dolostones aggregates preparation in Figure 5: Overview of the Marche-Les-Dames • Civil infrastructure - in tunnel con- the Marche-Les-Dames (Namur) quarry. (Goe- (Namur) quarry. Mining Tournaisian dolostones. struction, hydrated lime is used as maere et al., 2010). (Goemaere et al., 2010). a component to improve the rheol-

12 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Figure 6: Overview during the wintertime of the Seilles (Andenne) quarry and plants services. (Goemaere, 2010b) (Photo: P. Timmermans).

ogy of mortars. Furthermore, quick- and tap holes, reducing the need for plants. Four of them are located near the lime dries out the rotary mud which gunning and repairs. French border in the Mons geologic basin, comes from the excavation process • Drinking water - In drinking and while the fifth one is located at Lixhe, in and thus makes its handling easier. process water preparation, lime is the eastern part of the country (the Meuse In injection works, hydrated lime is mainly used for pH adjustment and/ Valley, in front the city of Visé, very close one of the components used in the or water purification. Milk of lime, to the German and Dutch borders). The definition of the injection binders. among other products, is a cost-effec- integrated cement capacity is 6.35 Mt/yr • Paper - Lime is traditionally used to tive reagent which reduces the water’s (Edwards, 2012). Belgium consumed 4.2 reconstitute caustic soda from the hardness by precipitating the bicar- Mt of cement in 2010, and exported 1.7 sodium carbonate left over from the bonates dissolved in it, thus prevent- Mt destined for the EU, mainly to France pulp-making process. High-purity ing the formation of scale (sources: and the Netherlands. Nearly 20% of the lime is useful for the fabrication of Lhoist and Carmeuse websites). cement produced in Belgium was used in Precipitated Calcium Carbonate civil works, 36% in residential construction (PCC). Quicklime is usually mixed Chalk and cement – Belgium (synthsis and 44% in non-residential construction. with water to form a slurry to which from Edwards, 2012 and producer web- Three integrated cement plants (Creta- carbon dioxide is added. The result- sites) ceous chalk from Lixhe-Visé, Dinantian ing reaction produces a very fine limestones from Tournai, and white Cre- precipitated calcium carbonate. This In 2010, the world production of hydrau- taceous chalk from Harmignies) are man- filler is used in paper production to lic cement was 3,300 Mt and the top three aged by SA Cimenteries CBR Cement- enhance the paper’s whiteness, opac- producers were China (1,800 Mt), India bedrijven NV (owned by the German ity and texture. (220 Mt) and USA (63.5 Mt respectively. HeidelbergCement Group). It is the main • Refractories - Dead-burned dolo- The Belgian cement industry is under the cement producer in Belgium, with a total mite is produced when dolomite is umbrella of three world reference com- cement capacity of 4.2 Mt/yr (grey cement) calcined at very high temperatures. panies: CBR (HeidelbergCement Group), and 0.18 Mt/yr (white cement). It is the It is used both as a refractory prod- CCB (Italcementi Group) and Holcim. only manufacturer of white cement in uct in granular form to repair linings Together, they trade a large variety of the Benelux region. CBR Harmignies is and for making the bricks used in the cements (white cement, Portland cement, the only plant in the Benelux region that refractory linings of casting ladles aluminous cement, hydraulic cement and produces white cement. White ordinary and cement kilns. In the steel refin- cement clinkers) and derived products. Portland cement is similar to ordinary, gray ing process, the use of dolime instead They produce +/- 6 Mt/yr of grey cement Portland cement in all respects except for of pure quicklime will extend the life with a turnover estimated at 480 million its high degree of whiteness. Obtaining this of refractory linings. In fact, adding euro. These companies produce also aggre- color requires substantial modification to dolime will create MgO in solution in gates (from Dinantian limestones) and the method of manufacture, and because the slag, which provides an excellent concretes. The total number of employ- of this, it is somewhat more expensive than buffering capacity as MgO particles in ees of FEBELCEM (Fédération Belge des the gray product. White Portland cement

suspension provide excellent coating Cimentiers) member companies is about has a very low level of Fe2O3, so conven- protection. Any excess of MgO pre- 1,100. tional silica and iron-rich clays are replaced cipitates, protecting the refractories Belgium has five integrated cement with kaolin coming from Transinne (Libin,

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 13 Belgian Ardennes, weathering of Lower yr cement capacity and provides a vari- The standard of living that we are used Devonian rocks). ety of standard and non-standard types to depends on the economic availability of The Swiss multinational cement pro- of cement. The Gaurain-Ramecroix quarry an abundant supply of limestone resources. ducer Holcim Ltd. has an integrated cement also produces materials for the aggregates. Carbonates and their derivative products plant located at Obourg (Cretaceous chalk, play a crucial role in our daily lives, but Mons Basin) and has a production capac- Conclusions many people don’t realise that! Due to ity of 1.77 Mt/yr (data 2011). The Obourg strong competition with other human plant is supported by a grinding plant at Belgium is a “small” European country activities, strict land use planning and Haccourt in the east of Belgium. It has a but is a very important actor in the indus- NIMBY and NIMEY reactions, one of the capacity of 0.5 Mt/yr and produces mainly trial carbonates sector. Five big interna- main challenges of the next decades will blast furnace slag cement. Clinkers are tional companies are active in Wallonia, be the accessibility to the raw material. We exclusively sourced from Obourg. Holcim’s both mining and transforming high purity must pursue our efforts in communication! cement operations are complemented by a carbonates (limestones, dolostones and raft of ready-mix concrete facilities, which chalk). Belgium consumes a large part of Acknowledgements are spread throughout the country. its own production (aggregates, cement, Finally, the “Compagnie des Ciments lime, dolime, etc.) but, due to its favour- We warmly thank Jean-Marc Marion for Belges” (CCB) is owned by Italcementi able geographical situation, also exports fruitful comments and discussion. Authors Group of Italy. The Gaurain-Ramecroix finished or semi-finished products to the also thank Robin L. Nagano for reviewing plant (Dinantian limestones) has a 2 Mt/ surrounding countries. the text and her useful suggestions.

Reference

Belanger, I., Delaby, S., Delcambre, B., Ghysel, P., Hennebert, M., Laloux, M., Marion, J.-M., Mottequin, B. & Pingot, J.-L. 2012. Redéfinition des unités structurales du front varisque utilisées dans le cadre de la nouvelle Carte géologique de Wallonie (Bel- gique). Geologica Belgica, 15(3), pp. 169-175.

Bultynck, P. & Dejonghe, L. 2001. Devonian lithostratigraphic units (Belgium). In Bultynck, P. & Dejonghe, L. (Eds). Lithostrati- graphic scale of Belgium. Geologica Belgica, 4(1-2), pp. 39-69.

Carmeuse. 2013. Limestone - Sands & Aggregates. Retrieved from: http://www.carmeuse.be/page.asp?id=59&langue=EN

CCB. 2013. Les ciments. Retrieved from: http://www.ccb.be/FR/Nos+produits/Ciments/

Edwards, P. 2012. Cement in Belgium and the Netherlands. Global Cement Magazine.

Febelcem. 2013. Fédération de l’Industrie Cimentière Belge. Retrieved from: http://www.febelcem.be/

Fediex. 2013. Fédération des industries extractives de Belgique. Retrieved from: http://www.fediex.be/.

Goemaere, E. 2010a. Filles de Meuse (Introduction). In Goemaere, E. (Ed.) L’exploitation des ressources naturelles minérales de la commune d’Andenne: géologie, industries, cadre historique et patrimoines culturel et biologique. Collection GEOSCIENCES, Vol. III, Service Géologique de Belgique, Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique, pp.11-18.

Goemaere, E. 2010b. L’exploitation des calcaires sur le territoire communal d’Andenne. In Goemaere, E. (Ed.), pp.127-140.

Goemaere, E., Declercq, P-Y. & Cambier, G. 2010. Les maîtres-carriers : des petits patrons aux grandes entreprises. Calcaires et dolomies. In Goemaere, E. (Ed.), pp.141-174.

HeidelbergCement. 2013 . Retrieved from: http://www.heidelbergcement.com/global/en/company/products/cement.htm

Holcim. 2013. Retreived from: http://www.holcim.be/holcim-belgique.html.

Lhoist. 2013. Retrieved from: http://www.lhoist.com/.

Poty, E., Hance, L., Lees, A. & Hennebert, M. 2001. Dinantian lithostratigraphic units (Belgium). Geologica Belgica, 4 (1-2) (Lithostratigraphic scale of Belgium), pp. 69-93.

Poty, E. & Chevalier, E. 2004. L’activité extractive en Wallonie. Situation actuelle et perspectives. DGATLP, Ministère de la Région Wallonne Ed.

Robaszynski, F., Dhondt, A.V. & Jagt, J.W.M. 2001. Cretaceous lithostratigraphic units (Belgium). Geologica Belgica, 4(1-2) (Lithostratigraphic scale of Belgium), pp. 121-134.

14 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Correlations between mechanical and geometrical parameters in aggregates: a tool for quality assessment and control

Dimitrios M. Xirouchakis*

Mineral aggregates are used in construction, Les agrégats sont utilisés pour la construc- Los áridos minerales se emplean en la con- and market demand dictates production tion et c’est la demande du marché qui dicte strucción y la demanda del mercado el la quantity and quality. Correlations between la production, au niveau quantité et qualité. que controla la cantidad y la calidad de la mechanical and geometrical parameters Les corrélations faites entre les paramètres producción. Se puede utilizar la correlación can be employed as quality and perfor- mécaniques et géométriques peuvent entre los parámetros mecánicos y geomé- mance prediction tools. For that purpose, servir d’outils de prédiction pour préciser tricos como herramienta de predicción de I evaluated the correlation between the la qualité et la performance de ces maté- la calidad y el comportamiento. Para ello se flakiness and shape index (FI–SI), dry and riaux. Dans ce but, j’ai évalué la corrélation ha evaluado la correlación entre el índice

wet resistance to wear (MDE & MDS), resist- entre le pouvoir d’écaillage et une échelle de de lajas y el de forma (IL-IF), la resistencia al

ance to fragmentation (LA), and resistance formes géométriques (FI-SI), la résistance à desgaste en húmedo y en seco (RDH-RDS), el

to polishing and abrasion (PSV–AAV) based la compression en mode sec et humide (MDE coeficiente de desgaste Los Ángeles (LA) y la

on a large number of samples and different & MDS), la résistance à la fragmentation (LA) resistencia al pulido y a la abrasión (CPA-CA)

rock types. The FI–SI, MDS–MDE, and MDE–LA et la résistance en matière de polissage et en base a un gran número de muestras de

are positively correlated. The PSV–AAV cor- d’abrasion (PSV-AAV), basée sur un grand diferentes tipos de rocas. Los valores de IL-IF,

relation divides aggregates into materials nombre d’échantillons et de types de roches. RDH-RDS y RDH-LA, tienen una correlación

with (1) high polishing resistance for high Les FI–SI, MDS–MDE, et MDE–LA sont corrélés positiva. La relación CPA-CA clasifica los abrasion resistance (high PSV–low AAV) and de façon positive. La corrélation PSV-AAV áridos en materiales (1) con una elevada (2) high polishing resistance for low abra- sépare les agrégats en deux catégories : resistencia al pulido y resistencia a la sion resistance (high PSV–high AAV). (1), les matériaux avec un niveau élevé de abrasión (alto CPA-bajo CA) y (2) elevada résistance au polissage pour une résistance resistencia al pulido y baja resistencia a la d’abrasion élevée (PSV élevé–AAV faible) et abrasión (alto CPA-alto CA). (2) un niveau élevé de résistance au polis- sage pour une faible résistance d’abrasion (PSV élevé–AAV élevée).

ccording to the European Aggre- ments (e.g., grading, particle shape, surface and methods therein). The data set com- gates Association (UEPG), the texture, durability, abrasion resistance). prises slags, igneous, metamorphic, and aggregates sector is the largest Therefore, aggregate testing is critical to sedimentary rocks. The GeoTerra database Aamongst the nonenergy extractive indus- evaluate production quality and antici- includes coarse aggregates (4/31.5) either tries, directly and indirectly employing pated performance. Occasionally, testing from sites sampled once or multiple times 250,000 people and representing a turnover may be incomplete and product assess- between 2007 and 2012. Commonly, the of around €20 billion. Approximately 90% ment may rely on a partial set of quality same quarry employee at each site per- of all aggregates produced in EU are from indicators. For this reason, I concentrated formed the sampling according to EN 932-1 quarries (49%) and pits (41%). The rest are on the most common pairs of parameters and the same pool of laboratory technicians recycled, marine, and manufactured aggre- used to describe particle shape, resistance performed the testing. Details for the data gates. Aggregates are a granular material to wear and fragmentation under dry and in Tables 1, 2, and 3 can be found in Xir- typically used in construction (concrete wet conditions, and resistance to polishing ouchakis (2013) and references therein. and asphalt plants, new construction, and and abrasion. The goal was to evaluate the Construction Materials Testing (CMT) repairs). Most common natural aggregates pairwise correlations and their potential as laboratories rely on the flakiness index (FI) of mineral origin are sand, gravel and quality control and prediction tools. I have and shape index (SI) for evaluating particle crushed rock. Market demand dictates pro- not attempted to correlate materials prop- shape. The FI (EN 933-3) and SI (EN 933-4) duction quantity and quality. The quality of erties and processing technology because values represent mass percentages of flaky aggregates strongly depends on materials of lack of relevant data. Nonetheless, the and elongate grains. Resistance to wear properties and processing technology. processing industry has been exploring under wet and dry conditions is assessed Producers of aggregates face more than this relation. by using the micro-Deval method (EN

one set of materials performance require- 1097-1) and is expressed as the MDE and

Materials and Methods MDS value, respectively. Resistance to frag- * GeoTerra Ltd, Geomechanics & Quality mentation (EN 1097-2) is performed under Control Laboratory, 12 Anthrakorichon For self-consistency, only data from tests dry conditions and is reported as the LA Street, 142 35 Nea Ionia, Greece, performed according to EN standard test value. The resistance of coarse aggregates to [email protected] methods were considered (e.g., EN 13043 polishing and abrasion prior to use in road

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 15 surfaces is evaluated by using the Polishing Stone and Abrasion Resistance me-thods (EN 1097-8 & EN 1097-8 Appendix A). Test procedures as well as precision statements are given in the standard test methods. The relative expanded uncertainty at the 95% confidence level (%U) for all non-GeoTerra data was estimated from the precision and accuracy statements in the standard test methods. For the GeoTerra data set, the relative expanded uncertainty for FI, SI,

MDE, MDS, LA, PSV, and AAV is 5.1%, 2.0%, 5.1%, 8.0%, 6.7%, 0.6%, and 1.8%, respectively, and well within the standard limits. The relative expanded uncertainty was used to construct the error bars in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. To evaluate data variability for sites that were sampled over a period of years, which applies to many sites in the GeoTerra database, I opted to look at the ratio of single-year to multiple-year stand- ard deviation (ssingle-year/smultiple-year) or average (μsingle-year/μmultiple-year) as a proxy for within- to Figure 1: FI vs SI. Aggregates are from Greece (GR), Croatia (HR), Italy (IT), and Portugal (PT). Solid line between-group variability. For low-variabil- is the 1:1 line and the dashed lines are the 95% confidence limits. The dot dashed and dashed lines are ity data, the above-mentioned ratios should from Peturrson et al. (2000) and Bellevicius et al. (2011), respectively. be unity or close to unity. Sampling and testing procedures are executed according to standard test methods, and thus should Hann (2009) experimentally determined Thus, the data in Fig. 1 strongly suggest contribute little to variability. Consequently, the relation between the SI and shape factor that hard materials will have low SIs and mineral and rock properties are the likely F, based on which spherical and cubical FIs and, therefore, higher mass percentages source for the data variability and correla- grains with F between 1 and 0.785 corre- of nonflaky and cubical grains. tions for same-source, low-variability data. spond to SI values between 4 and 20.

The FI and SI values for EAF slags, lime- MDS vs MDE and MDE vs LA Results and Discussion stones, and igneous rocks are listed in Table 1 and shown in Fig. 1. Both indices are posi- Resistance to wear and fragmentation FI vs SI tively correlated regardless of rock type, site, are used to evaluate materials suitability or region with a correlation coefficient of for construction and predict long-term per-

Particle shape affects packing and 0.83. In the GeoTerra database and for the formance; low MDS, MDE, and LA values mechanical stability of mixtures with and same sampling sites, the average ssingle-year/ typically characterize hard, mechanically without binder as well as road surface prop- smultiple-year for FI and SI is 1.0 ± 0.1 and 0.9 ± strong materials. The data for resistance erties. Typically, a grain is classified as flaky 0.1, respectively. For comparison, the aver- to wear under wet (MDE) and dry condi- if the width–thickness ratio is >2.0, elon- age μsingle-year/μmultiple-year for FI and SI is 1.0 ± tions (MDS), and resistance to fragmenta- gated if the length–thickness ratio is >2.5, 0.1 and 1.0 ± 0.1, correspondingly. tion (LA) are given in Table 2. The MDS and cubic if the width–thickness ratio is The data inFig. 1 can be equally well data set is less comprehensive than the

<2.0 and the length–thickness ratio is <2.5 described by the 1:1 line or the equation rest but nonetheless useful. MDS and MDE (e.g., Uthus, 2007). Note that length (L) is FI = 1.01 × SI (R2 = 0.63). The dashed line are, unsurprisingly, strongly correlated the maximum, width (W) the medium, and in Fig. 1 represents the equation SI = 1.13 (r = 0.98), with MDS values registered at thickness (T) or height (H) the minimum × FI + 1.04 that Péturrson et al. (2000) approximately half the corresponding MDE particle dimension. used to describe the FI and SI correlation values, regardless of rock type and di/Di According to the SI test, the grains are in Icelandic basaltic aggregates. Bulevicius fraction. Clearly, water enhances sample divided into cubical and noncubical, where et al. (2011) reported strong correlation attrition. The MDE and LA data are listed in the noncubical grains have a length–thick- between FI and SI for dolomitic and granitic Table 2 and shown in Fig. 2. Dry resistance ness ratio greater than 3, and SI represents aggregates (r = 0.7) and fitted the data with to fragmentation (LA) and wet resistance the ratio of the mass of noncubical grains to the equation SI = 2.714 + 0.595 × FI (dot- to wear (MDE) are positively correlated (r the total mass of grains. FI divides particles dashed line in Fig. 1). Limestone aggregates = 0.81). In the GeoTerra data set and for into flaky or nonflaky and is the ratio of the from Greece exhibit moderate correlation the same sampling sites, the ssingle-year/smultiple- mass of flaky grains to the total mass of (r = 0.62) between FI and SI, and little to year (μsingle-year/μmultiple-year) ratio for LA is 0.9 grains. Uthus (2007) estimated that cubic weak positive correlation between FI and ± 0.1 (1.5 ± 0.2) and for MDE is 0.8 ± 0.03 and cubic rounded grains correspond to LA (r = 0.10), FI and MDE (r = 0.09), SI and (1.0 ± 0.0).

SI values of 0.083–0.056 and FI values LA (r = 0.15), and SI and MDE (r = 0.36). The LA–MDE relation can be described 2 of 10.99–8.08, whereas flaky and flaky Bulevicius et al. (2011) found a stronger with the equation LA = 4.95 × MDE0.61 (R rounded grains have SI values of 55.5–63.3 positive correlation between LA and FI (r = 0.69), which provides slightly better fitting and FI values of 12.42–20.34, respectively. = 0.64–0.73) and LA and SI (0.62–0.76). than linear-type equations and better simu-

16 Topical - Industrial Minerals

limiting LA value of 30 for high-specifica- tion aggregates and the proposed equation,

the corresponding limiting MDE value is 20.

The LA value of 30 and MDE value of 20 encompass hard materials such as slags and mafic to intermediate crystalline volcanics.

AAV vs PSV

Resistance to polishing is required for skid-resistant road surfaces. Aggregates with a rough microtexture, maintained by differential wear or continuous plucking, or by the presence of intergranular voids, have high resistance to polishing (high PSV). Abrasion resistance is also an important parameter that characterizes road-surfacing materials. Abrasion resistance is affected by mineral hardness, grain size and orien- tation, and mineral weathering. The PSV and AAV data are listed in Table 3 and shown in Fig. 3. The data were examined and grouped according to material type. The Figure 2: MDE vs LA. Aggregates are from Bulgaria (BG), Greece (GR), Croatia (HR), and Portugal (PT). Solid line represents the nonlinear fit to the data and the dashed lines are the 95% confidence limits. control stone (CS, EN 1097-8) data in Table 3 are from West and Sibbick (1988) and the GeoTerra stock. The control stone is a fine- to medium-grained aphyric equigranular microgabbro, and the PSV and AAV are listed to aid the reader in the evaluation of the GeoTerra data reproducibility and bias. Two groups of aggregates and correla- tions are apparent in Fig. 3. First, aggregates with moderately negative correlation such as limestones (r = −0.49) and slags (r = −0.63). Within this group, subgroups may exhibit stronger negative correlation than as a group, e.g., Greek limestones (mostly mic-

ritic with 90–99% CaCO3) with r = −0.63 and Italian limestones with r = −0.68. The second group comprises aggregates with variably moderate positive correlation such as basalt–andesite (r = 0.39), sandstones (r = 0.44), and serpentine-poor peridotites (r = 0.79). The basalt–andesite group consists of crystalline rocks, and the sandstones are hard graywackes and gritstones. When ser- pentine-rich peridotites are included in the peridotites, the group as a whole exhibits weak negative correlation between PSV and Figure 3: AAV vs PSV. Aggregates are from Cyprus (CY), Greece (GR), Great Britain (GB), and Italy (IT). AAV (r = −0.26). The dashed line in Fig. 3 represents the equation PSV = 8.5 × ln AAV 2 lates the subtle nonlinearity in the LA–MDE ICAR) in North America (CA & USA) have + 46.8 (R = 0.76) of Hunter (2000) for igne- relation at low values for hard aggregates. adapted more quickly, even to a new test ous rocks and arenites that exhibit positive

The correlation of MDE and LA to the di/Di such as the wet micro-Deval. Despite the PSV–AAV correlation—the data in Hunter

fraction is weak (MDE–di/Di, r = 0.18) to differences between the EN and ASTM, or (2000) are not shown in Fig. 3 or included

moderate (LA–di/Di, r = 0.40). Generally, CAS, standard test methods, MDE and LA in the analysis. Similar trends are produced there is neither much research in the EU exhibit moderate to strong, positive correla- by using the equation in Thompsonet al. for the micro-Deval vs LA correlation nor tion (r = 0.45–0.89). Cuelho et al. (2008), (2004) for such aggregates. The antithetic for the limits associated with good long- after reviewing the US literature, concluded equation PSV = −8.1 × ln AAV + 60.9 (R2 = term performance, probably because of the that aggregates with good long-term per- 0.56) (dot-dashed line in Fig. 3) of this study past lack of common tests across the EU. formance have an ASTM LA of less than 40 is for aggregates with negative PSV–AAV

In contrast, Departments of Transporta- and ASTM MDE of less than 18. Despite the correlation. Apparently, such aggregates tion (DOTs) and Research Centers (e.g., lack of similar research in Europe, using a may not rejuvenate during service as mafic–

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 17 intermediate volcanics and arenites may by the 1:1 line; furthermore, the data sug- and mafic–intermediate crystalline volcan- do, through polishing by traffic during the gest that hard materials with low FI and SI ics. Peridotites belong to either PSV–AAV dry months and restoration by weathering may contain a larger number of cubical and group depending on the content of low- during the rainy months. Therefore, in such nonflaky grains. Strong positive correlation hardness minerals. The abovementioned cases, aggregates with high PSV and low is also seen between MDS and MDE, and correlations can serve as quality control and AAV need to be selected, e.g., steel slags, MDE and LA that can be well fitted with the assurance tools, and fill in incomplete data 0.61 as they will resist polishing and abrasion. equation LA = 4.95 × MDE (R2 = 0.69). for the quality assessment of aggregates. As anticipated, hard aggregates have low Conclusions MD and LA values. The PSV–AAV correla- Acknowledgments tion divides aggregates into materials that

The FI–SI, MDS–MDE, MDE–LA, and exhibit (1) high polishing resistance for high I wish to thank the GeoTerra laboratory PSV–AAV correlations were evaluated abrasion resistance (high PSV–low AAV), staff for performing most of the tests re- considering a large number of samples and such as limestone and slags; and (2) high ported. different rock types. The FI–SI correlation polishing resistance for low abrasion resist- is strongly positive and is well described ance (high PSV–high AAV), such as arenites

References

Bulevicius, M., Petkevicius, K., Cirba, S., Zilioniene, D., Oginskas, R., and Bertuliene, L., 2011. The influence of geometrical parameters on the strength of crushed stone used for the manufacture of asphalt mixtures. Environmental Engineering, Proc. 8th International Conference, pp. 1051–1056.

CEN (European Committee for Standardization) 2013. EN 13043. Aggregates for bi-tuminous mixtures and surface treatments for roads, airfields and other trafficked areas. Brussels.

Cuelho, E., Mokwa, R., Obert, K., and Miller A. 2008. Comparative analysis of micro-Deval, L.A. abrasion, and sulfate soundness tests. TRB 87th Annual Meeting: Conference Recordings. Washington D.C.

Hann, D. 2009. Applicability of two different methods for determining particle shape. RMZ–Materials and Geoenvironment, Vol. 56(1), pp. 88–96.

Hunter, R.N., 2000. Assessing aggregates. In Hunter and Edgar (Eds.), Asphalts in Road Construction. London, UK: Thomas Telford. pp. 1–55.

Péturrson, P., Bjarnasson, G., and Torfason, H. 2000. Testing of the aggregate bank with two CEN methods, MDE and FI. BUSL Report E-38.

Thompson, A., Burrows, A., Flavin, D., and Walsh I., 2004. The Sustainable Use of High Specification Aggregates for Skid-Resistant Road Surfacing in England. Report to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Mineral Industry Research Organization. Capita Symonds Ltd.: East Grinstead, UK.

Uthus, L. 2007. Deformation Properties of Unbound Granular Aggregates. PhD thesis, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

West, G. and Sibbick, R.G. 1988. Petrographical comparison of old and new control stones for the accelerated polishing test. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 21(4), 375–378.

Xirouchakis, D. 2013. Correlations between mechanical and geometrical parameters in aggregates: a tool for quality assess- ment and control. Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece, vol. XLVII.

18 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Geology of the perlite bodies at Pálháza

Tibor Zelenka*

The perlite occurrences of the Sarmatian Les occurrences de perlite au sein des forma- Los indicios de perlita de la formación vol- rhyolite-rhyodacite volcanics between Pál- tions volcaniques de Sarmatie (rhyolite et cánica riolítica-riodacítica Sarmatiense, háza and Telkibánya in the NE part of the rhyodacite) entre Pálháza and Telkibánya, situada entre Pálháza y Telkibánya al NE de Tokaj Mountains of Hungary have been dans la partie nord orientale des montagnes las Montañas Tokai de Hungría se conocen known for more than 200 years. The sub- du Tokaj, en Hongrie, sont connues depuis desde hace más de 200 años. Las erupciones marine extrusions formed domes or vents at plus de 200 ans. Les extrusions sous-marines submarinas formaron domos o conductos the rim of a rhyolitic caldera with pumicite, ont créé des dômes ou des fissures à la péri- al borde de una caldera riolítica con pumita, hyaloclastite breccia, pitchstone, perlite and phérie d’une caldeira rhyolitique avec des brechas hialoclastiticas, vidrios volcánicos, peperite bodies. Subsidence into the empty amas de ponces, de brèches hyaloclastiques, perlita y masas de peperitas. La subsidencia magma chamber prevented their erosion. de pechsteins, de perlites et de pépérites. en la cámara magmática evitó su erosión. The mined products come from glassy pipe Un affaissement à l’intérieur de la cham- Los productos de mina proceden de conduc- breccias of pitchstone, perlite and lava- bre magmatique vide les a préservées de tos de brechas de vidrio volcánico, perlitas pumicite, massive perlite (hydrated obsid- l’érosion. Les produits exploités provien- y lavas pumíticas, perlitas masivas (obsidi- ian) and pumice-bearing perlite bodies, nent de brèches de pechstein sous forme anas hidratadas) y masas de perlita con which have optimal water content (2.5- de coulées vitreuses, de perlites plus ou pumitas, que tienen el contenido en agua 3.5%) for swelling. Exploration was begun in moins massives (obsidienne hydratée), de adecuado (2,5-3,5%) para poder ser expan- 1950 and mining in 1956. Since then, more pierres ponces et d’amas de perlites avec didas. La exploración comenzó en 1950 y la than 3.7 Mt of perlite have been exploited éléments de ponces, roches qui contiennent extracción en 1956. Desde entonces se han from the Gyöngykő Hill, South Som Hill and une proportion d’eau optimale (2.5-3.5%) extraído más de 3,7 Mt de las canteras de los Páska Hill quarries. The 50,000-70,000 t/y pour gonfler. L’exploration a commencé en cerros de Gyöngykő, Sur Som y Páska Hill. production makes this the 3rd or 4th most 1950 et l’exploitation en 1956. Depuis, plus Esa producción de entre 50.000 y 70.000 t/ productive site in Europe and the 5th most de 3.7 Mt de perlite ont été exploités à partir año sitúa a esta zona como las 3ª y 4ª con important among the continuously mined des carrières des monts Gyöngykő, Som Sud mayor producción de Europa y la 5ª más occurrences in the world. et Páska. La production annuelle de 50,000 importante del mundo entre las que han – 70,000 tonnes fait de cette région le 3ème ou estado en explotación continuamente. 4ème site le plus productif d’Europe et le 5ème en importance au monde parmi les extru- sions exploitées en continu.

History of the exploration systematic network (cca. 8000 m of drilling several parts of the Tokaj Mts where per- in aggregate). lite is found are declared as protected areas, he perlite occurrences of the Tokaj From the 1980s the exploration was obstructing further exploration and pros- Mountains have been documented extended to the Som and Páska Hills, pecting of these occurrences, which are in the geological literature since towards the village of Bózsva. Presently significant on a European scale. Tthe beginning of the 19th century. Detailed mapping and prospecting was begun in the 1950s by the Hungarian Geological Institute (Liffa, 1953). Further prospecting projects raised the number of known occurrences and indications up to 35 (Ilkeyné Perlaky & Szöőr, 1973; Mátyás & Sántha, 1975; Gyar- mati, 1982; Csillag & Zelenka, 1999). The exploration of the Pálháza Gyöngykő Hill perlite body (the name ‘Gyöngykő’ means ‘pearlstone’, or perlite) started in 1956 with shallow shafts and adits. In the period up to 1966 a three-level quarry was opened and a processing plant set up by the Hegyalja Works of the National Ore and Mineral Mining Company. Further exploration included 180 boreholes with core sampling and 200 boreholes with dust sampling in a

* University of Miskolc, Institute for Mineralogy and Geology, Hungary, Figure 1: Extrusive black perlite bodies broken through yellow tuffite, with contact breccia zone in the [email protected] upper pyroclastics on the top.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 19 Figure 2: Cross section of South Som Hill quarry. Thick black line shows recent profile of mine wall; thin, vertical lines represent drillholes. Legend: – overlying complex: 1 – volcanic (pyroclastic) breccia); 2 – lava flow perlite; 3 – lava breccia – productive complex: 4 – red brecciated perlite; 5 – brecciated perlite; 6 – columnar unaltered perlite; 7 – rhyolitic perlite (with flow texture); 8 – contac- tised pumiceous perlite – underlying complex: 9 – tuffite (with clay and sandstone); 10 – pyroxene andesite; 11 – andesite conglomerate and breccia.

Geology of the deposit changing facies from inside out: massive, mm crystals of white plagioclase, lithophysic, lithoidic, spherolithic, perlitic quartz and dark, hexagonal biotite. The NE part of the Tokaj Mountains and pumiceous facies. In the glass with flow texture there between Pálháza and Telkibánya comprises The quarries at Gyöngykő Hill, South are globulite, longite and trichite a Sarmatian (Upper Miocene, K/Ar age ~ Som Hill (Pálháza) and Páska Hill crystallites (Figure 3). Perlite grains 13Ma) rhyolitic-rhyodacitic volcanic range. (Nagybózsva) supply perlite and pitchstone include marekanite (obsidian) cores These rocks were formed on the rim of a breccia. Exploration and mining revealed indicating that perlite was formed subduction zone from acidic, highly vis- several subsequent extrusive lava domes from obsidian. cous lava and its pyroclastic derivatives. The on each site. Evidences from drilling data 2. Obsidian: black or dark grey, mas- eruptions breaking through the Sarmatian show that perlite bodies inside the cca. 0.5 sive volcanic rock with conchoidal micro- and macrofaunal clay marl deposits km2 area of the pipes were subsided into the fracture and 0.5-1% water content. produced glassy pyroclastics (pumicite and empty magma chambers of the domes down Crystalline constituents (some pla- hyaloclastite breccia) and lava rock bodies to 100 m depth, so these were preserved gioclase and biotite grains) are cryp- (perlite, pitchstone, obsidian-breccia, lava- from the erosion (Figure 2). tocrystalline. pumicite and peperite) (Figure 1). The perlite at Pálháza was formed in 3. Pitchstone: brown, reddish or grey- In the vicinity of Pálháza, at the villages seawater from glassy rhyolite lava of four ish, glassy volcanic rock formed of Nagyhuta and Kishuta, a Sarmatian major facies: massive columnar, lava flow, from lava of high water content, rhyolite caldera can be outlined. Perlite brecciated and pumiceous (Mátyás & occurring mainly at the bottom of bodies lay on the rim of this structure Sántha, 1975). The epigenetic hydration of perlite bodies. The breaking strength in separate volcanic domes and pipes: the obsidian causes a volume increase with is higher than that of perlite and the Gyöngykő Hill, Som Hill (Pálháza), Páska several cracks; the onionskin-like arrange- fractures are splintery. Hill (Nagybózsva), Lackó Hill (Kishuta) ment of these microcracks produces the 4. Pumice: white, vesicular volcanic and Kopcsa Hill (Kovácsvágás). The base- perlite structure. The raw perlite rock con- glass swelled by vapour and chloridic, ment of these bodies consists of Badenian sists of 90-95% amorphous volcanic glass, fluoridic volcanic gas, having a lower andesite, marine clay, tuffite and pumic- 5-6% crystalline constituents (quartz, pla- constitution water content than per- ite. The pipes of the submarine eruptions gioclase and biotite with accessory amphi- lite. Lava pumicite was formed from produced thick, polymictic hyaloclastite bole, pyroxene and magnetite) and 2.5-3.5% rhyolite lava coming suddenly into breccia bodies at first. The central parts molecular water. The raw bulk density is 1.1 contact with water saturated sedi- of the pipes are comprised of pitchstone- g/cm3, the swelled product’s bulk density ments. The breaking strength is lower perlite breccia. On the top parts there are decreases to an optimal value of smaller than that of perlite. lava extrusions, lava domes altered to obsid- than 50 g/l, and it has a medium breaking ian (perlite), contactising the hyaloclastite strength. Further varieties found are: (5) perlite breccia (Zelenka, 2008). The lava domes In a petrographic view the useful raw from the contact zones, which may be form columnar cooling structures like an mining products are not confined to pure welded and rich in pumice, (6) very inho- opening flower chalice. At the contact of the perlite; these can be classified into four mogeneous brecciated perlite and agglom- extruded rhyolitic lava and the underlying types. erate on the side and top rims of perlite wet sediments perlitic lava breccia (pep- bodies and (7) thin perlite seams in dry and erite) was formed. On the upper rim of the 1. Perlite: dense mass of black ‘pearl’ crystalline-rich lava flows. pipes the rhyolitic lava forms sheaths with grains of 2-5 mm diameter with 0.1-3

20 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Mining of the deposit

After winding up of the state-owned Hegyalja Works in 1992 the newly founded Perlite-92 Ltd. continued the mining. More than 3.7 Mt of industrial perlite have been exploited in the past 55 years from the Gyöngykő Hill, South Som Hill and Páska Hill quarries. The term ‘industrial perlite’ covers the glassy pipe breccia (pitchstone – perlite – lava pumicite breccia), the mas- sive perlite bodies formed by hydration of obsidian and the perlite with lava pumic- ite. In 2007 the Páska Hill quarry, which produces pitchstone breccia, was opened. The raw perlite products separated by com- minution and classification are transported to the processing plants. The 50,000-70,000 t/y production (65,000 t in 2011) makes this mine the 3rd or 4th in Europe in terms of pro- duction and the 5th most important among the continuously mined perlite occurrences in the world. Figure 3: Plagioclase grain in perlitic volcanic glass matrix with typical perlitic cracks. Usage of perlite its fireproof, soundproof and thermal insu- of tanks and furnaces or oil removal from Raw industrial perlite is a volcanic lator nature and its high absorption capac- water surfaces (Farkas, 2008). glass with 68-75% SiO2, 6-9% total alka- ity. It is used in the construction industry line and 2.5-6% molecular water content. as an additive in concrete and mortar Acknowledgements During heating to 400 ºC it loses its diffu- due to its great lime bounding capability, sion molecular water content, then rapid insulator characteristics and strength; in The up-to-date mining and exploration heating to 850-1150 ºC (thermal shock) gardening due to its sterility, porosity and data were provided by Dr. Géza Farkas, causes bubbling of the constitution water water adsorbing capacity, thus promoting manager of Perlit-92 Ltd. Beyond this, I and expansion to 7-15 times of the origi- root development and soil loosening; in the wish to thank Dr. Éva Hartai and Dr. Nor- nal volume. This swelled perlite is a light- chemical and filtering industry due to its bert Németh from the Institute of Min- weight, porous silicate foam with half open, inert character and acid neutralising capac- eralogy and Geology at the University of half closed porosity. ity for rapid filtering and purification of Miskolc for their manifold editorial and The manifold utilisation of perlite comes viscous liquids (vegetable oil or juice); in professional help. from its low density, relatively high strength, environmental protection for the insulation

Reference

Csillag, J. and Zelenka, T. 1999. A magyarországi perlitlelőhelyek földtani-genetikai típusai (Geological-genetic types of Hun- garian perlite occurrences). Építőanyag, 51(2), 34-40.

Farkas G. 2008. A Magyar perlit múltja, jelene, jövője (Past, present and future of Hungarian perlite). In: 50th Anniversary and Future of Hungarian Perlite in terms of environmental protection and climate shift. 6th International Conference and Exhibition on Perlite. Szilikátipari Tudományos Egyesület, Budapest, pp. 29-50.

Gyarmati P. 1982. A Tokaji-hegységi perlitkutatás és prognózis eredményei (Results of perlite prospecting in the Tokaj Mts). Földtani Kutatás, 25(2), pp. 61-68.

Ilkeyné Perlaky, E. and Szöőr, Gy. 1973. The perlites of the Tokaj Moutains. Acta Geologica Ac. Sci. Hung. 17(1-3), pp. 5-106.

Liffa, A. 1953.A Tokaji-hegység perlit előfordulásai (Perlite occurrences of the Tokaj Mts). Annual Report of the Hung. Geol. Inst. from 1951: Budapest. pp. 32–46.

Mátyás, E. and Sántha, P. 1975. Összefoglaló földtani jelentés és készletszámítás a pálházai perlit bánya kutatásáról (Summary report and resource estimation of the Pálháza perlite exploration). Manuscript, MBFH Repository: T 15187.

Zelenka T. 2008. A pálházai és környéki perlitek földtana (Geology of the perlites in the Pálháza region). In: 50th Anniversary and Future of Hungarian Perlite in terms of environmental protection and climate shift. 6th International Conference and Exhibition on Perlite. Szilikátipari Tudományos Egyesület: Budapest. pp. 51-76.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 21 Aggregate potential mapping in Ireland

Gerard Stanley* and Phelim Lally

The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI) L’Association des Géologues Irlandais (GSI) El Servicio Geológico de Irlanda (GSI) commenced a programme of aggregate a commencé en 2007 un programme de comenzó en el año 2007 un programa de potential mapping (APM) both for sand cartographie potentielle des agrégats (APM) cartografía del potencial de áridos (CPA) and gravel, and for crushed rock resources en Irlande pour évaluer les ressources à la del país, tanto para los recursos de arenas y in Ireland in 2007. The mapping system is fois en sable et graviers et en matériaux gravas como para los áridos de machaqueo. based on scores assigned for a number of concassés. Le système cartographique El sistema cartográfico se basa en una pun- evidential layers (geological, geographic, est basé sur des valeurs attribuées à un tuación asignada para una serie de capas market and social). The end result is a suite nombre d’indicateurs évidents (géologiques, de información (geológica, geográfica, mer- of maps providing baseline information and géographiques, économiques et sociaux). Il cado y social). El resultado es una serie de two main maps – one for granular materi- en résulte une série de cartes fournissant une mapas que proporcionan la información als and one for crushed rock aggregates. information de base ainsi que deux cartes de base y dos mapas principales, uno para Each map displays five categories from ‘very principales – l’une relative aux granulats, materiales granulares y otros para áridos low potential’ to ‘very high potential’ and is l’autre aux matériaux concassés. Chaque de machaqueo. Cada mapa tiene cinco cat- colour coded. This paper will describe the carte indique l’existence de cinq catégories egorías desde ‘potencial muy bajo’ a ‘poten- data inputs, explain the processing steps, distinctes depuis un ‘potentiel d’agrégats cial muy elevado’ con un código de colores. and provide a summary of the main outputs très faible’ jusqu’à un ‘potentiel très élevé’ Este artículo describe los datos de entrada, from the programme. avec un codage de couleurs. Cet article explica los pasos del proceso e incluye un expose les données brutes, explique les resumen de los principales resultados del étapes de traitement et donne un résumé programa. des principaux résultats livrés par le pro- gramme.

reland has historically had an ample on occasions bypassed in the rush to bring In the early 2000s, GSI carried out map- supply of both granular and crushed product to the market. ping of three of the State’s twenty-six coun- rock aggregates, and the industry has A need was perceived for more geologi- ties with financial support from county Ibeen able to acquire lands for quarrying cal information, in order to aid the busi- councils (local government authorities) with a minimum of regulatory or social ness of aggregates production on the one in each case. Mapping of the remaining constraints. During the late 1990s and up hand, and the work of local authorities in counties, and integration of the earlier to the year 2007, the country experienced land use planning and resource manage- three, began in 2007 as part of the Geo- profound economic changes, most clearly ment on the other. A balance needed to science Initiatives Programme; funding epitomised by a building boom, during be found between preservation of high for this comes from the government’s which time the demand for aggregates quality resources, in particular for future National Development Plan 2007-2013. increased four-fold: output in 1995 was use within the regional economy, and the At the end of 2013, the results of the work 40 mt (million tonnes), whereas in 2007 immediate needs of housing or social will be released publicly through a viewer this figure is estimated to have reached development. In response to this, the Geo- (ArcGIS™ Viewer for Flex) on the website 162 mt. As this market-driven phenom- logical Survey of Ireland (GSI) initiated a of GSI’s parent government department, the enon developed, several issues came to programme of aggregate potential mapping Department of Communications, Energy the fore which made quarrying and the (APM) in 2007, and this exercise comes to and Natural Resources. A mid-term selec- search for construction materials more a conclusion at the end of 2013. This article tion of results is currently available at the complex. Known resources, particularly outlines the chief characteristics of the Irish site, http://spatial.dcenr.gov.ie/APM/index. of good quality sand, became exhausted as APM project. html; the Viewer has data interrogation traditional extraction sites were worked to tools, downloads, and explanatory texts. their limit. Environmental legislation was Evolution of the project The current material will be deactivated enacted at EU level and transposed into towards the end of 2013 in order to upload Irish law in a series of Acts which control The concept of APM has been written the completed project. or restrict the use of land available for quar- about and put into practice since the early rying. A minor population boom in the 1990s, with several of the Canadian prov- Methodology hinterland of the capital, Dublin, and in inces being pioneers in the field. APM is a the outskirts of many towns gave rise to the process of evaluation and categorisation of At the outset, it was decided to separate phenomena of one-off housing and ribbon surficial deposits and bedrock formations potential resources into two types and per- development, jeopardising the use of much according to their suitability for producing form aggregate potential modelling inde- land near centres of demand for aggregates. fragmentary construction materials (aggre- pendently on each, in accordance with its Finally, unregulated extraction began to gate), and then displaying their relative geological characteristics. This gives rise to grow, and standards in quality control were potential in map format. In the Irish exer- Granular Aggregate Potential (GAP) maps, cise, the final maps of aggregate potential which evaluate sands and gravels within the *Minerals Programme, Geological Survey are colour-coded, with five classes from Quaternary subsoils, and Crushed Rock of Ireland, [email protected] Very Low to Very High potential. Aggregate Potential (CRA) maps, which

22 Topical - Industrial Minerals

parent map; • Acquiring depth-to-bedrock digi- tal maps for each county. These are essential for distinguishing sand and gravel thicknesses, or alternatively overburden thickness in the case of potential quarries into bedrock; • Selecting topographic contours needed as scoring thresholds from Ordnance Survey digital elevation models, and converting them to polygon geometry; • Preparing a scoring system for pop- ulation density, used in the project as a proxy for demand for general construction aggregate. Census fig- ures reported for 3,409 District Elec- toral Divisions across the State were acquired from the Central Statistics Office. Figures for Census 2006 were updated with those of Census 2011 during the course of the project; • Preparing a national Road Pro- jects Map (updated in 2011), and designing a system of buffers with decreasing scores away from each planned road scheme. Resource parcels nearer a road scheme are more attractive than parcels farther away. Many sources were consulted during compilation of the Road Pro- jects Map, including the National Roads Authority of Ireland (NRA), long-term development plans such as Transport 21, and County Devel- opment Plans of each local authority area. Figure 1: Granular Aggregate Potential (GAP) Map of the Irish Republic. It is worth noting that each of these com- pilations has an attendant map. There are evaluate bedrock for the quality of crushed bine scores, in what becomes a progressively also simplified Formation/Rock Type Maps rock product that each formation is likely more detailed mosaic of the base resource in for each county. to produce. each county. Final scores are grouped into GAP maps have an incomplete colouring, five classes and like parcels amalgamated Details of the scoring system in that subsoils other than sand and gravel into one. Thus, the software is used to spa- - or those potentially containing sand and tially discriminate between areas of differing GAP maps are developed from the gravel - were excluded from the analysis overall potential. analysis, in the order shown, of the fol- from the start; these include glacial till, peat, lowing layers: clays and areas of water, and rock within Background studies a. Genetic type of the deposit, and 1 m of surface. CRA maps, on the other petrology of the gravel; hand, have a complete colouring, since all Background data gathering prior to GIS b. Occurrence of gravel pits - specifi- formations are capable of being quarried modelling consumed a large percentage of cally the number of pits (historic and to yield crushed rock. The final maps are the total project time: recent) per area; presented in Figures 1 and 2. These figures • Compiling a simplified geography c. Area of the deposit; portray the joining of 26 individual county base for each county, of selected towns d. Thickness of sediment; APMs rather than an APM normalised for and up-to-date road networks; e. Topographic elevation; the entire State. • Assembling all pits and quarries, f. Proximity to markets – two types: The general method employed is to bring dating back to the first Ordnance general construction and road build- together evidence layers, which are used to Survey maps of the 1830s, and digit- ing. score subsoils and bedrock blocks, within ising and documenting more recent CRA maps arise, similarly, from analy- a geographic information system (GIS). ones; sis of: The evidence layers or scoring criteria are • Combining alternative Quaternary a. Rock type suitability; detailed below. The Irish APM is probably Geology maps (if more than one b. Deleterious substances and features; unique in using a variety of geoprocessing existed), and extracting workable c. Occurrence of quarries – number tools to subdivide parcels of land and com- sand and gravel datasets from the per area;

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 23 d. Area of geological block – blocks opment of the method in the early 2000s. c), followed by overlay of d) – f). In the case being delimited by formation bound- Project staff combined their knowledge with of bedrock units, Phase 1 involves scoring aries, faults or other structures, or the expert opinion of industry practitioners. for a) – d), followed by overlay of e) – g). county/local authority boundaries. The algorithms may differ from those used Blocks are therefore subunits mapped in Canada or other countries as a result of Characteristics of layers in granular within formations; the peculiarities of geology and markets aggregate potential (GAP) mapping e. Thickness and character of overbur- in Ireland, and indeed the nature and den to be removed; extent of our local datasets. In the current a) Genetic type of the deposit, and petrol- f. Topographic elevation; work, additionally, not all influencing fac- ogy of the gravel g. Proximity to markets – two types: tors which we would like to have included Due to the subdued morphology and general construction and road build- have been brought to bear, due to the extent vegetative cover in a country like Ireland, ing. of the programme, and time limitations. the genesis of a glacial deposit is not usually Thus it can be appreciated that there is a Detailed data such as particle size analyses, discernible with certainty. Hence, Quater- degree of similarity, but also some key dif- variability in subsoil profiles, and rock test nary mapping of granular sediments has ferences, in the way the two resource types data can be incorporated at a future date. It tended to identify only broad groupings, are modelled. Deposits/blocks receive a is for this reason that some room has been such as Glaciofluvial, Alluvial, Aeolian, score for each of the lettered items on a scale left in the weights given in the algorithms etc., with some singular exceptions such of 0 or 1 to 10; scores are then combined, to so that eventually they add to 10. as eskers or raised beaches. Within the most arrive at a weighted sum as the final score When integrating the data in the GIS, a productive grouping – glaciofluvial sands according to the following algorithms: Phase 1 scoring of the base resource bodies and gravels – Irish geologists have con- GAP: 2a + 1.2b + 2c + 2d + 0.5e + 1.2f was followed by a Phase 2, involving overlay centrated on stone count petrology. Thus, CRA: 2.8a + 0.7b + 1.2c + 0.5d + 2e + of those layers which have a different geog- there are granite, limestone, quartzite etc. 0.8f + 1.2g raphy. It is in Phase 2 that geoprocessing sands and gravels in different parts of the The choice of layers to be included in takes place, and the starting units become country. The APM evaluation of deposits the process and their relative weights were subdivided. In the case of sand and gravel has included a productivity indicator for decided upon at the time of the initial devel- deposits, Phase 1 involves scoring for a) – the broad genetic category, allied with the criterion of stone type. It should be mentioned that in some areas of sediment not included in the APM, gravels are known to occur at depth. Thus, extensive workable gravels have been found beneath cutaway bog in the Irish Midlands, and there are sandy-gravelly moraine ribs with low clay contents within the ubiqui- tous till. The Sand and Gravel Maps – and by extension the Granular APMs – are therefore given the qualifier ‘Preliminary’, as much buried resource could possibly be added in the future.

b) Occurrence of gravel pits There are approximately 700 recent gravel pits in the State, many of which are cur- rently dormant due to the downturn in the economy. In areal extent they range from ca. 0.05 to ca. 71.5 ha, though at the upper end there are only a dozen greater than ca. 40 ha. In addition, 19th and 20th century pits of all sizes number some 11,000. A majority of these are shallow historic diggings that may be close together, though the number also includes major extractive sites of long duration. The scoring scheme uses density of pits for comparative purposes. Pits are also weighted depending on the source database, reflecting age of the operation, and on size.

c) Area of the deposit and d) Thickness of sediment Both of these variables are obviously important for the viability of a deposit. Figure 2: Crushed Rock Aggregate Potential (CRA) Map of the Irish Republic. It was noted that many deposits labelled

24 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Undifferentiated Alluvium, and mapped as Ireland (GSI), issued in digital form in 2006. of the analysis are two aggregate potential large sinuous units, score highly under these Primary, secondary and minor lithologies maps – one displaying sand and gravel two criteria; they therefore accumulate a and textures are scored for each formation potential (see Figure 1), and the other high overall potential ranking. An alluvial and member, totalling 1,150 units. A scor- crushed rock potential (see Figure 2), both body may have parts which are sandy- ing scale of 1-10 is used, based on Irish and colour-coded for suitability. gravelly, but will typically contain much international rock test data combined in These maps can be studied further, and silt and clay, meaning that their potential equal proportion with an Irish Use Value. the areas of higher potential in particular will be uneven and unpredictable. To reflect The latter represents the level of utilization provide a template for the semi-quantita- this, weights of 2 in both these factors are or acceptance of the rock as evidenced in tive estimation of aggregate resources. For reduced by half to 1 when scoring this type local quarrying files. In Ireland, Carbonifer- example, a minerals surveyor may wish to of sediment. ous limestone is plentiful, and is the corner- select sand and gravel deposits where the Thickness of sediment scores are inferred stone of much road building and concrete thickness is greater than 5 m and which from depth-to-bedrock measurements. manufacture; limestone therefore acquires have a contiguous extent greater than 30 However, examination of the subsoil pro- a lithology score somewhat higher than test ha. The detailed APM mosaic will allow file may result in a mixed succession, with data alone would afford it. selection of parcels which fit these criteria. a lower thickness of gravel than supposed Data can be downloaded, if desired, from from surface mapping. b) Amount of deleterious substances and the public viewer and modelled with other features resource constraints in the user’s own GIS; e) Topographic elevation Geological descriptions of formations for instance, to eliminate areas overlain by This is a factor of relatively minor impor- are examined for mention of deleterious peat and bodies of water, or those within tance, given that a majority of granular substances. Examples are clay wayboards, a set distance of urban development. The bodies occur at low elevations. An excep- evaporites, sulphides, and mechanically del- maps can also be used by planners, in con- tion is the type ‘Scree’. The contour intervals eterious occurrences such as megacrysts junction with locations of heritage assets used for GAP analysis are <100 m, 100- or large fossils. In all, some 65 individual and protected areas, to formulate develop- 200 m, 200-300 m, and >300 m. Deposits at deleterious substances and features have ment plans which include the interests of higher elevations are less desirable because been noted. Formations without such items the natural resources sector. of trucking costs and road maintenance, receive a high score so that when combined The survey of pits and quarries carried and hence receive lower scores. with rock type suitability, their potential out by this project is the most comprehen- continues to be maximised. sive in Ireland to date; the county maps have f) Proximity to Markets proved to be of special relevance to local A weight of 1.2 is given to this parameter c) Occurrence of quarries authorities faced with decisions concerning in both GAP and CRA mapping. This figure There are approximately 900 recent quar- the granting of planning permission based is divided between the two market types, ries in the State, many of which are cur- on historical precedence of quarrying. general construction (housing, social and rently dormant. In areal extent they range Summary conclusions of a geological commercial) and road building (including from ca. 0.03 to ca. 142 ha (quarry and nature have become apparent from the bridges, embankments, etc.) The relative ancillary plant complexes), though at the collection and processing of the data. For amount of construction type varies from upper end there are only a dozen greater instance, in relation to Ireland’s Quaternary county to county. The breakdown is in than 50 ha. In addition, 19th and 20th deposits, sands and gravels at surface make accordance with the destination of prod- century quarries of all sizes number some up a minor part of the Irish landscape – uct as reported in available pit and quarry 10,500. Many of the historic quarries among just 9% of the total area. With Water, Made documents. An average ratio for all counties these were exploited for walling and paving ground and Rock within 1 m of surface is 0.9:0.3 (buildings:roads) in the gravel pit stone, in an era before the wide-scale use of excluded, they comprise 10.8% of the Qua- sector. This means that a majority of aggre- crushed stone for construction. ternary cover per se. Clearly, where buried gate is sold as hardcore, drainage and other Quarries are weighted according to age deposits can be uncovered and exploited, it fill, and in concrete. As regards the crushed and size, and the density of quarries in a for- could mean a boost to the local economy. rock industry, the market weight averages mation was chosen as the scoring measure, On a regional scale, Ireland’s deglaciation out at 0.5:0.7 (buildings:roads) for all coun- similar to the procedure with gravel pits. history, combined with the location of its ties combined, meaning that a slight major- mountains, has meant that the eastern half ity of product goes into road building. f) Topographic elevation of the country, including the East Midlands, If one takes an estimate of volume of pro- This factor acquires slightly more sig- has relatively more sand and gravel than the duction in Ireland as 30% from gravel pits, nificance compared to sand and gravel pits, south, west and northwest. With regard to and 70% from quarries (several sources), in that occasionally quarries are opened at bedrock, the relative proportions of rock the overall input to the two markets in rather elevated sites. The contour intervals trade groups used by industry can be stated, volume terms approximates 0.6:0.6, i.e. used for CRA analysis are <200 m, 200-500 with limestones leading the way at 39% of approximately 50% of production goes to m, and >500 m. Rock at higher elevations the total, followed by sandstones at 22%, each construction type. receives a lower score. and within all groups further subdivisions can be made. Characteristics of layers in crushed rock Principal results of the mapping pro- Finally, it is the hope of GSI that the Irish aggregate potential (CRA) mapping gramme APM exercise can invite comment and comparison from partner EU geological a) Rock type suitability The project has provided maps to indus- surveys that have aggregates programmes The basis for rock type characterisation try and local government agencies in hard in place, or are contemplating the study of is the seamless 1:100,000 Geological Map of copy format or online. The end products their aggregate resources in the future.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 25 26 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Using engineering geosciences mapping and GIS-based tools for georesources management: lessons learned from rock quarrying

Helder I. Chaminé*, Maria José Afonso, José Teixeira, Luís Ramos, Luís Fonseca, Rogério Pinheiro and António Carlos Galiza

The heterogeneity of the geological prop- L’hétérogénéité des propriétés géologiques La heterogeneidad de las propiedades erties of rock masses is very important in des masses rocheuses est très importante geológicas de los macizos rocosos es muy engineering geosciences and rock engineer- dans les problèmes des géosciences de importante en las cuestiones relativas a ing issues. The study of discontinuous rock l’ingénierie et d’ingénierie des roches. las geociencias de ingeniería e ingeniería masses has developed enormously. In par- L’étude des masses rocheuses discontinues de rocas. El estudio de los macizos rocosos ticular, the assessment of in situ block size s’est énormément développée. En particu- discontinuos ha tenido un gran desarrollo. plays a key role in rock engineering design lier, l’évaluation des dimensions du bloc En particular, la evaluación del tamaño projects such as mining, quarrying and in situ joue un rôle clé dans les projets del bloque in situ juega papel relevante en highway cutting operations. The applica- de mécanique des roches, telles que les proyectos de ingeniería de rocas, como: min- tion of Geographic Information Systems to mines, les carrières et les opérations de ería, explotación de canteras y desmonte engineering geosciences has become more coupe de chaussées. L’application de sys- en carreteras. La aplicación de los Sistemas common. In this article, the importance of tèmes d’information géographique à les de Información Geográfica en geociencias an integrative comprehensive approach to géosciences de l’ingénierie est devenue plus de ingeniería se ha hecho habitual. En este rock engineering is discussed in the context courante. Dans cet article, l’importance artículo, se discute la importancia de una of quarrying operations, i.e., from field map- d’une approche intégrative en ingénierie perspectiva integradora de la ingeniería ping surveys to geomechanical assessment. des roches a été discutée dans le contexte de rocas aplicada a la explotación de can- This approach led us to a better understand- d’exploitation de carrières, c’est-à-dire à teras; por ejemplo desde los trabajos de ing of the appropriateness of exploitation partir de la cartographie sur le terrain et cartografía de campo hasta la evaluación of raw material aggregates and to reduced jusqu’à l’évaluation géomécanique. Cette geomecánica. Este enfoque nos ha llevado uncertainty about sustainability of geore- approche nous a conduit à une meilleure a una mejor comprensión de la relevancia sources in relation to their management compréhension de l’adéquation des exploi- de la explotación de áridos, reduciendo las and the environment. tations des agrégats de roches et à réduire incertidumbres en aspectos de sostenibili- l’incertitude quant à l’exploitation durable dad, medio ambiente y gestión. des géoressources en ce qui concerne leur gestion et de l’environnement.

Geosciences, Mapping and the key role of geology in field site inves- several types of professionals and in most Georesources tigations for rock engineering purposes. situations encompassing expertise teams Hopefully, nowadays any skilled profes- with complementary skills. Engineering he geologist Ruth D. Terzaghi stated sional (e.g., geologist, engineering geologist, geoscience is concerned with the appli- this important issue: “Because of engineering geomorphologist, geological cation of geology and geomorphology in the significant influence of joints on engineer, geotechnical engineer, mining engineering practice. Timportant engineering properties of hard engineer, civil engineer, or military geolo- Geotechnics is the science that focuses on unweathered rock, a description of such rock gist/engineer) engaged in the practice of the mechanics of soil and rock to character- is inadequate for engineering purposes unless applied geosciences must keep this in mind ise and assess the engineering behaviour of it includes reasonably complete and accurate to reduce all geological uncertainties and the ground and the sustainable interaction information concerning the spacing and ori- variabilities. According to De Freitas (2009) design with the environment. Currently, entation of the joints.” (Terzaghi, 1965: 287). the safest way through such uncertainties this approach has become a standard This remarkable quotation is the basis for relies on good case histories, which should practice for professional geologists and be on the desk of every engineering geolo- engineers aiming at the planning, design, * Laboratory of Cartography and gist and used as frequently as the electronic construction and maintenance of engineer- Applied Geology (LABCARGA), Depart- calculator. Regarding this, Fig. 1 represents ing structures and works (e.g., foundations, ment of Geotechnical Engineering, a modern overview of the interdisciplinary slopes, dams, underground excavations, School of Engineering (ISEP), Polytech- and multidisciplinary scientific field called mining, quarrying, retaining structures, nic of Porto, Portugal, [email protected] Geotechnics, which can be practiced by highway cutting operations, landfills, etc.),

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 27 chastic). All the models must be robust, calibrated and supported on a permanent back-analysis scale based on a logical understanding of the real ground behav- iour (Dinis da Gama, 1983). Particularly, rock engineering deals with jointed/faulted anisotropic material and fluid-bearing media, the so-called rock mass (Barton, 2012). The rock engineer must be able to predict the consequences of a particular excavation design. In addition, incomplete or inaccurate geologic and geotechnical site characterisation can lead to the selection of unsuitable models, geotechnical properties, and design values (Terzaghi, 1965; Griffiths and Stokes, 2008; Keaton, 2013; Dinis da Gama, 2013). The potential for geology to support engi- neering occurs at every scale, from regional geological structures to molecules found on mineral surfaces and in the fluids passing over them (De Freitas, 2009; Price, 2009). However, the input of geological data for engineering purposes is only adequate if it is supported by the appropriate rock property values (Zhang, 2005 and references therein). The assessment based on engineering geo- sciences, geohydraulic and geotechnical features of rock masses involves combining parameters to derive quantitative geome- chanical classifications for rock engineer- Figure 1: A modern overview of Geotechnics: major scientific areas – geosciences (geology and geo- ing design purposes (Barton, 2012, and morphology), soil mechanics and rock mechanics – and practitioners. references therein). Barton (2012) stated that discontinuous behaviour provides rich as well as in exploitation and management be outlined based on Earth systems analysis experience for those who value reality, even of geological resources and environmen- which form the core for building models to when reality has to be simplified by some tal issues (Fig. 2). In short, all geotechni- create scenarios using different approaches lessons learned during the development of cal practitioners aim to contribute to the (e.g., Hudson and Cosgrove, 1997; Griffiths the empirical parameters. correct study of the ground behaviour of and Stokes, 2008; Keaton, 2013 and refer- Rock is a natural material that forms soil and rock, its applications in sustain- ences therein), such as: i) ground models the crust of the Earth (Smith et al., 2001). able design with nature and environment (geologic and/or geomorphological models Rocks are formed in an continuous geody- (McHarg, 1992) and to the development of with engineering parameters); ii) geotechni- namic cycle (involving numerous internal society (De Freitas, 2009). cal models (ground models with predicted and external processes) throughout the Understanding the complexity of Earth performance based on design parameters); geological time, that result for engineer- systems is possible through the use of iii) geomechanical models (geotechnical ing purposes (e.g., Price, 2009; De Freitas, ground models (Griffiths and Stokes, 2008). models based on mathematical modelling 2009) in hard rocks (unweathered, strong Thus, a typical site characterisation should (i.e., probabilistic, deterministic or sto- and durable), soft rocks (weak and easily

Figure 2: Typical rock engineering works and related ground behaviour.

28 Topical - Industrial Minerals

deformable) and soils (unconsolidated houses, bridges, dams, tunnels and caverns structures render the fabric of the rock sedimentary deposits overlying bedrock) (Zhang, 2005), as shown in Table 1. Par- mass discontinuous (Zhang, 2005; Price, (Fig. 3). Nevertheless, it does not cover ticularly, crushed rock aggregates are funda- 2009). The general term “discontinuity” in the earthy materials forming the ground mental to the man-made environment and rock engineering refers to any break in the in which plants can grow (“soil” in a pedo- represent a large proportion of the raw mate- rock continuum having little or no tensile logical sense; Smith et al., 2001). Rocks may rial produced by the quarrying industries strength (Hudson and Cosgrove, 1997). be surveyed in several backgrounds: i) at and used in construction (Smith et al., 2001). Intact rock refers to the unfractured blocks the surface and subsurface (outcrops, cliffs, Rock engineers deal with large volumes of (ranging from a few millimetres to several quarries, etc.), ii) underground (tunnels, rock which will contain variable amounts of metres in size) between discontinuities in mines, boreholes). fluid in their network discontinuities, such a typical rock mass (Zhang, 2005). Since the dawn of civilization, rock as joints, fractures, faults, sedimentary or According to Hudson and Cosgrove has been used as a construction mate- tectonometamorphic surfaces (bedding (1997) providing a clear structural geol- rial. Diverse constructions and structures planes, schistosity, shear zones, folds, etc.) ogy framework is a key requirement for have been built on, in or of rock, including and vein structures. These natural rock the investigation of all rock engineering projects. The geological structures of rock masses (discontinuities, sensu lato) signifi- cantly influence their hydrogeomechanical properties, such as permeability, cohesion, roughness, aperture and in situ stress. It is thus the structure, at several scales, of the geomaterials that controls the engineering behaviour of the ground. For this reason, it is fundamental in the mapping of rock exposures, whether outcrops, road and rail- way cuttings, underground excavations or quarry exploitations to collect discontinuity data. Conclusively, the success of a given construction or excavation is related to the accurate knowledge of the general frame- work of site investigations, particularly that associated with the geology and geo- morphology of the studied area (Griffiths, 2002, and references therein). In that per- spective, mapping (general or sketch maps, geological maps, engineering geology maps and geotechnical maps, at diverse scales) assumes a critical importance in further stages of geotechnical investigations and modelling. It is also important to emphasise also the value and cost-effectiveness of map- Figure 3: The rock cycle in the perspective of the engineering geosciences framework: an outlook for ping for geoengineering, georesources and rock mechanics and soil mechanics issues (adapted from Dobereiner and De Freitas, 1986). Anthropic planning purposes compared with other rocks is a collective term for those rocks made, modified or moved by humans (Underwood, 2001). activities (Griffiths, 2002; Price, 2009). Thus, mapping plays a central role as a standard technique in engineering geosciences for Table 1: Main types of structures built on, in or of rock (adapted from Brown, 1993; in Zhang, 2005). in situ geotechnical investigations, ground

Field of application Types of structures Surface mining (rock slope stability and/or excavation; rock mass diggability; drilling and blasting; quarrying frag- mentation); Mining Underground mining (shaft, pillar, draft and stope design; drilling and blasting; fragmentation; cavability of rock and/or ore; amelioration of rockbursts; mechanized excavation; in situ recovery) Underground power stations (hydroelectric and nuclear); underground storage of oil and gas; energy storage (pumped storage or compressed air storage); dam foundations; pressure tunnels; underground repositories for Energy nuclear waste disposal; geothermal energy exploitation; petroleum development including drilling, hydraulic frac- turing, wellbore stability Highway and railway slopes; tunnels and bridge foundations; canals and waterways; urban rapid transport tun- Transportation nels and stations; pipelines Dam foundations; stability of reservoir slopes; water supply tunnels; sanitation tunnels; industrial and municipal Utilities and Environment waste treatment plants; underground storages and sporting and cultural facilities; foundations of surface power stations Building construction Foundations; stability of deep open excavations; underground or earth-sheltered homes and offices Military Large underground chambers for civil defense and military installations; deep basing of strategic missiles

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 29 effectiveness of the processes involved. The aim for rock cut quarrying is to produce an aligned drilling that permits blasting with enhanced rock fragmentation, lower vibrations and optimisation of drilling and explosive quantity. The global costs of the main operations involved in the quarry industry are not equally distributed (Fig. 4). Treatment is the last operation of a global process related to exploitation of the rock georesources, which represents over 75% of the total costs. However, its effectiveness depends on the global quality of the earliest operations to reach high productivity of the entire process. A comprehensive integrated study of geo- resources was carried out at a selected site in NW Portugal. The study coupled GIS- based mapping with assessments of struc- tural geology, engineering geology and rock mechanics. Thematic maps were prepared from multi-source geodata, namely remote sensing, topographic, morphotectonic and geological mapping, as well as geotechnical field surveys. These maps were converted Figure 4: Illustration of the blasting and treatment processes of rock quarrying development for raw to GIS format and then integrated with material aggregates: a general overview. the purpose of elaborating a geotechnical modelling, geological resources assessment, Selected site: coupling engineering zoning map intended to support the geo- and military works and operations (e.g., geosciences mapping and mining resource conceptual site model and further Kiersch, 1998; Smith et al., 2001; Griffiths, geotechnics stages on blasting engineering. The basic 2002; Griffiths and Stokes, 2008; De Freitas, techniques of mapping, engineering geo- 2009). Despite the accuracy of field survey The strength of jointed rock masses is sciences and rock mechanics (e.g., Griffiths, and mapping for engineering purposes, influenced by the degree of interlocking 2002; Price, 2009, and references therein) Price (2009) stated several important issues: between individual rock blocks separated were applied at the study site ((Fig. 5). i) it must never be forgotten to produce by discontinuities such as faults and joints. In the first stage a field survey was con- engineering maps that are of immediate Drilling is one of the operations involved in ducted in order to define the main geologi- use to the engineer; ii) maps must be ‘user rock mass fragmentation by blasting. Dinis cal and morphotectonical constraints of friendly’, easily understood and easily read; da Gama (1983) demonstrates that in full- the rock mass in the quarry site and nearby iii) mapping for rock quarry engineering scale bench blasts, less energy is required area. This assessment focussed on several purposes requires large scale maps (detailed to fragment a discontinuous rock than a features, such as: i) regional and local geol- surveys: ranging 1:50 to 1:250; general homogeneous rock. ogy and morphostructure, ii) lithological framework: 1:1000 to 1:10000). Correctly performed rock blasting pro- description; iii) mapping of macro and mes- Geographic Information System (GIS) duces very clean faces with a minimum of ostructures; iv) identification of the weath- techniques have brought new insights to over-break and disturbance. Rock drilling ering areas and mapping of their thickness; cartography, particularly to geosciences assumes an important role in technical and v) location of the seepage and hydrologi- mapping. GIS techniques, supported by cost-effectiveness issues, as well as in the cal constraints. In the next stage, a detailed high-resolution Global Positioning Systems subsequent operations such as loading, geotechnical description of the rock mass (GPS), permit large amounts of data from handling, splitting and crushing (Singh, was made and in situ geomechanical testing the field survey and rocks sample testing 2000). Rock mass blasting involves three was performed (particularly the Schmidt to be overlaid. GIS-based mapping is also groups of parameters (e.g., Dinis da Gama, Hammer and Point Load Test). This integra- useful in providing accurate thematic maps, 1983; Singh, 2000; Smith et al., 2001; Dinis tive approach allowed the basic description spatial data analysis and data geovisualisa- da Gama, 2013): i) petrophysical, geotechni- of rock masses and established an engineer- tion aiming, for example, at the assessment cal and geomechanical patterns of the rock ing geosciences zoning map (following par- of discontinuous rock mass systems. fabric and intact rock; ii) top hammer and ticularly the recommendations of several In this article GIS-based mapping was bench drilling tools; iii) blast design. organisations: ISRM – International Society produced to highlight the importance of It is quite challenging to comprehend for Rock Mechanics, CFCFF – Commit- the geotechnical zoning map as an excellent how structural geology, geotechnical and tee on Fracture Characterization and Fluid tool to support rock mass quarrying inves- rock mechanics features and parameters Flow, GSE – Geological Society Engineer- tigations and development. The fractured interact among themselves. In addition, ing Group Working Party and IAEG – hard-rock masses assessment was enhanced we must take into consideration all of International Association for Engineering by this integrated approach and should con- the equipment, technologies, models Geology and the Environment). The scan- tribute to sustainability management. and brands of drilling tools and different line sampling technique was applied to the methodologies, as well as the overall cost- study of free rock mass faces on different

30 Topical - Industrial Minerals

benches to characterise the rock mass dis- continuities and to define the in situ block size. The structural geology data collected at the site were analysed with stereonets and rose diagrams. The scanline technique involves laying a tape along the length of an outcrop or exposure. This approach was also supported by: i) geo-referenced data using a high-precision GPS for the fieldwork survey, ii) the use of geo-calculator appli- cations (particularly, “GeoTech|CalcTools” and “MGC-RocDesign|Calc”) to support the analysis, design and modelling, iii) GIS- based mapping and application tools.

Monte do Fojo rock quarry site (Paredes de Coura, NW Portugal)

The selected study site, Monte do Fojo granitic rock quarry (NW Portugal, Ibe- rian Peninsula), is located in the vicin- ity of regional fault zones (e.g., the Vigo – Vila Nova de Cerveira – Régua fault zone). Monte do Fojo quarry is found NE of Ferreira and Vale parishes (the village of Paredes de Coura), (Fig. 6). The geology comprises crystalline fractured bedrock of a deformed Palaeozoic metasedimentary rocks and Variscan granites. There are some prevailing tectonic lineaments (NE-SW and NNE-SSW to N-S). The granitic basement is also crosscut by aplite-pegmatite veins and sills. Locally, the geomorphology is char- acterised by steep slopes and entrenched valleys. The main activity in the Monte do Fojo quarry is the extraction, treatment and production of crushed rock aggregates for the civil engineering industry. The quarry area is over 7 ha, including also the strategic reserves and the equipment compounds. The extraction site occurs in an open pit, and the blasting is headed northwest, with 5-m-high benches. The Monte do Fojo rock-mass comprises two-mica granite, which is medium to fine grained, and yellowish to grey colour. The rocks exposed in the quarry face range from fresh to slightly weathered rock

(W1-2). Moderately (W3) to highly weath-

ered (W4) outcrops are observed on sur- Figure 5: Engineering geosciences mapping on rock quarrying site activities: a general outlook on an rounding upper slopes. The granitic rock integrated georesources exploitation framework (“GeoTech|CalcTools – Rock Mass Database” by L. mass is crossed by joint sets with NNE-SSW Ramos, L. Fonseca, A.C. Galiza and H.I. Chaminé; and “MGC-RocDesign|Calc – Mining Geomechanics to NE-SE, NW-SE, ENE-WSW orientations. Classification systems for rock engineering design”, by R. Pinheiro and H.I. Chaminé]). Discontinuity surface conditions can be

summarised as the : i) fracture intercept strength is moderate to high (S3 to S2); vii) mainly by orthogonal discontinuity sets (F) being mainly wide to moderate spac- and the Geological Strength Index (GSI), and random fractures; which is compatible

ing (F2 to F3); ii) the aperture varies from based on rock structure versus discontinuity with rock blasting techniques). The pos- open to closed, iii) the persistence is low surface condition, ranges from 75-65 for sibility of integrating these geo-databases to moderate; iv) there is the presence of the rock quarry area exposure (i.e., blocky into a dynamic GIS allowed the definition soft clay and gouge infillings; v) surfaces to very blocky, interlocked partially dis- of different scenarios and approaches to be are plane to undulating and with a low turbed rock mass consisting of cubical evaluated, which have culminated in the roughness; vi) rock uniaxial compressive to multifaceted angular blocks, formed geotechnical zoning map of the Monte do

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 31 Fojo quarry site. Therefore, geotechnical units for the rock quarry site and surround- ing area were defined as shown in Figure 6. In short, integrative studies offer a reli- able multi-scale approach for investigating the on-site mining geotechnics. Thus, this methodology has proven to be highly valu- able for a better understanding of the overall georesources system.

Concluding remarks

Mapping has widespread applications, such as military operations, oil industry, mining engineering, geotechnical engineer- ing, engineering geosciences, environment, and planning. This paper has focused on the importance of coupling engineering geo- sciences mapping and mining geotechnics to site characterisation for rock quarrying design and modelling. Quarrying activi- ties are the key source for the extraction of aggregates for construction projects. Aggregates are used in concrete, asphalt, mortar, railway ballast, drainage courses and bulk fill. Blasting processes affect the productivity and efficiency of quarrying. Blasting design depends on many vari- ables, especially on the rock mass proper- ties. Blast performance is influenced by geologic structure, rock fabric and intact rock strength. In mining geotechnical practice it is recognised that rocks are normally heterogeneous. The geometry of the discontinuities, intact rock fabric and their geotechnical conditions (e.g., spacing, roughness, aperture, infilling, seepage, etc.) are some of the factors that have a major effect on blasting. The assessment of blast fragmentation required the consideration of some basic variables, i.e. rock mass proper- ties, explosive properties, drilling pattern and bench geometry.

The integrative approach presented in this paper contributes to a better definition of rock quarrying design parameters, and these play a key role in economic excava- tion, the development of sustainable min- eral production, and the supply of raw aggregates. Professor Ralph B. Peck sum- Figure 6: Monte do Fojo granitic quarry site (Paredes de Coura, NW Portugal) framework: an example marised that perspective in an unusual way: of engineering geosciences site mapping. “if you can’t reduce a difficult engineering problem to just one sheet of paper, you will ment program (IPP-ISEP| PAD’2007/08) manuscript. The present paper is dedicated probably never understand it” (DiBiagio and and Centre GeoBioTec|UA (PEst-C/CTE/ to leading Portuguese mining engineers Flaate, 2000: 28). This impressive quotation UI4035). Special thanks are due to F. Convié Prof. F. Mello Mendes (UL), Prof. J.A. must be the motto for any geoengineering and R. Fernández-Rubio for kindly review- Simões Cortez (UP) and Prof. C. Dinis da approach. ing the French and Spanish version of the Gama (UL), and structural geologists Prof. abstract, respectively. We acknowledge F. Sodré Borges (UP), Prof. A. Ribeiro (UL) Acknowledgements MonteAdriano: Agregados SA (Elevo and Prof. L.C. Gama Pereira (UC), who pro- group) for all support. The authors would mote the accurate use of the geosciences in This study was performed under the like to thank the reviewer for their help- site investigations in rock engineering and scope of the LABCARGA|ISEP re-equip- ful comments and inputs to improve the structural geology practice.

32 Topical - Industrial Minerals

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DiBiagio, E., Flaate, K. 2000. Ralph B. Peck: engineer, educator, a man of judgement. Pub. 207. Norwegian Geotechnical Institute: Oslo.

Dinis da Gama, C. 1983. Use of comminution theory to predict fragmentation of jointed rock mass subjected to blasting. In Holmberg, R., Rustan, A. (eds.), Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Rock Fragmentation by Blasting. Balkema, Luleå, Sweden, pp. 563-579.

Dinis da Gama, C. 2013. Easy profit maximization method for open-pit mining. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 5(5). pp. 350-353. DOI org/10.1016/j.jrmge.2013.07.001

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Griffiths, J.S., Stokes, M. 2008. Engineering geomorphological input to ground models: an approach based on earth systems. Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 41. 73-91. DOI 10.1144/1470-9236/07-010

Hudson, J.A., Cosgrove, J.W. 1997. Integrated structural geology and engineering rock mechanics approach to site characterization. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 34(3/4). pp. 136.1-136.15. DOI 10.1016/ S1365-1609(97)00018-X

Keaton, J. 2013. Engineering geology: fundamental input or random variable? In Withiam, J.L., Phoon, K.-K., Hussein, M. (eds.), Foundation Engineering in the Face of Uncertainty: Honoring Fred H. Kulhawy. ASCE. GSP 229, pp. 232-253. DOI 10.1061/9780784412763.020

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European Geologist 36 | November 2013 33 Industrial minerals & rocks: our invisible friends

Manuel Regueiro y González-Barros*

Minerals and rocks have accompanied Minéraux et roches ont accompagné les Las rocas y minerales han acompañado al human beings since man’s earliest origins êtres humains depuis le premier homme et ser humano desde sus orígenes más remo- and are no doubt the basement upon which représentent sans aucun doute le socle sur tos y son sin duda el sustrato sobre el que development has been built. But for most lequel tout développement s’est construit. se ha se ha construido el desarrollo. Pero citizens that same development has slowly Mais pour la plupart des citoyens, ce même ese mismo desarrollo ha convertido lenta- turned these once fundamental solid and développement a lentement transformé ces mente y para la mayoría de los ciudada- visible bricks of their welfare into the invis- éléments fondamentaux de leur bien être, nos, a esos en su momento sólidos y visibles ible foundations of modern society. Without auparavant apparents et solides, en fonda- ladrillos fundamentales de su bienestar, minerals and rocks, many everyday things tions invisibles de la société moderne. Sans en los cimientos invisibles de la sociedad would disappear and man would be forced minéraux et roches, nombre d’objets quo- moderna. Sin ellos, muchas cosas cotidianas to go back to the Stone Age. tidiens disparaîtraient et l’homme retourn- desaparecerían y el hombre regresaría a la Dimensional and construction stone, glass, erait à l’Age de Pierre. Edad de Piedra. ceramics (roof tiles, bricks, floor tiles, porce- Les roches monumentales et de construc- Las rocas ornamentales y de construcción, el lain), soap, detergents, filters, fibres, gun- tion, le verre, la céramique (tuiles de toit, vidrio, la cerámica (tejas, ladrillos, baldosas, powder, iron, oil, steel, dynamite, paper, briques, carreaux de sol, porcelaine), le porcela-na), el jabón, los detergentes, los cement, gypsum board, lime, aggregates savon, les détergents, filtres, fibres, la poudre filtros, la pólvora, el hierro, el petróleo, el – all are made of industrial minerals or à canon, le fer, l’huile, l’acier, la dynamite, acero, la dinamita, el papel, el cemento, la rocks. But also computers, mp4 players, le papier, le ciment, le plâtre, la chaux, les escayola, la cal, los áridos, todos se fabrican digital cameras, bicycles, golf clubs, auto- agrégats – tous sont fabriqués à partir a base de rocas o minerales industriales. mobiles, aircraft, plastics, textiles, or even de minéraux industriels ou de roches. De Pero también los ordenadores, los mp4, las space shuttles and the most modern satel- plus, les ordinateurs, lecteurs de vidéo, cámaras digitales, las bicicletas, los palos de lites are loaded with minerals in the form of appareils de photo numériques, les bicy- golf, los coches, los aviones, los plásticos, los active fillers or new materials, which have clettes, clubs de golf, automobiles, avions, tejidos o las lanzaderas espaciales e incluso not only improved the behaviour of the most plastiques, textiles ou même les navettes los satélites más modernos, están cargados modern materials employed, but have also spatiales et la dernière génération de sat- de minerales en forma de cargas industri- reduced their costs. Flint and microchips ellites contiennent des minéraux sous la ales activas o nuevos materiales, que no have one thing in common: silica, a versatile forme d’éléments de recharge ou de nou- sólo han mejorado los nuevos materiales compound that serves as a conductor line veaux matériaux qui, non seulement, ont empleados, sino que también han reducido through the history of how minerals have amélioré le fonctionnement des matériaux su coste. El pedernal y los microchips, por helped humanity to become what it is today. utilisés les plus modernes mais ont aussi ejemplo, tienen una cosa en común: la sílice, This paper reviews the chronology of the réduit leurs coûts. Flint et puces électron- que es un compuesto muy versátil que sirve use of industrial minerals and rocks in the iques ont une chose en commun : la silice, de hilo conductor a la historia de cómo los manufacture of materials from its earliest un composé polyvalent utilisé comme fil minerales han ayudado a la humanidad a days in the remote past to the present day, conducteur dans l’histoire humaine pour convertirse en los que es hoy. and will give a glimpse of what the future comprendre comment les minéraux ont En este artículo se repasa la cronología of the use of minerals can bring to mankind. aidé l’humanité à devenir ce qu’elle est del uso de los minerales industriales y las aujourd’hui. Cet article passe en revue la rocas en la fabricación de muchos mate- chronologie de l’utilisation des minéraux riales desde sus orígenes en el remoto et roches industriels pour la fabrication pasado, hasta hoy en día, y nos dará una de matériaux, depuis le premier moment rápida visión de lo que el futuro del uso de d’un passé lointain jusqu’à aujourd’hui, et los minerales puede traer a la humanidad. va aborder ce que l’utilisation future des minéraux peut apporter à l’humanité.

* Department of Crystallography & The history of the use of minerals civilizations. In fact the first steps of what in Mineralogy, Faculty of Geology, Com- archaeology is called industry were labelled plutense University, Madrid, Spain; here is no doubt that raw materi- employing rocks and metallic minerals, as Geological Survey of Spain, Madrid, als have been fundamental in the is clearly reflected in the names given to Spain. [email protected] Tdevelopment of the different human human prehistorical periods: the Stone

34 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Age, Copper Age, Bronze Age or Iron Age, named for their respective tool-making technologies. Those first steps of mankind were marked by a progressive increase in the use of min- erals which then represented a huge array of technological innovations and industrial applications throughout the whole world. The use of gold goes back to 6000 BC, copper around 4200 BC, silver 4000 BC, lead 3500 BC, tin 1750 BC, iron 1500 BC, mercury 750 BC (Cramb, 2007), and these seven metals were, at a certain moment, the base of civilization. If in the past minerals were crucial, today a modern society cannot be conceived of without them. It is thanks to minerals that our world is as it is, and, what is even more important, our future world will be even Figure 1: Obsidian. Photo: IGME. more dependent on minerals to develop new technologies based in materials sci- without natural shelters such as caves. sively up until 1900 BC (the 11th Dynasty), ence and engineering. This is why it will be There is also a clear relation between later it was decided to use sandstone as necessary to progress in mineral exploita- the geological environment and the con- beams, since this rock had more resist- tion and processing of our inseparable com- struction technology employed. Ancient ance. Quarries and mines were huge, several panions of the voyage of society towards Mesopotamia, today’s Iraq, is a territory hundreds of metres in length. By 1500 BC its future: minerals. (Regueiro y González- of flat alluvial plains, with scarce stone complex forms (columns & statues) were Barros, M. 2010). and no woods, thus the only option was being made. The material used in sculptures the use of clay. Mesopotamia was the area and sarcophaguses was frequently granite. Our remote past where the first main development of vari- Basalt was commonly used in pavements, ous construction materials took place. By while the roofs of official buildings had What we today define as mining prob- 4500 BC Mesopotamians were already using stone tiles. The use of proper foundations ably started as a human activity during wall coverings of gypsum plaster and rain- in buildings was scarce up until 600 BC the Stone Age (ca. 3 My – ca. 4000 BC in proof floors and ceilings, employing the (the 25th Dynasty). Later they employed Europe). The need for tools to cut skins and widespread asphalt, pouring out in lakes in platforms of bricks several metres thick. for hunting probably developed the ability many areas of the region. Dry clay prismatic The Aegean Minoian culture (2400-1450 to chip stones to obtain cutting edges. The bricks are recorded as being in use by 3500 BC), with its centre in Crete, developed its raw material used – probably after some BC and fired clay bricks between 3200 - own construction technique with a stone trial and error – were flintstone, sand- 2800 BC. Buildings had baths and drains basement and dry clay walls in frames of stones, volcanic rocks and, where found, of bricks also isolated with asphalt by 2300 crossed wood beams. The famous Knossos sillimanite (fibrolite). But stone was also BC. By 700 BC water mains were built with Palace (Middle Minoian) was built with used all around the world in those times a concrete base (lime, sand and limestone ashlars’ walls jointed with a clay mortar. The for the construction of religious structures fragments) and a layer of asphalt with a building has a superstructure of dry clay and tombs, particularly using huge mas- stone pavement on top. Trial and error (usu- bricks or stones in a framework of wooden sive stones. It has also been proved that ally meaning the collapse of buildings by beams, and the upper walls were plastered dwellings were built in Neolithic houses frequent earthquakes) gave way to solutions with lime and painted. in the north of Europe by mixing clay with such as brick foundations; as no windows In ancient Greece the first buildings and straw and letting it dry to become adobe. glass was yet available, these were built with temples were made of dry clay brick walls The need for local stones did not deter our a terracotta grill. In Mesopotamia arched on a stone base and had wooden roofs cov- ancient relatives from also using rocks or brick ceilings were also common. Last but ered with raffia. Fired bricks do not appear minerals that were located far from their not least, the cuneiform writing (drawn on here until the middle of the 4th century BC. regions, as is the case of obsidian from the clay tablets) emerged in the Sumerian civi- island of Milos (Aegean Minoic cultures) lization of southern Iraq around 3400 BC. (Figure 1), which has been found to have At approximately the same time in the been exported throughout Europe. Nile Valley, extensive use of dry clay in buildings is recorded. Stone in the time of Construction with clay and stone the Pharaohs was a state monopoly. Many impressive constructions were built that As commented above, the use of adobe as today bear silent testimony to ancient a construction element was already wide- expertise, such as the Cheops Pyramid spread in the North of Europe in the Neo- (2600 BC) built during the 4th Dynasty, lithic, and this reflected the transition from where 2.3 million cubic metres of limestone a society of hunters-gatherers to permanent were employed but there is no evidence of Figure 2: Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens. Photo: residences for farming producers in areas the tools used. Limestone was used exten- M. Regueiro.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 35 The Greek classical period saw the splen- domes using wedged blocks and scaffolding. The Gothic period (1200-1540), saw the did use of marble and limestone marble in Rome also designed roofs with overlapped widespread use of masonry in religious many buildings. Porous limestone was plas- terracotta tiles. Surprisingly enough, the buildings, particularly cathedrals, and the tered with lime and then painted with fres- use of glass windows was recorded in the development of an extraordinary masonry cos. The Greeks were extraordinary masons empire from the 1st century BC. Iron and precision craft called stereotomia (stone and used metal clamps (iron or lead) to fix bronze was extensively used in construction cut). Builders used deep foundations and stone pieces together. The roofs of the build- at that point. in general layers of stone and gravel, but ings were covered with brick or marble roof The use of stone in Rome also depended frequent foundation failures or poorly built tiles (the Parthenon and other Acropolis on the existence of quarries in the sur- walls produced tower falls. The main brick temples are good examples) (Figure 2). The roundings. The most common stone, trav- producing areas in the Middle Ages were flourishing art of sculpture also brought ertine, a soft porous easily cut rock, was and the north of Italy, the north of Germany, some innovations, such as the use of iron still is quarried close to Tivoli, and both the The Netherlands, Spain and France. beams in statues supports and iron spikes impressive Colosseum and the catacombs to fasten terracotta, wood or stone lining. were built with this stone. But for more de- Mining: the first industry Such a luxurious use of stone had its source manding uses such as paving or sanitation, of material north of Athens, in the marble a harder rock (basalt) was used, which they Archaeologists believe that it was during quarries of the Pendelikon Mountain, quar- called silex or lapis siliceous. This stone was the Copper Age (Chalcolithic) that the first ried since the 5th century. But there are still used to build the famous Via Sacra or the social stratification in human societies hap- remains of other huge marble quarries in sewers (Cloaca Máxima), which we can pened, and that this was due to the fact that Paros (Naxos) and sandstone quarries at still admire today. The now famous Car- copper was harder to find and to use than Mount Hymettus, Syracuse, were today we rara quarries, later used by Michelangelo the stone most of the world’s inhabitants can visit abandoned quarries 2 km long (1475-1564), were located near a village were at that time using as tools, weapons and 27 m high, from where more than 40 called Luna in Roman times. A singular wit- and ornaments, and so only specialists Mill m3 of stone were extracted. By 413 BC ness to those times is an open air museum could work it. Those specialists became around 7,000 Athenian slaves worked in with tools and block cutting devices (the an elite class that sold its products to other the quarries. use of a copper wire to cut stone (AD 75) elite, rich or powerful individuals. In contrast with Greece, marble does not is the first antecedent of the modern wire Mining techniques were already highly appear in Roman buildings until the 1st cutting technique). After the fall of Rome advanced by 500 BC. Lavrion is a well docu- century BC. But the Romans fathered many (476) a lot of ashlar stones from the Roman mented mining site east of Athens where construction innovations, such as the poz- monuments were reused, particularly in the lead, iron, zinc and silver were exploited zolana, volcanic ashes mixed with lime, that Vatican City. But the Roman use of stone from Mycenaean times (2000 BC) (Derma- forms an extraordinary cement that sets reached the confines of the empire, and tis, 2004). The Athenians worked the mines underwater and resists fire. The use of the there are remnants of Roman granite and from 600 BC. There is evidence of Roman cement and the clever employment of scaf- porphyry (purple stone) quarries in Egypt smelting at the mine’s surface for which an foldings made brick domes possible. Poz- (Figure 3). Egyptian sculptors cut stone extensive use of wood was needed as well as zolana mortars (Pozzolana and sand) were with stone balls, bronze tools and emery. milling, washing and ore separation tech- as hard as aggregates, and many Roman Being the immediate descendant of niques and sites. These mines were closed buildings are still silent witness to a new the Roman Empire, the Byzantine period from AD 100, then reopened in 1860 and era in construction techniques. Although employed similar construction techniques finally exhausted in 1981. The ancient Greek Romans were at the front face of develop- to those used in Rome. But due to the par- mining techniques are similar to those used ment, dry clay brick was extensively used ticular geological setting of the capital, by the Japanese in the mid-19th century. up until the times of August (63-14 BC). earthquake resistant construction systems The Greek kilns produced cast iron (a The emperor boasted of having received were developed, such as concrete walls with serendipitous finding). The famous artist, a Rome made of brick and transformed it inter-calated brick or wood layers. These engineer and inventor Theodore of Samos into a Rome of stone. In spite of this, it is can still be admired in the jewel of Byzan- (750 BC) is thought to have discovered how from his times that the use of fired brick tium, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which to smelt iron in order to produce statues. was extended in the empire. Plastered and was built during the time of Justinian I from In Roman times, mining was a clear painted brick walls were common in Rome 532 to 537, in his capital, then called Con- objective when new lands were conquered. (Davey, 1971). Somehow Rome reinvented stantinople. A quick glance at the Roman mining sites the brick, and brick masonry was many in Europe (Davies, 1935) shows that the times lined with stone. Stone use was, as Romans were undoubtedly the best explor- many other things in the Roman empire, ers. Although they obviously did not have strictly regulated and standardised, thus systematic knowledge of geology, they they called opus quadratum stone walls with applied successfully and empirically the regular formats joined with metallic clamps, geological knowledge they had acquired whereas irregular blocks of tuff jointed with with respect to configuration and charac- mortar was called opus incertum (Vitruvius, teristics of the deposits and occurrences 23-27 BC (1931)). that usually showed distinct and common From the 1st century onwards, concrete features in morphology, type of terrain and is the most common construction material associated rocks. (Pozzolanic cement and limestone, tuff or Their mining techniques were also highly brick aggregate). There is evidence of wide- Figure 3: Roman granite quarry in Egypy. Photo advanced, with the aqueduct as a system spread construction of stone arches and T.Heldal, Geological Survey of Norway. of water supply for washing of minerals,

36 Topical - Industrial Minerals

and systems to raise water to dewater mines (such as those found in Rio Tinto). The famous Roman mines of Las Medu- las, in Leon (Spain) were exploited by a method called ruina montium or “collapse of mountains”, which is characterized by a progressive collapse of huge loose ground masses by the combined use of water and underground shafts and galleries. The result is the formation of huge gullies with heights close to 100 m (Figure 4). At Las Medulas thousands of millions of tonnes of materials were removed. Their tools were similar to prehistoric tools, but there was more use of iron (i.e. the wedges of double point picks). Mining in the Middle Ages showed maxi- mum activity in central Europe, in what at that time was called Saxony (today´s Ger- many). Everywhere in Europe, the word Saxon was used when miners were needed. Figure 4: Las Medulas Roman exploitation. Leon, Spain. Photo IGME. Saxons started mining operations in the 1200 to 1000 BC glass objects were scarce, (sodium carbonate) obtained from wood Czech Republic (745), Saxony (1170) Bohe- but during the 10th century BC a rebirth ashes, calcium carbonate (from limestone) mia (1561) and Norway (1623). of the technique is recorded. The Etruscan and silica sand, potassium (from seaweed A global description of the minerals and Carthaginians (6th to 4th century BC) ashes). The improved whiteness that could known in the 13th century is included in saw the birth of the mould technique. The be obtained from crushed and fired flint the fantastic Lapidarium, commissioned rod technique was developed in the 3rd to stone pebbles came into use instead of by Alfonso X “The Wise” of Castile (1252- 1st century BC. silica sand. A legendary Murano glass- 1284), and finished in 1279 (EDILÁN, During the Hellenistic period there was maker, Angelo Barovier, is said to have 1982). The book, which has not yet been ample development in glass production made many discoveries in glass technol- completely deciphered, includes a descrip- with many production centres. During ogy, such as crystalline glass – by adding tion of minerals and rocks from all the parts Roman times glass moulding with two- manganese that decoloured the Venetian of the known world, ordered by zodiac piece moulds was developed, as well as new sodium glass – ice glass and milky glass ascendency. designs and colours. Glassblowing seems to (opaque white), but it was not until 1676 Another historical book on minerals and have been first recorded in Syria in the first that the British George Ravenscroft added mining is De Re Metallica (1556) written by century BC, but was apparently acquired lead oxide to a batch of flintstone and potas- Georg Bauer (1494-1555), or Agricola, in 12 and further developed by the Romans. In sium glass and obtained lead crystal. The volumes. Bauer, a former medical doctor in fact glassblowing can be considered a great advancements that gave way to what we call Joachimsthal, describes the advantages and Roman innovation (AD 14-69). During the today true glass were enormous, but the drawbacks of mining, the life of the miner, first part of that century glasses were mul- new material had improved the polishing the research and excavation of deposits, the ticoloured, but during the second half the and cutting properties that allowed its use tools and mining machinery, the processing technique of colourless glass was developed. in optical instruments. Nevertheless, the of minerals, the technology of metallurgy It might sound strange, but in Augustian modern industrial glass making technology (gold, silver, lead, copper, salt, soda, alum, times, handmade glass covered the windows of flat glass took a long time to develop. vitriol, sulphur, bitumen and glass), and the of some palaces. In the 18th century, flat glass for windows drainage and ventilation of mines. In the beginning glass colours were the was scarce; only the European Royal glass The new science of “alchemy” made result of a mixture of contamination and factories had the financial support and the mining less relevant, particularly in the working conditions, but by the 4th century technology to achieve relevant develop- Muslim states, due to the new chemical BC glass was already being intentionally ments. In Spain Charles III built a modern production of metals. coloured by the addition of metallic oxides, factory north of Madrid in a wooden area or even colourless (manganese & antimony) called La Granja that produced flat glass for Glass, a brief history and dichroic glasses. body-sized mirrors, a technological wonder During the Middle Ages there was a in those times. By the end of the 19th cen- As early as the Bronze Age (2000 B.C.) decline in the use of glass, as knowledge was tury, the production of industrial glass was objects have been found made with a lost. But at the same time, it is the period of widespread, but it was halfway into the 20th mixture of silica, lime and alkali (Na, K). the wide development of stained cathedral century, in 1950, when Sir Alastair Pilking- In Mesopotamia, Egypt (mosaic glass), glass works (12th, 13th and 14th centuries). ton introduced the floating glass method in Cyprus, Crete, Anatolia, Syria, Palestine, But soon we see in Venice the greatest which the fused batch is poured over a bed glass was rare (as were metal and ivory). development in glass production of the of melted tin, a technical revolution that is The manufacturing techniques such as time. The island of Murano was the main used today in 90% of the world’s flat glass clay moulds were developed from other European glass making production centre production. The rest of the 20th century and crafts (ceramics, metals, stone), but to the during the 15th-16th and 17th centuries. The the first decade of the 21th century have seen common peasant, these technicians were materials then employed in glass making huge technical advances in glass making, far magicians (Fernández Navarro, 2003). From were simple and easily accessible: soda superior to those of former times.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 37 Ceramics: the oldest manufacture tians to produce flat sheets which could be coal, sulphur and potassium nitrate (crys- dried and decorated. The earliest papyrus tallised from cow dung) (Ponting, 2006). Ceramics have been a friendly compan- was dated 2400 BC. Something similar to The current standard composition for black ion of the development of the human kind. what we call paper is thought to have been powder manufactured by pyrotechnicians The oldest known in Europe were found in invented in China by Ts’ai Lun (AD 105), was adopted as long ago as 1780. Propor- Anatolia (Turkey) and have been dated at a Chinese court official who recorded the tions by weight are 75% potassium nitrate, 9,000 years old. In China there have been procedure to make this material using a 15% softwood charcoal, and 10% sulphur. found ceramics remains since Neolithic mixture of plant fibres, nets and textiles. He times and some decorative techniques mixed mulberry bark, hemp and rags with Soap such as slip coatings were originally from water, mashed it into pulp, pressed out the there, but also found in ancient Egyptian liquid, and hung the thin mat to dry in the Soap is a Teutonic innovation from the decorated pieces. The Classic Greek times sun. Imperial toilet paper is thought to be Middle Ages. This now common bathroom saw a widespread development of pottery. an early use of his invention. But it wasn’t companion is the result of the decomposi- The first recorded use of glazes is men- until 793 that the first common paper was tion of animal fat by boiling it with soda tioned in the Assyrian culture in the 9th manufactured in Bagdad. ash. Soap was first used to treat textiles and century, where ceramic pieces with a tin The real boom of paper production came was the first industry to use coal intensively glaze were found. This type of glaze was of age in the 14th century, when paper fac- and systematically. highly improved during the 15th to 18th tories were recorded in Spain, Italy, France centuries. The technique was introduced and Germany. From the mid-14th century Cement in Italy in the 13th century via Spain. In Italy paper was made in Europe by pulping linen ceramic pieces with such a glaze were called and canvas rags derived from flax and hemp Cement is one of the oldest construction majolica, and had widespread development plant fibre. Paper production increased materials. Some Roman cements can still be during the 15th and 16th centuries. dramatically when, in 1450, Gutenberg seen in many places of Europe. Roman con- The oldest known porcelain is from the invented the first printing press. There struction techniques included a specialisa- T’ang dynasty (618-907), although its qual- were no changes in the process of paper tion, the production of pozzolanic cement. ity was highly improved during the Yüan production up until the 18th century, when This cement was produced by mixing the dynasty (1279-1368). Chinese potters made cotton rags were added to the mix, so line volcanic rock pozzolan with lime. The porcelain out of a mixture of feldspar rocks and cotton fibres were the main raw materi- resulting material, once soaked, was so and kaolin (earth from Mount Kao-ling), als used to manufacture the paper pulp. The strong that Roman buildings are still stand- which was then moulded and fired at 1450 discovery of chlorine in 1774 was a turning ing all over Europe. In 1753 a new develop- °C. Obviously the technology developed point in the colour of paper; because the ment appeared, hydraulic lime, but it was there through seven centuries made slow paper pulp could then be treated to whiten not until 1825 that Joseph Aspdin invented but crucial improvements based on trial and it, the old pale yellowish colour of paper Portland cement by mixing limestone and error, as the Chinese did not know the sci- became history. Around 1859, the demand clay and firing the mix at high temperature ence behind the ceramic process. In Europe, for paper was so huge that the technique (Davey, 1971). He called it so because the medieval potters, testing to discover what was improved to produce pulp exclusively resulting material (clinker) was as grey as a was called the arcane, produced first an from wood. limestone in Portland. Many new types of artificial porcelain or soft paste (clay and The use of minerals in paper started cement are have originated from his idea, ground glass) fired at 1200 °C (in Florence way back in 1900, when coating minerals including white cement, which uses kaolin in 1575), but true porcelain was not discov- – notably china clay (kaolin) because of instead of common red clay. ered until 1708 in Dresden (Germany) then its white colour and absorption capacity – under the rule of Augustus II, elector of were added to improve the reproduction of Plaster Saxony and King of Poland, and by Johann printed colours. Kaolin was also added as Frederick Böttger (Gleeson, 1998). He first filler between the pulp fibres, as such fillers Plaster is no doubt the oldest construc- used a mixture of 9 parts kaolin and 1 part improved the absorption capacity of paper tion material. The use of plasters made of calcium carbonate (calcareous alabaster). as well as its mechanical resistance. Other fired gypsum has been documented in From 1724, the factory, then in Meissen, mineral fillers such as titanium oxide were Egyptian pyramids (2500 B.C), some of used a mixture of kaolin, feldspar and silica also used to increase brightness, opacity which are still hard and in good shape. sand (the true formula of china). The race and surface properties (smoothness and ink In ancient Greece painted stuccos were to manufacture porcelain led to the devel- absorption). In the last 15 years the manu- common, and such stuccos were manu- opment of many factories in Europe apart facturing process has changed from acid factured with plaster from fired gypsum. from Meissen, such as in Nymphenburg (boiling the material in sulphuric acid) to (Germany) and Chelsea and Bow in Eng- basic and since then kaolin has been par- Lime land. Wedgwood, the famous bone china tially substituted as filler by calcium car- manufacturer, was built in the middle 18th bonate, cheaper and with excellent similar It has been well known from earliest century. The factory first developed gres properties. times that the burning of limestone, once ceramics (1775), and then in 1800 started combined with water, produces a mate- the production of bone china. Gunpowder rial that hardens with age. The earliest documented use of lime as a construc- Paper Originally from China, gunpowder tion material was approximately 4000 BC, appeared in Europe in the mid-13th century. when it was used in Egypt for plastering The word paper comes from a plant Gunpowder, also called black powder, was the pyramids. The beginning of the use of called papyrus that was used by the Egyp- then manufactured with a mixture of char- lime in mortars is not clear but it is well

38 Topical - Industrial Minerals

documented that the Roman Empire used Conclusions: a perspective on the future in everyday products that have not yet lime-based mortars extensively (Vitruvius, of minerals use by mankind reached the market today. 23-27 BC). New uses for old minerals, treated miner- Minerals are today essential building als (surface, structural, etc.) and new syn- Oil blocks of our everyday lives and it looks thetic minerals will appear in all fields of as if in the coming future minerals will manufacture, and developments will be so Asphalt has been known from Mesopota- still be critical for our well being. The very fast that we will be discovering and using mian times and was used as a construction brief history on some of the materials them sooner rather than later. Lighter and at material, in lighting and as a medicine. The described above shows how minerals have the same time stronger super-tough mate- conquest of the west in America led to a been used by man from earliest times, and rials, super-abrasives, new ceramics, new huge demand for kerosene and oil sources. how this use has evolved with time, from refractories, textiles, transparent concrete, New deposits were then sought for and as a the simple flintstone to produce fire to the iron-strong plastics, and a long list of new result of this, in 1859, E.L. Drake drilled a now common mobile phone with hundreds materials are already in preparation. 21 m hole in rock (an enormous feat at the of different minerals. Many of all those new materials will time) and found oil in Pennsylvania. This use minerals, so minerals will be ever was the first step to the search and exploi- The future is still a minerals future. The more critical for the development of our tation of deep oil resources. Oil is now the difference is already obvious in the pharma- high-tech society. But minerals will also fuel that moves the engine of development cological industry, which uses many miner- be there to help in the development of and thus the depletion of world oil reserves als in their medicaments, but of very high the under-developed, because there is no is one of the main global concerns. A con- purity and with constant properties. The development without minerals. There are siderable debate is now going on globally minerals used in the high-tech industry still places where the humble clay brick on the need to substitute other means of are very pure minerals, either synthetic or represents an immense technical advance, energy production for oil consumption, strictly selected natural minerals. Users will where using crushed rocks for road-making among them atomic energy and renewable demand homogeneous and pure minerals is a luxury, or cement is imported at jewel- alternatives (wind, hydroelectric, solar and with ever finer grain sizes from producers, price costs. Things we take for granted in geothermal energy). The role of minerals in and only those with the technology and the our comfortable Western homes do not these old and new energy sources is already resources to produce those quality products exist in many places of the world, and the evident. will prevail in the market. Nanotechnology difference between growing or stalling is is already a reality but will further develop an economy based on the use of minerals.

References

Cramb, A.W. 2007. A Short History of Metals. Department of Materials Science and Engineering. Carnegie Mellon University. http://neon.mems.cmu.edu/cramb/Processing/history.html Davey, N. 1971. A History of Building Materials. New York, Drake Publishers Ltd.

Davies, O. 1935. Roman Mines in Europe. Clarendon Press, Oxford. (Reprinted in 1979, Arno Press, New York).

Dermatis, G.N. 2004. Lavreio black light: The mining and metallurgical industry in Lavreio 1860-1917, Greek and European dimen- sion. Lavrion Technological and Cultural Park.

EDILÁN. Editora Internacional de Libros Antiguos. 1982. El Primer lapidario de Alfonso X el Sabio. ms. h.I.15 de la Biblioteca de El Escorial.

Fernández Navarro, J.M. 2003. El Vidrio. 3ª Ed. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Sociedad Española de Cerámica y Vidrio. 684 p. Madrid.

Gleeson, J. 1998. The Arcanum: The Extraordinary True Story of the Invention of European Porcelain. London, Bantam Press.

Ponting, C. 2006. Gunpowder: An Explosive History - From the Alchemists of China to the Battlefields of Europe. London, Pimlico.

Regueiro y González-Barros, M. 2010. Flintstone to microchips: the history of the use of industrial minerals in our everyday life. in Scott, P.W. and Walton, G. (Eds) Proceedings of the 15th Extractive Industry Geology Conference, EIG Conferences Ltd. pp. 67-72.

Vitruvius. De Architectura. Book II, V. Translated by F. Granger. (1931). Heinemann.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 39 Hard rock – the raw material of mobility

Donat Fulda*

We use hard rocks in our everyday life, Nous utilisons des roches dures dans notre Usamos rocas en nuestra vida cotidiana, mostly unaware of doing so. They form one vie quotidienne, en ignorant ce fait, le plus pero en general no nos damos cuenta. of the foundations of the Swiss transport souvent. Elles constituent l’un des piliers de Forman los cimientos de las infraestructuras infrastructure, and thus of our mobility. l’infrastructure suisse de transport et donc suizas de transporte, y por lo tanto de nues- However, high quality hard rock deposits de notre mobilité. Cependant les dépôts de tra movilidad. Sin embargo, los yacimien- in Switzerland are spatially limited to a belt roches dures de qualité supérieure, en Suisse, tos de rocas de alta calidad en Suiza están along the fringe of the Alps between Lake sont confinés spatialement le long d’une limitados geográficamente al borde de Geneva and Lake Constance. Because of ceinture en bordure des Alpes, entre les lacs los Alpes entre el Lago Ginebra y el Lago opposing usage and protection claims in de Genève et de Constance. En raison de Constanza. Debido al conflicto de intereses existing and potential mining areas, con- l’opposition exercée au niveau utilisation entre los ecologistas y los empresarios del flicts increasingly inhibit the expansion of des roches et protection de l’environnement sector en las áreas mineras potenciales y existing quarries or finding new, suitable contre les mines existantes et les sites actuales, se está inhibiendo la expansión mining locations. An expert committee miniers potentiels, les conflits freinent de de las actuales canteras o la búsqueda de addressed this problem and proposed solu- façon croissante le développement des zonas mineras adecuadas. Un comité de tions for the future supply of Switzerland carrières en exploitation ou la recherche expertos estudió este problema y propuso with domestic high quality hard rocks. As de nouveaux sites favorables à une exploi- soluciones para el futuro suministro suizo part of these negotiations a doctoral thesis tation. Un comité d’experts s’est penché sur de rocas de elevada calidad. Como parte of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ce problème et a proposé des solutions pour de esta negociación una tésis doctoral del examines the most important Swiss hard l’approvisionnement futur de la Suisse en Instituto Suizo de Tecnología estudia las rock, siliceous limestone, with new scientific roches dures locales d’excellente qualité. rocas suizas más importantes, silíceas y approaches and analytical methods. Faisant partie de ces discussions, une thèse calcareas, con nuevos enfoques científicos de doctorat préparé par l’Institut Fédéral y métodos analíticos. suisse de Technologie étudie les roches dures les plus importantes de Suisse, les calcaires siliceux, avec de nouvelles approches scien- tifiques et méthodes d’analyse.

veryone who uses Switzerland’s roads Increasing mobility, increasing burden transportation services have significantly or railways automatically comes into placed on transport infrastructure increased since the 1980s. contact with high quality hard rock. Due to the high quality of the Swiss road EThis important raw material has been used As current traffic statistics (BFS, 2013) and railway network and the dense public for decades for both pavement construction show, the lifetime of transport infrastruc- transport service, longer commuting dis- and railway construction. ture plays an increasingly important role: tances are no longer a problem these days. It Most occurrences of suitable hard rocks passenger transport services (Figure 1), the is thus expected that the mean distance per in Switzerland, as well as their specific motor vehicle fleet as well as the density of person will further increase in the public properties, were already known in the last the traffic on railroads have been constantly and private motorised transport sector century. At that time, the rock was primar- growing for decades. Furthermore, freight (BFS, 2013). ily used as paving stone, brick or pedestal stone (ASTRA, 2004; Niggli et al., 1915). In the first half of the 20th century the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) started to replace the previously used rounded gravel with crushed rock in railway construction. In road construction, the qualitative advan- tages of using chippings for the pavement were also discovered. Various studies in the past have showed that the quality and there- fore the lifetime of transport infrastructure can be significantly increased through the use of suitable hard rocks (ASTRA, 2004).

* Swiss Geotechnical Commission, ETH Zurich, [email protected] Figure 1: Passenger transport performance 1970 – 2011 (FSO Federal Statistical Office, 2013).

40 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Figure 2: Potential occurrences of high quality hard rocks in Switzerland (colour) and quarries (symbol) where hard rock is currently mined (topography: Atlas der Schweiz).

High quality hard rocks trated in a narrow belt along the northern tute of Technology (ETH) Zurich (Bärtschi, fringe of the Alps, stretching from Lake 2011), supervised by the Swiss Geotechnical Maintenance and expansion of the Geneva in the SW, via the Bernese Oberland Commission (SGTK). Apart from a detailed intensely used transport infrastructure and Central Switzerland to the Rhine Valley description of the geology and petrology require high quality hard rocks. Accord- above St. Gallen (Bärtschi, 2012) (Figure 2). of the various siliceous limestones found ing to the classic definition (De Quervain, High quality hard rock is currently mined in Switzerland, the study also focuses on 1969), hard rocks have a compressive at 10 sites. mineralogical characterisation and tech- strength larger than 140 MPa and contain nical testing of the rocks. It is shown that more than 25% of hard minerals (Mohs Siliceous limestone – Switzerland’s the proportion and structure of silicifica- hardness >5.5). Increasing demands on most important hard rock tion considerably affect the rock behav- the transport infrastructure in terms of iour under mechanical stress: the higher speed and traffic volume require stricter Siliceous limestone, the most commonly its silica content and the denser and more guidelines. Standards of where and in what used hard rock in Switzerland, was the sub- interlocked its siliceous cement, the more proportion hard rocks have to be used were ject of a doctoral thesis at the Federal Insti- stable the framework (Figure 3). Recording set. To satisfy these standards, quarry opera- tors had to improve their treatment process to remove unwanted fractions of minor quality. Rocks that fulfil the additional standards are classified as “high-grade hard rocks”. Swiss granites and gneisses, which are typi- cal hard rocks according to the traditional definition (De Quervain, 1969), do not meet these new standards due to their high con- tent of micas and their fabric. In Switzerland, primarily siliceous lime- stone, flysch sandstone and sandstone of the subalpine Molasse are mined for high qual- Figure 3: Scanning electron microscope image of siliceous limestone treated with hydrochloric acid (10%). a – siliceous limestone with low SiO -content and heterogeneously coordinated Quartz ity hard rock products. However, deposits 2 in Switzerland and neighbouring countries microaggregates without noticeable framework. b – dense microcrystalline silicification structure are limited: they are predominantly concen- and intense framework of a silica-rich siliceous limestone.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 41 potential weaknesses and heterogeneities in the mineral assemblage permits an estima- tion of the rock’s behaviour when mechani- cally stressed. The author offers recommen- dations such as how traditional procedures for testing hard rocks could be simplified and improved. Particularly the LCPC1-stress test is considered an application-oriented procedure for hard rock that can be used in excavation material management, as well as for classifying solid rocks into hard, semi- hard and soft rocks. Only small sample volumes are required to assess the quality of a given deposit and test results can be easily and quickly obtained (Bärtschi, 2012).

Conflicting interests cause supply shortage

A Round Table with representatives of the Swiss Hard Rock Quarries Association (VSH) and various Federal Offices held in 2003 determined that Switzerland needs two million tonnes of hard rock annually. This number has since been objectively con- firmed. From this figure, 800,000 tonnes are Figure 4: Potential maps show where, from a geologic point of view, potential high quality hard rock high-grade material used for road pave- ments while 600,000 tonnes are required as deposits are situated. The maps do not instruct about their suitability or economic viability. They ballast for railway lines (ARE, 2012). The further contain information about the relevant Federal or Cantonal inventories (e.g., ILNM), about remaining 600,000 tonnes are sold as aggre- building zones and partially about areas of water protection. They are suitable to reach a decision gates for other applications (eg. concrete). in the first planning steps, but are, however, not appropriate for detailed clarification. To determine Switzerland’s annual demand for hard rock, recycling and sub- of Landscapes and Natural Monuments of A: precision of the rock classification for stitution as well as imports from neighbour- National Importance (ILNM). Furthermore, a specific area with respect to the desired ing countries were considered. As trans- these areas whose sceneries are largely still hard rock lithology: siliceous limestone, port of mass commodities is economically intact are often used for tourism (Hirstein, glauconite sandstone, flysch sandstone and expensive and ecologically questionable, 2009). subalpine Molasse sandstone, importing of high quality hard rocks is only B: accuracy of the boundaries as repro- feasible where foreign quarries are close Geological potential maps as possible duced from the map with respect to geo- to the border. But it has to be considered approach graphic reference, and that also foreign quarries leave scars on the C: general validity of the study with landscape. The conflicting interests of hard rock respect to modern scientific interpretation. So far, Switzerland’s demand for high- supply and conservative concerns and the grade hard rock for railway and road has resulting imminence of a supply short- By this, hard rock areas can be classified been met by domestic production. A survey age led to the development of a national into five gradational categories. of the Federal Office for Spatial Develop- concept. Within it, on behalf of the ARE, The surveys conducted within this ment (ARE) and the SGTK considering the SGTK compiled a geological baseline national concept were incorporated into the already granted mining projects and survey to identify potentially exploitable a document that was published by the the time limit to the respective licences, high quality hard rock deposits outside the ARE in 2006 as a guideline for planning however, showed looming supply short- ILNM. So-called potential maps were cre- new exploration sites (Planungshilfe für age (ARE, 2008b). The survey predicts that ated to show where, from a geologic point of die Standortplanung). It is still considered Swiss domestic production of hard rock will view, suitable hard rock deposits are located a milestone regarding the treatment of fall to one million tons per year by 2020 at (Figure 4). To represent geologic data from the above-mentioned conflicts of interest. the latest. This shortage is not explained by different sources on a mutual and binding Apart from potential maps, the document exploited deposits, but rather by the con- level of display, a reliability parameter was contains comments on national interests in flicting interests of quarry operators and defined for all recorded hard rock areas. The nature conservation, homeland protection, associations for nature conservation or parameter indicates how safe and reliable and hard rock production for the infra- homeland protection, as some of the poten- the geologic data of a specific area or its structure, as well as a list of criteria for the tially exploitable deposits are located within boundary is for further analysis. Its calcula- early consideration of both user and protec- regions contained in the Federal Inventory tion is based on three indices, which respect tion interests. The document was composed the most prominent differences of the data as a guideline without being legally binding. 1 AFNOR P 18-579, 1990: Granulats – essai used (SGTK, 2006; ARE, 2006): d’abrasivité et de broyabilité, Association Fran- çaise de Normalisation, Paris

42 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Figure 5: Overview of the “hard rock debate” and the most important milestones.

Sectoral plan for transport as a quick weighing of interests has been con- The survey identified 34 potential sites for solution ducted. hard rock exploration, all of which reached • To secure the long-term supply of maximum reliability (between 80-100%) in The conflicting interests between hard hard rock, an early evaluation of suit- the baseline survey and were located out- rock exploration and nature and homeland able sites outside the ILNM perimeter side the ILNM perimeter. These sites are, protection culminated in 2007 in two Fed- is necessary. with three exceptions, distributed along the eral Supreme Court decisions prohibiting northern fringe of the Swiss Alps. The pro- the expansion of already existing quarries By adapting the sectoral plan for trans- ject team then evaluated and rated each of within ILNM areas. Simultaneously, the port, licencing of new quarries within the 34 sites according to geologic, economic jurisdiction of the Federal Supreme Court ILNM areas is now possible provided the and ecological criteria (ARE, 2012). asked for binding national planning of quarries are of national importance. A hard rock quarries should conflicts arise in quarry is of national importance if it is able • Geologic criteria were based on the protectorates. The Federal Supreme Court to supply at least 5% of the total demand of geologic potential maps. judgement of the case could not be based on highest-quality railroad ballast or at least • Economic criteria included the esti- the guideline for planning exploration sites 10% of the gross requirements of hard rock mated potential total volume and its as the document lacked legal binding force. (ARE, 2008a). connection to processing and treat- The Federal Court decisions further exac- ment; the development of a potential erbated the situation of hard rock supply. In How to combine geologic, economic site as well as its accessibility by road order to maintain the Swiss transportation and ecological interests or railway were of interest. infrastructure supply without perforating • Ecological criteria comprised con- landscapes of national importance with To take full account of the jurisdiction servation and protection targets hard rock quarries, the ARE and the Fed- of the Federal Supreme Court and to attain (residential areas, negative emissions, eral Office for the Environment (FOEN) an inter-cantonal or national planning of nature and landscape, water, forest) initiated an adaption of the sectoral plan hard rock quarries, it had to be shown and other claims of land use in gen- for transport, which included policies for whether there were alternative sites out- eral (agriculture, tourism). Switzerland’s supply with hard rocks. This side the ILNM perimeter. For this reason a adaption was introduced into the secto- survey with all significant participants was Examination of political support ral plan for transport by the Swiss Federal conducted on a national level; an encom- Council in 2008 and contains the following passing project team was established. The In a second step, the project group sub- policies, among others (ARE, 2008a): Swiss Hard Rock Quarries Association mitted 15 out of the 34 originally defined (VSH) took the lead, the geological back- areas to the cantonal governments to test • In areas listed in the Federal Inven- ground was compiled by the SGTK and the their feasibility and political acceptance. tory of Landscapes and Natural ARE, together with FOEN and the Federal In Switzerland, it is not the federal govern- Monuments of National Importance Office of Topography (swisstopo), as well ment but the cantons that are authorised to (ILNM) interference with nature is as representatives from different cantons. plan and approve raw materials extraction only permitted if the protection tar- The task force was appointed to incorporate activities. The consultation of the cantons gets of the respective ILNM object environmental aspects and maintain coor- revealed that at three sites outside the are conserved. dination between the different participants. ILNM perimeter good basic conditions • New surface quarrying projects or A supervising group was established and exist to initiate the planning of two new expansions of already existing quar- comprised representatives of environmental quarries and the extension of an existing ries that impair the conservation of organizations, other Federal Offices and extraction place. In the future, these sites protection targets are only permit- the Swiss Federal Railway, as well as the could contribute to the national supply of ted if no exploration sites for national Association for Regional and State Plan- hard rock according to the sectoral plan supply are feasible outside ILNM ning (VLP). for transport. Whether a project will get areas, and when a comprehensive political support and will be accepted by the

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 43 affected people and stakeholders will only Situation defused, but not yet com- 2021. Together with the already licenced be seen after detailed planning. However, pletely solved quarries outside the ILNM perimeter it since the main geological, corporate and would be possible to extract a total of about environmental requirements concerning the For the long-term supply of Switzerland 1.2 million tonnes of hard rock per year. planning of the project are known, there is with hard rock, the new potential locations However, this still represents only about a good chance that the project will gain the that are outside the ILNM perimeter are 60% of the total demand of 2 million tonnes. necessary political acceptance. Conversely, likely to temporarily defuse conflicts with Furthermore, the above-mentioned mobil- it can be concluded that detailed planning mining projects inside the ILNM perimeter, ity statistics as well as underestimated con- for new projects in areas, which are not but will obviously not solve them. Making a sumption for rail maintenance work sug- recommended to the cantons or hard rock reasonably optimistic assumption that two gest that this total demand in the medium companies, cannot be fully excluded. The new quarries could be realised in a time term is unlikely to decrease. Consequently, exclusion of an area will only be obvious frame of 10 years, it is likely that an addi- mining sites inside the ILNM perimeter will if exclusion criteria are actually present tional amount of about 600,000 tonnes of have to be considered to ensure the future (ARE, 2012). hard rock will be available annually as of supply of hard rock (ARE, 2012).

References

ARE [Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung], 2006. Hartsteinbrüche: Planungshilfe für die Standortplanung. Bundesamt f. Raument- wicklung.

ARE [Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung], 2008a. Grundsätze zur Hartgesteinsversorgung: Ergänzung Sachplan Verkehr (Bun- desratsentscheid), Bundesamt f. Raumentwicklung.

ARE [Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung], 2008b. Hartgesteinsversorgung: einige Fragen und Antworten. Bundesamt f. Raument- wicklung.

ARE [Bundesamt für Raumentwicklung], 2012. Evaluation von Potenzialgebieten für Hartsteinbrüche ausserhalb der Landschaften von nationaler Bedeutung (BLN), Schlussbericht. Bundesamt f. Raumentwicklung.

ASTRA [Bundesamt für Strassen], 2004. Konfliktanalyse bezüglich Vermeidung eines Versorgungsnotstandes der schweizerischen Bauwirtschaft mit felsgebrochenen Hartgesteinen zur Herstellung hochwertiger Beläge und Bahnschotter. – Proj. ASTRA 2001/008.

Bärtschi, C., 2012. Kieselkalke der Schweiz: Charakterisierung eines Rohstoffs aus geologischer, petrographischer, wirtschaftlicher und umweltrelevanter Sicht, Beitr. Geol. Schweiz, geotech. Ser. 97.

Bärtschi, C., 2011. Kieselkalke der Schweiz: Charakterisierung eines Rohstoffs aus geologischer, petrographischer, wirtschaftlicher und umweltrelevanter Sicht, Dissertation Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH Zürich).

BFS [Bundesamt für Statistik], 2013. Mobilität und Verkehr, Taschenstatistik 2013, Bundesamt f. Statistik.

Hirstein, A., 2009: Zu wenig Schotter in der Schweiz. – NZZ am Sonntag, 15. Nov. 2009, 68.

Niggli, P., Grubenmann U., Jeannet, A., Moser, R. 1915. Die natürlichen Bausteine und Dachschiefer der Schweiz, Beitr. Geol. Schweiz, geotech. Ser. 5.

Quervain, F. De, 1969. Die nutzbaren Gesteine der Schweiz (3. Aufl.), Schweiz. geotech. Komm.

SGTK [Schweizerische Geotechnische Kommission], 2006. Potenzielle Hartgesteinsvorkommen der Schweiz: Potenzialkarten für die Planungsstudie, Schweiz. geotech. Komm., www.sgtk.ch

SGTK [Schweizerische Geotechnische Kommission], 2010. Geotechnischer Umweltatlas GUA, Schweiz. geotech. Komm., www. sgtk.ch

44 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Salt in the UK

Mark Tyrer*

The production of salt in the United King- La production de sel en Grande Bretagne La historia de la producción de sal del Reino dom traces its history to ancient times and remonte historiquement aux anciens temps Unido se puede retrotraer a los tiempos salt workings are known back at least to et les travaux d’exploitation sont connus más remotos y se sabe de extracciones de Neolithic times. Two major salt types are au moins à partir du Néolithique. Deux sal desde el Neolítico. En este país se explo- mined in this country; halite and related sortes de sel sont exploités dans le pays : la tan dos tipos de sal principales: la halita y minerals and potassium salts (“potash”) halite avec minéraux associés ainsi que les minerales relacionados y las sales potásicas are dominant industrially. The applications sels de potassium (la potasse), ressources (potasas), que dominan el sector industrial. are very wide, providing the raw materi- industrielles dominantes. Les utilisations Las aplicaciones son muy variadas, ya que als for numerous products and processes, sont très diverses, constituant les matières proporcionan las materias primas para not least food use and de-icing salts used premières pour nombre de produits et de numerosos productos y procesos, entre in road transport. In the UK, halite, sylvite, procédés de traitement, ne serait-ce que le otros los usos alimentarios y las sales para sylvenite, carnalite and polyhalite are all sel de cuisine ou le sel utilisé pour dégeler el deshielo utilizadas en el trasporte por minened commercially. The origins of these les routes et faciliter le transport. En Grande carreteras. En el Reino Unido se explotan compounds are reviewed along with their Bretagne, la halite, la sylvinite, la carnal- comercialmente halita, silvina, silvinita, historic and current uses and the future lite et la polyhalite font toutes l’objet d’une carnalita y polihalita. En este trabajo se evolution of the market for natural salts is exploitation commerciale. Les origines de estudia el origen de estos compuestos discussed. The article considers commercial ces composés sont ici examinées en même junto con sus usos históricos y actuales y applications along with the technologies temps que leur histoire et leur utilisation se discute la evolución futura del mercado used in processing salts and their ultimate courante. L’évolution du marché pour les sels de las sales naturales. El artículo analiza use. naturels fait aussi l’objet d’une discussion. las aplicaciones comerciales junto con las The ubiquity of these minerals places them L’article fait état des applications commer- tecnologías utilizadas en el tratamiento de at the heart of modern society. Interna- ciales et des technologies utilisées pour le las sales y sus aplicaciones más recientes. La tionally, the market is dominated by five traitement des roches salifères et leur uti- ubicuidad de estos minerales los coloca en el countries (USA, Canada, Chile, India, and lisation in fine. corazón de la sociedad moderna. Desde el Germany) yet the UK domestic market is L’ubiquité de ces minéraux les place au punto de vista internacional el mercado está stable and expanding, new operations in cœur de la société moderne. Internation- dominado por cinco países (EEUU, Canadá, both potash and fluorite are being devel- alement, le marché est dominé par cinq pays Chile, India y Alemania), pero el mercado oped and the future market for each salt (USA, Canada, Chili, Inde et Allemagne) ; doméstico del Reino Unido es estable y type looks promising. cependant le marché en Grande Bretagne está en expansión, se están desarrollando est stable voire en expansion ; de nouvelles nuevos proyectos tanto en potasio como en activités pour la potasse comme pour la fluorita y el mercado futuro de cada tipo de fluorine sont en développement et le futur sal parece prometedor. marché pour chaque sorte de sel semble prometteur.

Background and history (though less common) ceramic vessels in region of Austria, being the oldest (12th Cheshire, Worcestershire and Wales are century B.C.) and lending its name to the he working of salt in Britain has associated with iron age rock salt refining. archaeological Hallstatt period, which origi- been practiced since at least the By that time, such ceramic vessels were nated somewhat earlier (about 700 B.C. or Bronze Age and evidence of salt widespread in western England and were even earlier) and expanded substantially Trecovery from seawater and saline springs replaced during the Roman occupation with the development of those salt mines. can be seen from neolithic archaeologi- by lead evaporating dishes. Examples of The British town of Nantwich has one of a cal evidence worldwide. Its culinary use these vessels are held in several museum distinctive group of place names associated as a food preservative can be traced to the collections and some those of the Nantwich (but not exclusively) with salt. Originally earliest civilizations and in Britain, shallow Museum are inscribed with the names of derived from the Latin vicus (meaning pottery vessels and supporting pillars (bri- Roman salt makers such as: Viventius, Velu- place) it was adopted by the Anglo-Saxons quetage) are probably our earliest evidence vius, Lutamus and Cunitus. These western and evolved into the word wic (meaning of salt refining and date from the Bronze archaeological sites are associated with dwelling place) and by the 11th century, Age. Evidence of such early “salt-making” rock salt and brine springs, rather than sea use of the ‘wich’ suffix in place names was is concentrated in eastern England, sug- water and are concentrated in three areas, associated with places with a specialised gesting that evaporation of seawater was the (Cheshire and Worcestershire in England function including that of salt production. source of salt in these regions, yet similar and Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland) all Several English places carry this suffix and lying on Permian sediments. Salt workings are historically related to salt, including * Mineral Industry Research Organisation, in Europe have a better-documented early the four Cheshire ‘wiches’ of Middlewich, Solihull, B37 7HB. UK, [email protected] history; Hallstatt in the Salzkammergut Nantwich, Northwich and Leftwich (a small

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 45 village south of Northwich), and Droitwich in Worcestershire. Middlewich, Nantwich, Northwich and Droitwich are known as the Domesday Wiches due to their mention in the Domesday Book; an indication of the significance of the salt-working towns in the economy of the region, and indeed Zechstein basin of the country at the time of the Norman conquest. From the middle ages, the lead salt pans favoured by the Romans, were replaced by iron vessels, largely as a result of the higher temperatures associated with coal-fired drying (which melted lead vessels) as wood was replaced by coal as a fuel. By the indus- trial revolution, the mining and refining of salt was a well-established industry in Britain and paralleled the growth of the chemical industries. Important early uses in the leather Figure 1: Approximate extent of the Zechstein basin. and textile industries made increasing demands of salt mining and as the process evaporation exceeded the rate of re-charge in separation into two, intimately mixed became mechanised, so new markets were and between 200 and 300 million years phases, known as sylvinite; an important developed to supply the growing chemical ago, a varied sequence of evaporates was source of potassium. The same is true when industries. In the nineteenth century, the deposited, including sulphates (especially a molten mixture of the two salts cools and demand for alkalis grew rapidly and was gypsum and anhydrite) carbonates (the re-crystallises, the miscibility gap ‘splits’, met through a technological step-change Zechstein magnesian limestones of the resulting in two phases on solidification. developed by the Belgian industrial chem- NE coast of England) and importantly, a Pure sylvite is a relatively rare mineral, ist Ernest Solvay (1838-1922). Briefly, range of halides. Subsequent burial by (and potassium more commonly occurring in the Solvay process takes sodium chloride diagenesis of) the overlying sediments left mixed mineral assemblages, such as syl- (brine, from rock salt) and calcium car- salt bodies at depth and some of them have vinite. bonate (limestone flour) and reacts them subsequently risen by buoyancy “halokini- In addition to potassium chloride, a (using ammonia gas as an intermediary, sis” as diapirs, forming the salt domes of number of other important potassium which is recovered) to produce calcium northern Europe and the North Sea. These minerals are mined in the UK, from chloride and sodium carbonate. This latter structures are of great economic signifi- the Boulby mine operated by Cleveland (“Soda Ash”) remains an important pre- cance in the North Sea oil province, where Potash in North Yorkshire. Both car- cursor to many industrial processes to this they form traps for rising oil. In the UK, nalite KMgCl3.6(H2O) and polyhalite day, supplying diverse industries such as four important salt horizons are known in K2Ca2Mg(SO4)4.2H2O are worked com- glass-making, water softening, soaps and the Permian Zechstein sandstones and are mercially and the polyhalite reserves at detergents, paper making and dyestuffs worked commercially in Cheshire, North Boulby are the only commercially worked amongst many others. The calcium chlo- Yorkshire and Carrickfergus in Northern deposits in the world. The vast majority ride is sold into other industries (such as Ireland. of the potassium salts (~90%) worked fine chemicals) and is a component in drill- are used as fertilizers with the remainder ing fluids. Mineralogy being consumed by the chemicals and glass industries. This has operational advantages Geological setting Owing to differing solubilities of the as these potassium minerals do not need salts deposited, the mineralogy of these to be refined (separated into individual The formation of the UK salt deposits evaporates differs from region to region. phases) before use as fertilizers, but can be in the upper Permian sediments is simi- In Britain, two distinct mineral assem- blended or used directly. lar to that across northern Europe, as the blages are important, the sodium-rich Zechstein sea dried out, leaving its solutes salts of Cheshire and Worcestershire and Mining and production behind as salt flats. There probably is no the potassium-rich minerals (“potash”) of similar environment on earth today and North Yorkshire. Modern salt mining in the UK is either although comparisons with the Persian Naturally occurring sodium and potas- by cut and blast methods or by continuous Gulf have been made, it is evident that the sium halides (halite and sylvite respec- mining. In the former, a horizontal slot drying of the Zechstein included several tively) form cubic crystals, which reflect is cut below the mass of salt to be recov- marine regressions, leaving salts at dif- their lattice structures, although well- ered using an ‘undercutter’ (reminiscent ferent stratigraphic horizons. In the late developed crystals of halite are much more of a very large chain saw) and charge holes Permian (~250 Ma) a considerable are of common than sylvite. At atmospheric pres- drilled, to allow blasting of the undercut northern Europe was covered by this shal- sure and temperature, the two salts do not reserve; around 1,000-1,500 tonnes per low sea, when Europe was close to the show extensive solid solution between the charge. The rock salt is then recovered by equator. Although fed by rivers (carrying end-members (they show a “miscibility a combined feeder-breaker to manageable additional dissolved solids) the rate of gap”) and drying of a mixed solution results pieces about the size of a football and is

46 Topical - Industrial Minerals

with pillars of 20m2 in plan section. The alternative method of salt recovery is that of solution mining, where a borehole is drilled into a salt dome and fresh water injected into to the primary well is recov- ered from a secondary ‘production’ well. The solubility of sodium chloride in water is around 26% by mass at 20°C and the Brit- ish Salt operation at Middlewich recovers salt in this way. It has also been considered by Cleveland Potash as an option at their Boulby mine. The brine is recovered from depths of ~180m at Middlewich and is pumped some 5km to the refining works and largely sold directly into the chemicals industries as brine. Figure 2: Although the structure and stoichiometry of halite and sylvite are similar, they do not form a solid solution at atmospheric pressure and temperature. Applications and markets

then sent for further crushing and screen- lars) which remain contain valuable salt Overall, the UK produces around 5.8 ing by conveyor belt. Continuous mining reserves, but can only be recovered at the Mt p.a. in 1984 (down from its 1980 peak by comparison, uses a rotating cutter head, end of a mine’s working life, when an engi- of around 7 Mt p.a.). Around 70% of this armed with tungsten carbide teeth, which neered backfill is emplaced, allowing the total is used directly in the chemicals and produces smaller pieces than by the cut remaining reserve to be recovered. Owing food industries, the remaining 30% is used and blast method and the recovered salt is to the risks associated with this approach, for road de-icing. Of this total, over 80% is fed continuously to a conveyor for process- many mining companies across the world produced in Cheshire. The most familiar ing. In each case, support of the overly- do not recover this final reserve, choosing form (table salt, ~1 Mt p.a.) is refined from ing rock is of the greatest importance, so to leave the stopes in place. The operation is brine by vacuum drying, to produce what is the geometry of the worked horizons is performed on a massive scale; at the Wins- called white salt, which with the addition of one of chambers and pillars, arranged in ford mine in Cheshire, the ‘rooms’ between anti-caking agents (and for some markets, a grid pattern of ‘rooms’. The ‘stopes’ (pil- the pillars are some 20m wide and 8m high, iodine salts) is then ready for use. The four principal UK producers are shown in table 1.

Primary brine consumed by the heavy inorganic chemical industries is the pre- cursor for very many processes. The clor- alkali process involves direct electrolysis of sodium chloride brine in a reaction vessel separated into two chambers by an ion selective membrane. This has effectively replaced the Castner-Kellner process for electrolytic production of sodium hydrox- ide and chlorine. The reaction products are (naturally) chlorine at the anode and © Cleveland Potash Ltd. Reproduced with permission. Reproduced Ltd. Potash © Cleveland with permission. Reproduced Minerals. © Compass hydrogen at the cathode, whilst sodium Figure 3: Continuous cutters at Boulby (left) and Winsford (right). hydroxide forms in the electrolyte at the cathode and is concentrated and prevented from re-mixing with the bulk solution as it is unable to easily cross the membrane. By re-combination, both sodium hypochlo- rite (the Hooker Process) and sodium chlo- rate are synthesised in the same plants and although the whole process is energy inten- sive, it is the principal route by which these important chemicals are produced. The chlorine recovered is used to produce chlo- rinated solvents (i.e. 1,2 dichloroethane) vinyl chloride for PVC and many other products such as bleaches and detergents.

© Cleveland Potash Ltd. Reproduced with permission. Reproduced Ltd. Potash © Cleveland with permission. Reproduced Minerals. © Compass Sodium hydroxide is similarly a principal Figure 4: Undercutter in the Winsford salt mine (left) and an excavator in working in the Boulby product of the salt industry and is used Mine (right). widely in detergents, paper making and in

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 47 Table 1: Main UK salt producers.

Operator Location Owner Capacity (Mt p.a.) Depth Recovery method British Salt Middlewich, Cheshire Tata Chemicals 800,000 180m Solution mining Salt Union Winsford Mine, Compass Minerals 1,000,000 189m Cut and blast Room and pillar Cheshire ISME Kilroot Mine, Carrick- Irish Salt Mining and Explo- 500,000 180m Cut and blast Room and pillar fergus, NI ration Company Ltd Cleveland Potash Boulby Mine, Cleve- ICL Fertilizers 1,000,000 1,500m Continuous mining land, North Yorkshire

by its parent company, Compass Minerals). The secure store holds documents from the National Archive amongst others and spans 1.8 million square metres. Else- where, completed brine extraction cavities have been used for gas storage (Teeside and Yorkshire) allowing the industry to meet sudden demands for fuel gas. A further storage facility planned for the Preesall Saltfield in Lancashire was refused plan- ning permission in April 2013 owing to ‘uncertainty surrounding the two proposed Figure 5: Schematic diagram of the Chlor-alkali process membrane cell. Chlorine is generated at the potential cavern development areas, given anode (left) and hydrogen and sodium hydroxide are produced at the cathode (right). the lack of hard geological data to demon- strate their suitability for underground gas the petrochemical, textile and detergent reserves already in production. Potassium storage’. The Boulby mine is the deepest in industries. however, is already the subject of concern Britain at 1.1km, which uniquely in the UK, as the need to feed a growing world popula- provides a vast amount of shielding from Conclusions tion places increasing demand on fertilizer background radiation. It was chosen for the availability. Manning (2007) cautioned that site of the nation’s deep underground labo- The ubiquity of salt cannot be over- the price of potash has risen by a factor of ratory, initially for work on cosmic rays and stated and without its abundant supply, three in less than a decade and emphasises the search for dark matter. Subsequently, many modern industries would grind the growing demand on potash and phos- other projects have begun, including stud- to an abrupt halt. Mankind’s reliance phate reserves for agriculture. ies of cosmic rays and climate, astrobi- on these essential minerals continues to A final thought: What might one do with ology and life in extreme environments, demand ever increasing supplies, but even an empty salt mine vault? By its very nature development of techniques for deep 3D at our current rate of consumption, known it is extremely low humidity environment geological monitoring and various gamma reserves are likely to last for centuries. In and of course dark and stable. The Wins- spectroscopy studies of radioactivity in the the UK alone, projections in excess of two ford mine lets out former workings as a environment. There is a lot which can be hundred years scope only those rock salt document store to Deep Store Ltd (Owned done with a hole in the ground!

References

British Geological Survey (2011) Mineral Planning Factsheet “Potash”. http://www.mauk.org.uk/sites/default/files/public_files/ mpfpotash.pdf.

British Geological Survey (2007) Mineral Planning Factsheet “Salt”. http://www.mauk.org.uk/sites/default/files/public_files/mpfsalt.pdf.

Campbell, L., Tyrer, M. and Dyer, A. 2013. Excited about Potassium. Geoscientist, August 2013. pp 12-15. http://www.geolsoc.org. uk/~/media/shared/documents/Geoscientist/GEOSCIENTIST_AUG13_LR.ashx.

Manning, D.A.C. 2010. Where in the world is the potash that we need? 19th World Congress of Soil Science, Soil Solutions for a Changing World. pp. 298-301. http://www.iuss.org/19th%20WCSS/Symposium/pdf/2450.pdf.

Sterner, S.M., Chou, I.-M., Downs, R.T. and Pitzer, K.S. (1992) Phase relations in the system NaCl-KCl-H2O: V. Thermodynamic PTX analysis of solid-liquid equilibria at high temperatures and pressures. Geochimica and Cosmochimica Acta, 56. pp. 2295-2309. http://www.geo.arizona.edu/xtal/group/pdf/gca56_2295.pdf.

48 Topical - Industrial Minerals

PERC, CRIRSCO, and UNFC: minerals reporting standards and classifications

Stephen Henley* and Ruth Allington

There are two internationally recognised Il existe deux systèmes, avec reconnaissance Existen dos sistemas de clasificación y systems for classification and reporting of internationale, concernant la classification declaración de recursos minerales recono- reserves and resources of solid minerals: the et le compte-rendu des réserves et des res- cidos internacionalmente: la familia de los CRIRSCO family of reporting standards and sources minières : le CRIRSCO définissant códigos CRIRSCO y la Clasificación Marco the United Nations Framework Classifica- les modalités de rapport et le Système de de Naciones Unidas (UNFC). A pesar de que tion (UNFC). Despite a common perception Classification des Nations Unies (UNFC). existe una cierta percepción de que ambas that these are in competition, they are in Bien que ces deux systèmes soient perçus compiten entre ellas, en realidad están inti- fact closely linked, and they address dif- communément comme en compétition, ils mamente relacionadas y se refieren a una ferent sets of requirements. The CRIRSCO sont en fait étroitement liés et répondent serie de requisistos diferentes. Las normas standards, which include PERC, JORC, à des besoins différents. Les standards du CRIRSCO, que incluyen –entre otras- a las and the Canadian CIM standard among CRIRSCO qui incluent entre autres les stand- PERC, JORC y la norma canadiense CIM, se others, were developed for public reporting ards du PERC, du JORC et du canadien CIM desarrollaron para la declaración pública by companies listed on stock exchanges to ont été établis pour les rapports publics de compañías cotizadas en las bolsas de provide a consistent terminology as well as émis par les compagnies représentées à valores, con objeto de proporcionar una quality assurance in company estimates of la Bourse, pour fournir une terminologie terminología unificada así como el control mineral resources and reserves. The under- cohérente et aussi une assurance qualité de calidad en las estimaciones de recursos lying objective is protection of the public dans l’estimation par une Compagnie des y reservas de las empresas. El objetivo de (in this case investors) by ensuring that the ressources et réserves minières. L’objectif fondo es la protección del público (en este reports produced use consistent terminol- sous-jacent est la protection du public (les caso los inversores) asegurando que los ogy and core content so that they can be investisseurs ici) en garantissant que les informes emitidos tienen una terminología understood and compared, and that those rapports émis utilisent une terminologie y contenido nuclear congruente de modo who prepare public disclosure reports are cohérente, un exposé de la réalité de telle que se puedan entender y comparar y que competent to do so and are prepared to manière qu’ils puissent être compris et com- los autores de esos informes para el público take personal responsibility for their own parés et que ceux en charge d’élaborer les tengan la adecuada competencia y estén work. There are minor differences among rapports destinés au public soient compé- dispuestos a asumir la responsabilidad per- the CRIRSCO standards as a result of dif- tents pour le faire et prêts personnellement à sonal que implica su firma. Hay pequeñas fering regulatory regimes in the countries assumer leur responsabilité pour leur propre diferencias entre las normas CRIRSCO como in which they are used, but all share identi- travail. Il existe quelques différences mineu- consecuencia de los diferentes regímenes cal core definitions and classification. The res dans les standards CRIRSCO provenant regulatorios en los países en los que se uti- United Nations classification was developed des différents systèmes de régulations pour lizan, pero todas tienen las definiciones y to provide an all-inclusive system that could les pays où elles sont utilisées mais tous les clasificaciones fundamentales idénticas. La be used for mineral inventories and minerals rapports partagent les mêmes définitions clasificación de Naciones Unidas se desar- policy planning by governments and com- de fond et la même classification. L’UNFC a rolló para proporcionar un sistema global panies alike. Where the two systems overlap, été créée pour fournir un système complet que se pudiera utilizar en inventarios min- CRIRSCO provides the detailed specifications pouvant servir aussi bien pour un inventaire erales y en planes de planificación minera for the corresponding UNFC categories. This minier que pour un programme de politique tanto por Gobiernos como por empresas. En paper outlines the history and use of the minière définie par les gouvernements et aquello en que los dos sistemas se solapan, two systems. les compagnies. Là où les deux systèmes se CRIRSCO proporciona las especificaciones recouvrent, le CRIRSCO fournit des spécifi- detalladas para las categorías UNFC cor- cations détaillées pour les catégories cor- respondientes. En este artículo se describe respondantes de l’UNFC. Cet article décrit la historia y el uso de los dos sistemas. l’histoire et l’utilisation des deux systèmes.

ineral resources and reserves tionally, and with increasing involvement many based upon unsubstantiated estimates have been estimated systemati- of capital markets in financing mining ven- of resources. A much more serious case was cally for many decades, but with tures, it became clear during the 1980s and the Bre-X fraud in 1997, in which a Cana- Mexpansion of the minerals industry interna- 1990s that systematisation and regulation dian company announced a gigantic gold were needed. An early warning sign came discovery in Indonesia based on data from * Resources Computing International Ltd, in 1970-71 when a major nickel discovery drill-hole core which had been ‘enriched’ Matlock, United Kingdom, by Poseidon in Western Australia sparked before assaying with extra gold grains. In [email protected] a wave of speculative company flotations, both cases - and in many other smaller scale

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 49 cases - investors were defrauded of huge Since 1999, CRIRSCO has formally been The CRIRSCO Family of Reporting sums of money. a participant in developing the United Standards: PERC as an example Professional organisations of geologists Nations Framework Classification (UNFC) and mining engineers around the world in a project led by the United Nations Eco- In 1991, a simple code was published by decided that it was necessary to take action nomic Commission for Europe (UNECE). the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy to rationalise and regulate the reporting of There are two distinct types of public in London, intended to be used for report- mineral resources and reserves. The first reporting of mineral resources and reserves: ing of mineral resources and reserves by to produce a formal regime – consisting of companies with stock exchange listings. a simple classification and a set of profes- • Disclosure for companies quoted on This code evolved rapidly and converged sional standards regulating its use – was stock exchanges. Objectives: reliable, with JORC and other reporting standards. the ‘Joint Ore Reserves Committee’ in transparent information for inves- In 2001 a major revision was published, Australia and New Zealand - now better tors and potential investors. This is incorporating the best features of all of known as JORC. This was closely followed the role of the CRIRSCO family of the other codes. This code was prepared by similar initiatives in Canada, the USA, standards with the active involvement and support South Africa, and the United Kingdom. The • Governmental, inter-governmen- of the European Federation of Geologists, initial UK initiatives led to pan-European tal, or NGO reporting of mineral the Geological Society of London, the co-operation through the involvement of resource estimates and forecasts. Institute of Geologists of Ireland, and the EFG and IGI. Objectives: a reliable mineral inven- Institution of Mining and Metallurgy. It There was much in common among these tory to underpin minerals policies was named simply “The Reporting Code”, standards: in particular the concept of the (especially cross border, e.g. Europe), and the intention was that it would act as “Competent Person” (or in Canada the available to exploration and mining a reporting standard for Europe but poten- “Qualified Person”), and the same classifi- companies to attract inward invest- tially could become a worldwide minerals cation was adopted by all. Standards com- ment and exploration activity. This is reporting standard. The reason this did mittees from the five countries listed above the role of UNFC. not happen is discussed below. However, formed CRIRSCO in 1994, and agreed on it succeeded in its European objectives. In an initial set of common definitions in 1997 It should be noted that there is no conflict 2006, in light of the further development at a meeting in Denver, USA. Initial UK between CRIRSCO and UNFC, since the and improvement of other standards, representation evolved into European par- CRIRSCO classification itself provides the especially the publication of JORC 2004 in ticipation through the formation of PERC specifications for corresponding categories Australia, there was seen to be a need for in 2006. Chile joined CRIRSCO in 2004, within UNFC. further updating, so the European commit- and Russia in 2011. tee was reconvened as PERC. PERC had an

Figure 1: The CRIRSCO standard classification now used by all reporting standards that are aligned with CRIRSCO.

50 Topical - Industrial Minerals

additional role in assisting the integration in Figure 1. reporting through maintenance of Compe- of Russia into the CRIRSCO family by first In 1999, agreement was reached with the tent Person standards (see below). developing a method for conversion from United Nations Economic Commission for The core of the various standards is prac- the Russian State (GKZ) classification to Europe (UNECE), which had since 1992 tically identical (and becoming ever more the CRIRSCO classification, followed by been developing an International Frame- closely aligned), but inclusion of national development of a Russian national report- work Classification for Mineral Reserves regulatory requirements provides small ing standard. The PERC Code was issued and Resources (UNFC), to incorporate into but important differences – which is why in 2008, and an update has been published the UNFC the CMMI-CRIRSCO resource CRIRSCO cannot offer a single worldwide in 2013. / reserve definitions for those categories standard. However, for the geoscientist PERC is now recognised by the European that were common to both systems. This a report prepared under one national Securities and Markets Authority for use agreement gave true international status to standard can readily be referenced to the on all European stock exchanges, as well as the CMMI-CRIRSCO definitions. requirements of another, since they all use by the Canadian regulators for use within Following these agreements, an updated an identical classification (Figure 1) and the Canadian reporting system (National version of the JORC Code was released an identical set of core definitions. Table 1 Instrument 43-101). Other regulators – in Australia in 1999 (and more recently, summarises the current CRIRSCO member such as in Australia and South Africa – in 2004), followed by similar codes and standard-setting organisations and their mandate the use of only their own national guidelines in South Africa, USA, Canada, professional organisation sponsors. standards, although these still recognise UK / Ireland / Western Europe, Chile and Competent Persons who are accredited in Peru. The JORC Code (Joint Ore Reserves The United Nations Framework Clas- accordance with other CRIRSCO Codes Committee of the Australasian Institute of sification and Standards and by overseas professional Mining and Metallurgy, Australian Institute organisations elsewhere. of Geoscientists, and Minerals Council of The United Nations Framework Classifi- Australia) has played a crucial role in initi- cation (UNFC) has a very different purpose The role of CRIRSCO ating the development of standards defini- from the codes and standards which are tions for these codes and guidelines. aligned with CRIRSCO. Its development CRIRSCO, which was formed in 1994 In 2002 CMMI was disbanded. CRIRSCO was begun in the 1990s by UNECE and pro- under the auspices of the Council of Mining is now a partner of, and partly funded ceeds under a global mandate from the UN and Metallurgical Institutes (CMMI), was by, ICMM, the International Council on Economic and Social Council. The UNFC established as a grouping of representa- Mining and Metals, which is a worldwide classification is more complex and more tives of organisations that are responsible consortium of minerals companies and extensive than CRIRSCO’s; it covers oil for developing mineral reporting codes mining industry associations whose pur- and gas resources as well as solid miner- and guidelines in Australasia (JORC), pose is promoting high environmental and als, and its principal objective is to provide Canada (CIM), Chile (National Commit- ethical standards in the industry. a method of standardisation for regulatory tee, from 2004), Europe (PERC), Russia The similarity of the various national and statistical purposes, both governmen- (NAEN/OERN, from 2011), South Africa reporting codes and guidelines enabled tal and intergovernmental. It may also be (SAMREC) and the USA (SME). The com- CRIRSCO to develop an International Min- useful to larger minerals groups with many bined value of mining companies listed erals Reporting Code Template in 2006, sites for their internal planning and man- on the stock exchanges of these countries which is available on the CRIRSCO web agement of their mineral inventory. accounts for more than 80% of the listed site. This can act as a “core code and guide- Key definitions and terminology used capital of the mining industry. lines” for any country wishing to adopt its for reporting solid mineral reserves and The international initiative to standard- own CRIRSCO-style reporting standard, resources (and exploration results) within ise market-related reporting definitions for after including provisions for country-spe- these two classification systems have been mineral resources and mineral reserves had cific requirements such as those of a legal aligned through extensive co-operative its start at the 15th CMMI Congress at Sun and investment regulatory nature. efforts between CRIRSCO and UNECE City, South Africa in 1994. The mineral CRIRSCO serves as an international since 1999. A parallel collaboration has definitions working group (later called advisory body without legal authority, rely- taken place between SPE (the Society of CRIRSCO) was formed after a meeting at ing on its constituent members to ensure Petroleum Engineers) and UNECE for that Congress, and was made up of repre- regulatory and disciplinary oversight at a oil and gas, with the PRMS (Petroleum sentatives from the countries listed above national level. Resources Management System) classifi- (except for Chile and Russia, which joined All CRIRSCO standards follow the same cation. later), with the primary objective of devel- set of principles and use the same classi- UNFC is a generic classification frame- oping a set of international standard defini- fication. work for solid minerals and oil and gas. It tions for the reporting of mineral resources CRIRSCO’s scope includes all solid min- is an important tool for global and gov- and mineral reserves. erals (metals, gemstones, bulk commodi- ernmental communication. It should be In 1997, the five initial participants ties, aggregates, industrial minerals, energy emphasised that it is not a public reporting reached agreement (the Denver Accord) for minerals such as coal and uranium) and its standard; there are no underlying principles the definitions of the two major categories, overall aim is promoting international best as there are in a reporting standard, and it Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, practice in the public reporting of mineral has no recognition by market regulators. It and their respective sub-categories of exploration results, mineral resources and is a classification and carries no concept of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Mineral mineral reserves by achieving international any certification of Competency. In other Resources, and Proved and Probable Min- consensus on reporting standards, and by words, it does not define a Competent eral Reserves. This classification is shown encouraging consistent and high quality Person who takes personal responsibility

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 51 Table 1: National Minerals Reporting Standards and their Sponsor Organisations. UNFC is three dimensional (Figure 2) with The following countries are currently represented on CRIRSCO. Member organisations include axes for geological knowledge, project fea- all bodies that have a direct influence on the form and content of national reporting standards sibility, and socio-economic viability. In although they may be more or less active in the affairs of the national committee. other words, the ‘modifying factors’ axis of CRIRSCO has been separated into two South Africa axes representing technical feasibility and non-technical factors. National Committee South African Mineral Resource Committee (SAMREC) Where the categories in the two classi- Member organisations South African Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (SAIMM) fications correspond, CRIRSCO resource South African Council for Natural Scientific Professions (SACNASP) categories are mapped to corresponding Geological Society of South Africa (GSSA) UNFC categories (i.e., there is common Geostatistical Association of South Africa (GASA) South African Council for Professional Land Surveyors and Techni- terminology). The CRIRSCO Template is cal Surveyors (PLATO) the set of commodity-specific definitions Association of Law Societies of South Africa in UNFC for all solid minerals for these General Council of the BAR of South Africa categories. Department of Minerals and Energy On 26 April 2013, the UNECE Expert Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) Group on Resource Classification (EGRC) Council for Geoscience reached consensus on: South African Council of Banks Chamber of Mines of South Africa (CoM) • specifications for UNFC 2009. CRIRSCO and SPE (and its PRMS Australia partners) were thanked for their National Committee Joint Ore Reserves Committee ongoing support and cooperation Member organisations Australasian Institute of Mining & Metallurgy (AusIMM) in providing the solid minerals- and Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG) petroleum-specific specifications, Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) respectively, for UNFC-2009; Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) • A Technical Advisory Group to be Europe established (to develop governance guidelines and provide detailed tech- National Committee Pan-European Reserves Committee (PERC) nical advice); Member organisations European Federation of Geologists (EFG) • UNFC-2009 to be applied also to The Geological Society of London (GSL) nuclear fuel and renewable energy Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3) resources. Institute of Geologists of Ireland (IGI) Consensus was reached under a global Canada mandate with broad representation from National Committee Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM) both UNECE and non-UNECE member states. Member organisations CIM Chile The Competent Person National Committee National Committee for the Certification of Competency in Min- eral Resources and Reserves What makes a CRIRSCO-aligned report- Member organisations Mining Council (Consejo Minero) ing standard much more than simply a clas- SONAMI (small + medium sized mining companies) sification is the requirement that any report Institute of Mining Engineers of Chile be prepared and signed by a Competent Association of Geologists Person. By signing the report, the Compe- Association of Engineers tent Person takes personal responsibility for Russia its contents (whether they are employed to National Committee NAEN produce the report as an individual or as an employee of a company). This is what allows Member organisations NAEN / OERN Association of Experts of Russia on Mineral the use of a simple classification rather than Resources a highly complex prescriptive system which United States of America would need to take account of all possible National Committee Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) deposit types and geological settings – the Member organisations Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (SME) Competent Person is expected to use their professional skill, judgement and experi- ence rather than following a prescriptive for estimates, nor does it provide mandatory pliant report. The UNFC provides a neutral set of rules. requirements or guidance as to the way in framework for mapping from/to complete It is the Competent Person’s qualifications which reports are to be written. Another reporting systems (such as CRIRSCO and and, even more, their relevant experience, difference from CRIRSCO is that the UNFC PRMS). which give the user of a report the assur- includes the categories “Undiscovered” and The CRIRSCO classification is two ance of its veracity and reliability. CRIRSCO “Uneconomic” material, which cannot and dimensional, with axes for geological standards provide a simple definition of must not be included in a CRIRSCO-com- knowledge and for modifying factors; who can be accepted as a Competent Person

52 Topical - Industrial Minerals

Figure 2: The United Nations Framework Classification.

– this is the definition from the PERC Membership of the recognised profes- such as tin, uranium etc. will probably be Standard 2013: sional body – a list of which is included in relevant whereas experience in (say) massive an Appendix to the Standard – will carry base metal deposits may not be. As a second A Competent Person is a minerals with it the requirement to have tertiary- example, to qualify as a Competent Person in industry professional, defined as a cor- level qualifications such as a university the estimation of Mineral Reserves for allu- porate member, registrant or licensee of degree, as well as some years of experience vial gold deposits, considerable (probably a recognised professional body (including in the minerals industry. at least five years) experience in the evalu- mutually recognised international profes- ation and economic extraction of this type sional organisations) with enforceable The associated guidelines in the Standard of mineralisation would be needed. This is disciplinary processes including the add some further explanation: due to the characteristics of gold in alluvial powers to suspend or expel a member. systems, the particle sizing of the host sedi- A Competent Person must have a min- It is expected that the Competent Person ment, and the low grades involved. Experi- imum of five years relevant experience will usually be a geoscientist for reporting ence with placer deposits containing minerals in the style of mineralisation or type of Exploration Results or Mineral Resources, other than gold may not necessarily provide deposit under consideration and in the but for reporting Reserves may be qualified appropriate relevant experience. Similarly, activity which that person is undertaking. in other fields such as mining engineering or sulphidic nickel deposits form a type of their Acceptable professional bodies and classes mineral processing. own with nickel being distributed between of membership under the Standard, which The Competent Person may of course have silicate and sulphide minerals, only the latter meet these requirements, within Europe relevant qualifications or experience in more being economically extractable. Experience or elsewhere (an ‘RPO’) are listed in than one field or type of work. with other types of sulphide deposits may not Appendix 5 or in updated lists which may The key qualifier in the definition of a have given sufficient background in evaluat- be published from time to time. Competent Person is the word `relevant’. ing nickel deposits. Determination of what constitutes rel- This definition of ‘Competent Person’ evant experience can be a difficult area The definitions (in bold type) are identi- is subject to any additional restrictions or and common sense has to be exercised. For cal in all CRIRSCO standards, and although conditions which may be required by the example, in estimating Mineral Resources the text of guidelines (in italics) can vary, appropriate stock exchange or regulatory for vein gold mineralisation, experience in all carry the same message. A CRIRSCO authority. a high-nugget, vein-type mineralisation reporting standard requires a suitably expe-

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 53 rienced person to take personal professional should the user adopt? ries, etc. It also provides a mechanism for responsibility for the content of any report. If preparing a report for a company listed companies to use a standardised internal Central to the accreditation process is the on a stock exchange, the choice is made by classification beyond the publicly reported concept of peer review and the role of the the stock exchange regulator: usually one of CRIRSCO categories if they wish to do so, professional organisation. The European the CRIRSCO-aligned standards is manda- although if they are quoted companies they Federation of Geologists is accepted by all tory. In the European Union, for example, are normally forbidden by stock exchange of the CRIRSCO standards as a recognised the choice is among a specified list of all the regulators to publish such internal classi- professional organisation, and the European recognised CRIRSCO-aligned standards. fications. Geologist qualification establishes a person In other situations, there is not a ques- CRIRSCO standards require all pub- as potentially a Competent Person. To be tion of “competition” or “choice” between licly declared resources to have reasonable able to act as a Competent Person in the the CRIRSCO reporting standards and the prospects for eventual economic extraction. context of a particular mineral deposit, of UN Framework Classification. Effectively Reports must not include any inventory of course they must also satisfy the second UNFC provides a big umbrella within which all mineralisation regardless of econom- criterion, that of relevant experience. This consistent and comparable public report- ics, or of any supposed mineralisation that is normally done by personal affirmation ing can be carried out at a range of scales is not supported by adequate geological within the report, always subject to chal- and for a range of purposes, and national evidence. lenge, and therefore the Competent Person mineral inventories can be developed and Short and medium term planning should must be able to substantiate this experience maintained. Its complexity can, however, be use resources and reserves reported under by reference to previous projects. Breach of challenging. If users find it easier to follow CRIRSCO standards as a solid and reliable these conditions will always be a breach of the CRIRSCO classification, they can do so basis for financial modelling. Longer term the Code of Ethics or Code of Conduct of in full confidence that this is also compliant planning can simply migrate to UNFC, the Competent Person’s professional organi- with UNFC with the ‘added value’ of the with the inclusion of prospective estimates sation. Such breaches can and do lead to Competent Person concept. of mineral potential, but these cannot be disciplinary action by professional organi- Decisions on disclosure and quality reported publicly. sations against any of their members who assurance are independent from decisions represent themselves as Competent Persons on classification. References when, in fact, their experience, qualifica- • CRIRSCO addresses both disclosure/ tions or the quality of their work falls short QA and classification. The following web sites carry further of the standards required. • UNFC-2009 requires preparers and information: users to agree on disclosure/QA Conclusions issues. PERC – http://www.percstandard.eu UNFC provides a method for govern- EFG - http://www.eurogeologists.eu A question that commonly arises is ments and NGOs to incorporate published CRIRSCO – http://www.crirsco.com whether CRIRSCO or UNFC is better, and industry data (using the CRIRSCO classi- UNFC-2009 - http://www.unece.org/ if CRIRSCO is to be used, which Standard fication) into databases, mineral invento- energy/se/reserves.html

54 Topical - Industrial Minerals

European Minerals Day – an industry-led success story

Amina Langedijk*

nication efforts. On the other hand, join- enthuse them about a career in the minerals ing forces with other mineral raw mate- sector. The companies offer a wide variety rial sectors and stakeholders was strongly of entertaining and educational activities, acknowledged as the way forward; the such as guided visits, plant tours, open days, public does not make a distinction between workshops, biodiversity (school) projects, the type of quarries in their perception of mining activities. Enhancing the image of the mining operations overall had to be the objective. The first EMD welcomed more than 30.000 visitors at 106 plants in 17 European countries, mostly neighbouring communi- aunched in 2007, the European ties eager to find out more about the world Minerals Day was celebrated for the of minerals. During plant and quarry visits, fourth time in May this year. This the visitors learned how geology determines Lpan-European awareness raising event, where the minerals are and how they can Figure 1: Visitors discover a rich biodiversity in the led by the mineral raw materials sectors, be mined most sustainably. Biodiversity rehabilitated Valleche site, a former limestone has proven to be a welcome communica- was one of the key themes from the start, quarry in Moha (Belgium) (Picture: courtesy of tion platform for both decision-makers and as quarry operations provide for unique Carmeuse). a wide range of stakeholders to highlight habitats for many rare and endangered the essential role of mineral raw materials plant and animal species. Many Natura 2000 for a sustainable and competitive Europe. areas or nature reserves are actually former The European Minerals Day is truly quarries. The EMD therefore presents an unique in that it mobilises key stakehold- excellent occasion for the sector to show ers at all levels – EU, national and local how mining activities can be compatible – whereby it aims at contributing to more with biodiversity and how the sector con- informed decisions and a greater public tributes to the preservation of nature (see understanding and acceptance of mining www.mineralsday.eu for case studies or the operations. Through the Open Days, com- short film “The minerals sector - Together panies reach out to their local communi- for a sustainable future”). Figure 2: A school class takes part in EMD 2009. From the beginning, young people ties, showing good practices and raising (Picture: Courtesy IMI Fabi, Italy). awareness of the importance of mineral have been in the spotlight, with the aim to raw materials in our everyday lives, thereby aiming at facilitating stakeholder dialogue. The result is an enthusiastic and pleasantly surprised crowd. So the journey continues!

A historic overview – how it all begun

This biannual pan-European Open Day was initiated by IMA-Europe in 2006. On the one hand, it was a logical next step fol- lowing its Awareness campaign “Essential, Smart and Beneficial Minerals – Your World is made of them.” Industrial minerals, not being very well known by the public as they are not recognisable as such in the end-use applications, require additional commu- * IMA-Europe Senior Advisor Communica- tion & Coordinator European Minerals Day, [email protected] Figure 3: EMD 2013 at Carmeuse, Bosnia.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 55 Figure 4: 3D model of the Bird Island project (VCS, Beroun). exhibitions, geology tours & events, fossil Day and prepared a written opening address lowing new EMD partners: CEMBUREAU hunting, jeep safaris, and many more. The for the Open Day at Kreidewerk Rügen. (cement) and UEPG (aggregates) as well as activities are designed to show how essential This industry-led initiative was imme- EuroGeoSurveys. minerals are in our daily lives and how they diately picked up by the European Com- In 2011, the European Launch Event are sustainably mined and processed. mission, who welcomed it warmheart- took place in Bulgaria, kindly hosted by Within the local communities, schools edly and cited it in its Communication Kaolin. Even though he could not attend have occupied a central place; school “The Raw Materials Initiative - meeting in person, European Environment Com- children as well as our critical needs missioner Janez Potocnik prepared a video students have been « The European Minerals Day is an for growth and message on biodiversity which was broad- participating very excellent way to inform, educate and jobs in Europe” casted during the Opening Ceremony at the enthusiastically enthuse European citizens about the impor- (COM(2008) 699 quarry site in front of more than 150 key from the start and tance of the minerals sector in providing final). Since then, Bulgarian stakeholders, who were proud to have become one raw materials that are essential for so many the EMD has been host the EMD Launch event. of the key target everyday products. The sector is vital for able to count on audiences. This Europe’s competitiveness and its success is the active support The European Minerals Day 2013 – A new also allows small built on sound principles of sustainability of the European dimension and medium sized and innovation. » (former EC Vice-President Commission. This enterprises (SMEs) Günther Verheugen, Prague, 14 May 2009) led in 2009 to the European Minerals Day 2013 was cel- with limited means organization of ebrated on 24-26 May 2013 at 113 sites in to take an active part in the EMD. The type the first European Launch Event, attended 24 countries, welcoming around 30,000 of event is left for the companies to decide by European Commission Vice-President children and adults at more than 170 events. – whether it is an Open Day with hundreds Günter Verheugen. The event took place At the EU level, the timing of the Euro- of people, or a school event welcoming one under the Czech EU Presidency in Prague pean Minerals Day 2013 coincided perfectly or more school classes. The result is a large and included a most interesting site visit with the launch of the European Innovation variety of creative events. to the limestone operations of Vapenka Partnership Initiative and a stepped-up EU The European Associations partnering up Certovy Schody (Lhoist Group). This was Debate on raw materials. In February, the in the EMD define the key themes and mes- a very interesting visit from a geological European Commission announced to all sages and ensure that the same messages are point of view due to its unique location in stakeholders that the European Minerals broadcast all over Europe by means of press the middle of the Czech Karst. The quarry Day would be the principal communication releases, a PR Workshop bringing together is situated just adjacent to the famous channel on the European Innovation Part- the local & corporate organisers, etc. The Koneprusy caves in Beroun and a Natura EMD branding and supply of templates in 2000 area. The visitors learned about the addition contribute to a unique brand iden- carefully managed explosion practices, and tity, while all events are announced (and were shown, with the help of a 3D model, later reported on) on a dedicated website the long-term restoration plan for creating – www.mineralsday.eu. a bird island. It was already possible to wit- The first EMD was a great success in ness the design taking shape, although the terms of company participation and part- operations will still continue for another 20 nership with other sectors: Euromines, years. The aim was to raise awareness that EuLA (now a member of IMA-Europe), before a mining permit is issued in Europe, EMCEF (now IndustriAll), EFG, media the restoration plan already needs to be in Figure 5: MEP Panayotov, Mrs Benini, Member of partner EurActiv.com, and the national place. The day ended with a highly inter- Cabinet Tajani and Mr Reuss, IMA-Europe Presi- federations. In Germany, even Chancellor esting visit to the Koneprusy caves and the dent, at the opening of the EMD Exhibition in the Angela Merkel in person lend her support Geopark and Museum of the Czech Karst European Parliament, 7 May 2013. to the launch of the first European Minerals in Beroun. EMD 2009 welcomed the fol-

56 Topical - Industrial Minerals

EU level organised several events in the the European Innovation Partnership on European Parliament for the EU stake- Raw Materials as well as the vital role of holders in Brussels in the run up to the raw materials for Europe, acknowledging pan-European open days. The European the mineral raw materials sector as being Commission and five Members of Euro- one of the key drivers of European competi- pean Parliament – Paul Rübig, Prof. Vladko tiveness: “Raw materials are the lifeblood of Panayotov, Jo Leinen, Roger Helmer and EU industry, with at least 30 million jobs Konrad Szymanski – lend their active sup- in the EU and 70% of EU manufacturing port to the initative. production depending upon them.” One of the key EU events consisted of a The Vice-President participated with Figure 6: EC Vice-President Antonio Tajani at the unique and tailor-made EMD exhibition, much interest in the visit to the modern launch of the EMD 2013 in Vipiteno, Italy. entitled “The European minerals sector – an underground mining operations and pro- essential, innovative industry, throughout cessing plant operated by Omya (a member nership on Raw Materials (EIP RM). The the value chain”. It told the story of sus- of IMA-Europe). It represented an excellent EIP RM, which brings together Member tainable mineral extraction, leading the showcase linked to the EIP RM, illustrating States and other stakeholders, aims to make visitor through the exploration, extraction, modern, sustainable and resource-efficient Europe a world leader in sustainable and processing, end-use, and recycling stages, mining operations. It was however pointed resource-efficient exploration, extraction, thereby incorporating all sectors and stake- out that going underground was not possi- processing, product use, reuse and recycling holders partnering up under EMD 2013: ble for all mining operations, as the extrac- of raw materials by 2020 and beyond. mining, industrial minerals, salt, cement, tion methods are greatly determined by The current European Minerals Day part- metals, geological surveys, FP7 research geology, type of ore, available technology ners strongly welcomed this decision by projects and European technical platforms and economic factors. the European Commission and, in view of on sustainable mineral resources (see Image In conclusion, through the partner- creating further synergies, decided to open library). The exhibition was extremely ships and synergies created at EU, local the scope of the European Minerals Day to well received. More than 150 stakehold- and national level, the European mineral all raw materials stakeholders, including ers attended « From the perspective of lead coor- raw materials sector downstream industries. The EMD 2013 the Opening dinator, this joint collaboration and part- has been able to raise Partners are: IMA-Europe, CEMBUREAU, Ceremony and nership around the EMD is always very its visibility as a key EuroGeoSurveys, EuroMetaux, Euromines, the EP exhibi- inspirational. We embark together on a contributor to inno- EuSalt, and the European Technology Plat- tion reached shared vision, with an idea of what we wish vation, resource effi- form for Sustainable Mineral Resources more than 2,000 to accomplish together, and then deliver ciency and biodiver- (ETP SMR). The EMD 2013 Supporters: people. In addi- something of value that surpasses what sity, all of which are IndustriAll and EFG – both of which have tion, several one person could achieve on his/her own; elements essential for supported the EMD since 2007 –, ELO parallel events that is what makes this event truly unique. » meeting the EU Hori- (landowners), EBCD (European Bureau on raw materi- zon 2020 agenda on for Conservation and Development), IUCN als were directly sustainable growth. (International Union for Conservation and linked to the EMD exhibition & EIP RM IMA-Europe hereby wishes to thank its Nature), Cerame-Unie and UEPG. themes, among which a high level dinner members, partners and supporters – among In line with the EIP RM objectives, on the EIP on RM hosted by Paul Rübig them the EFG – for their strong and con- the European partners decided to focus MEP on 13 May and an EP lunch debate by tinuous support to the European Minerals in particular on innovation and resource the EP Business & Raw Materials Working Day since its launch in 2007. This continuity efficiency – in addition to the recurring Group on 15 May. and synergy are the real success factors of theme of biodiversity – and illustrate the On 24 May, European Commission Vice- this pan-European awareness raising initia- role of mineral raw materials in products President Antonio Tajani officially launched tive. Together with our partners, we look and processes throughout the whole value the 4th European Minerals Day in Vipiteno, forward to the next event in 2015! chain. Whilst companies demonstrated the Italy. In the presence of Italian and inter- integration of these key concepts in their national stakeholders and the media, Vice- The Minerals Sector – Together for a mining operations, the EMD Partners at President Tajani addressed the objectives of sustainable future. www.mineralsday.eu

Figure 7: VP Tajani visits the underground mining operations in Vipiteno (24 May 2013).

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 57 Exploratory research in mining: defining FET* research topics supporting the ICT challenges of mineral extraction under extreme geo-environmental conditions

Ben Laenen, Balazs Bodo*, Günter Tiess and David Lagrou

* FET: the Future and Emerging Technologies Programme of the European Commission

ing-ICT, opening up new, multidisciplinary and develop dramatically new concepts for areas for longer-term research. The project bio-inspired underground mining systems objective was achieved with the help of a (including drilling, navigation, feeding, foresight exercise that included surveys communication, actuation and collective and a series of complementary workshops. behavior) drawing inspiration from under- EXTRACT-IT eventually defined nine Call ground biology. resent day mining- Topics corresponding to three Thematic ICT (information Areas. An additional two “cross-cutting” Thematic Area II – “Resilient Artificial and communi- Call Topics have also been defined with Ecosystems” (3 Calls) Pcation technologies) the objective of keeping this initiative alive research is industry- through future Coordination Action type Latest developments in artificial col- driven, focusing on the development projects. lective systems point towards increasing of tools that increase the autonomy of the total heterogeneity, using functionally extraction and ore processing (such as Thematic Area I – “Evolution Under- and structurally different robots, involving driverless haul trucks, automated loading ground” (3 Calls) bio-/chemo-hybrid elements by combin- systems, remote control systems for ore ing chemistry, biology and mechatronics. processing), facilitate rapid data evalua- Underground and burrowing animals Such diverse artificial systems will create tion in remote control rooms, and allow a demonstrate overwhelming superiority artificial ecologies, where different types better understanding of ore bodies. These when compared to present-day under- of artifacts and computational networks research efforts will push the technological ground mining equipment. They have will collaborate, evolve and impact each and economic feasibility of mineral extrac- evolved to feed, reproduce, form colonies other in achieving their goals, e.g. mining, tion to greater depths, but they still lack the and to manipulate the underground envi- exploration and maintenance. Future robot- “paradigm change” that will be required ronment according to their needs. Their ics underground will require the develop- if the truly extreme geo-environmental relative strength may exceed a hundred ment of new paradigms for lifetime learning conditions are to be mastered by technol- times the performance of the most pow- and physical adaptation to changeable and ogy. Achieving such paradigm change will erful mining machinery, whilst they are unexpected working conditions: they must require the development of novel high-risk, energy efficient, self-organizing and able be able to respond to individual failures exploratory research areas in mining. to navigate perfectly in subsoil environ- and remain operational in environments EXTRACT-IT (Project Number: 318149) ments. The objective of this Call is to where human supervision is impossible. was supported by the FP7 FET ICT Pro- map the underground animal kingdom These units must be capable of operating 1 gramme , which is the European Commis- (arthropods, worms, but also vertebrates) under sub-optimal conditions (while par- sion’s “pathfinder for new ideas and themes for long-term research in the area of infor- mation and communication technologies”. The overall objective of the project was to define, develop and describe several Call Topics that could support exploratory min-

1 http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/pro- gramme/fet_en.html

* Centro Futuro, La Palma Research Centre for Future Studies, El Frontón 37, E-38787 Garafia, La Palma, Islas Canarias, Spain, [email protected]

58 Topical - Industrial Minerals

tially damaged) and capable of learning how zation, self-healing and easy deployment in The 11 Call Topics that were defined to keep operating without using the dam- a harsh environment. Research is required for the above Themes could support the aged systems. A further aim is to investigate at the basic-science level for the develop- development of completely new research and demonstrate how heavy-duty mining ment of radically new ways of commu- avenues for mining-ICT, starting from the machinery can be designed to be “machine- nication technologies that exploit radio, level of basic/exploratory sciences that repairable” from the very beginning and seismic/vibrational, acoustic signals and could mature into technological solutions how to develop the corresponding systems high energy particles for communication, via applied research and demonstration by to perform these repairs automatically. directly through heterogeneous non-uni- 2050. For more detailed information and form materials and rock substrates. The project reports kindly refer to the project Thematic Area III – “Broadband through network concepts should also make effi- website at www.extract-it.eu. the Rock” (3 Calls) cient use of the mine characteristics: com- pletely new modes of radio propagation, The EXTRACT-IT Partnership: Next generation communication solu- waveguide propagation through tunnels, • VITO, Flemish Institute for Techno- tions will need to be developed for the exploitation of the metallic infrastructure logical Research, Belgium “sense, communicate and control” smart (such as wiring and pipes) and the ore body • Centro Futuro, La Palma Research mining paradigm. The challenges are: pro- itself. Research should address the use of vide full coverage, connectivity of sensors multiple parallel solutions for achieving Centre for Future Studies, Spain with different bandwidth requirements, high aggregate transmission rates for in- • MinPol, Agency for International resilience, re-configurability, self-organi- mine broadband. Minerals Policy, Austria

Book review: Minerales en la vida cotidiana Isabel Manuela Fernández Fuentes*

Minerales en la vida cotidiana (Minerals in The readers thereby assimilate and daily life) understand the value of minerals in all by Manuel Regueiro products that surround us, and therefore, the impact of mineral resources on the present and future of industry and the Published by: Instituto Geológico y Minero de economy. Technical information is mixed España and Catarata, 2013 and Catarata 2013 with more enjoyable information such as (www.catarata.2013), Colección Planeta Tierra the arcanes myteries of porcelain or the Year of publication: 2013 high impact of some minerals (rare earth) ISBN: (IGME) 978-84-7840-895-5 on today’s telecommunications industry. (Catarata) 978-84-8319-795-0 How to order: http://libros.igme.es/product_info. The book focuses on minerals, their php?cPath=30&products_id=85 or use, where we can find them and existing http://www.catarata.org/libro/mostrar/id/827 resources. However, each chapter enters many subtopics that keep the reader’s atten- Price: 14€ tion. Thus, for example the reader performs his book is an excellent example of a walk through the history of glass, ceram- dissemination of Earth Sciences at ics, or paper, their mineral content and the Society’s service. The book is their applications in our environment. The Tpart of the series ‘Planet Earth’, published importance of minerals in food and their jointly with the Geological Survey of Spain influence on health is also presented in an (IGME) and addressed to non-specialist entertaining way, evoking the presence of readers interested in learning about Geo- minerals in traditional poisons or illnesses sciences. related to their use. Manuel Regueiro graduated in Geologi- cal Sciences from the Universidad Com- The book analyses thoroughly and in an Finding a balance between supplying the plutense de Madrid (UCM), and has worked informative way the use of minerals in daily raw materials industry, remaining competi- for many years as a specialist in industrial life. The author presents the classification tive, and doing so in a sustainable manner rocks and minerals, Area Industrial Rocks of mineral resources, historical uses, and and with respect for the environment is a and Minerals, Geological Survey of Spain the impact of minerals today. Concepts like challenge for the future. This book provides (IGME). Today he is Head of the External “critical minerals” and “strategic minerals” an introduction to the world of minerals Relations and Transfer of IGME, and Asso- are analysed in a reader-friendly way and that can be useful for the dialogue with ciate Professor, Department of Crystallog- depict the impact they can have on our society and policy makers. raphy and Mineralogy of UCM. economy and in policy making.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 59 News corner: Compiled by Isabel Fernández Fuentes and Anita Stein*

Hydrogeology Workshop official acknowledgement of this role by the An in-depth and first-hand knowledge - European water policy: European Commission. of this new European policy is essential for challenges for Hydrogeologists The publication of the EU Commission’s firms and professionals in Hydrogeology. Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Hydrogeologists must be involved in this Date: 22-23 November 2013 Resources policy document introduces a process, offering their irreplaceable knowl- Venue: Royal Belgian Institute of Natural new strategy to reinforce water manage- edge and ability in several topics of great Sciences, Rue Vautier 29, B-1000 Brussels ment within the EU. The “Blueprint” out- importance, such as the identification of Organiser: EFG Panel of Experts on Hydro- lines actions that concentrate on better groundwater flow to wetlands, the reduc- geology implementation of current water legisla- tion of over-abstraction, the calculation of Supporting organisations: International tion, integration of water policy objectives water accounts in river basins, the effect of Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), into other policies, and filling the gaps in climate changes, and others. The hydro- The European Water Platform (WssTP), particular as regards water quantity and geological community, adopting a modern EuroGeoSurveys and the Belgian Geologi- efficiency. The objective is to ensure that a multidisciplinary approach, has the capacity cal Survey sufficient quantity of good quality water is to investigate and develop innovative solu- available for people’s needs, the economy tions to these issues and challenges. This workshop highlighted those areas and the environment throughout the EU. where hydrogeologists are playing an As with surface waters, groundwater has to The conference was divided into 4 sec- important role in the implementation of be evaluated, monitored and protected to tions: Land use and ecological status; the Water Framework Directive and the meet human needs and also environmental Chemical status and pollution; Water effi- new business opportunities now opening requirements. Hydrogeology has a crucial ciency; Vulnerability. The workshop fin- to firms in hydrogeology with the publica- role in this process, because groundwater is ished with a Final Declaration prepared by tion of the Blueprint. The Workshop also the “hidden” component of the water cycle, the EFG Panel of Experts on Hydrogeology. provided a unique opportunity to obtain an and is not easy to analyse.

EFG survey on users’ needs on common European geological knowledge pleted the survey. The survey revealed that geological data base. 96% of the respondents have already looked The EGDI-Scope project will deliver for geological data on the web and 85% of In summer 2013 EFG contributed to the an implementation plan to build a pan- them do so at least once per month. Geolo- European Geological Data Infrastructure European Geological Data Infrastructure. gists mainly consult data such as articles Scope project (EGDIScope; http://www. This infrastructure will enable European and maps (in pdf or excel format) while egdi-scope.eu/) through the establishment geological surveys to serve and maintain preparing reports. Furthermore, the survey of a questionnaire addressed to all Euro- INSPIRE-compliant, interoperable geo- also reveals that the use of geoportals is not pean Geologist title holders. The aim of this logical data and information. The project very common for the research of geologi- questionnaire was to better understand the is coordinated by the Geological Survey of cal data, with the exception of onegeology needs of geologists who look for geologi- the Netherlands. (fewer than 10% of the participants use it cal data. Following a first survey issued by EGDI frequently). Geologists mostly consult data The importance of the availability of digi- in spring 2013, EFG launched a new survey on the websites of Geological Surveys or tal geological data has been recognised at in July and August 2013 with the aim of through Google. the European level. This data can help to validating the results of the previous one. The results of the survey show that the address challenges such as the mitigation However, the new survey was addressed to simplicity of the search engine and the pos- of natural hazards, the supply of water, sus- a specific target group, European Geologist sibility of downloading files are success fac- tainable energy and (rare) mineral resources title holders. This group includes experi- tors that explains the use of Google and the or the safe storage of substances such as enced geologists working in several coun- demand for pdf or excel formats. Consider- radioactive waste or other contaminants. tries both in and outside Europe, mostly ing that people look for data at the websites The EGDI-Scope project therefore specialised in the engineering and mining of national geological surveys, it can be responds to a call issued by the Euro- sectors. From the total number of nearly expected that a user-friendly pan-European pean Institutions for the development of a 800 active European Geologists, 105 com- Portal will be a sucessful initiative.

* EFG Office, [email protected]

60 News

PERC vital to the integrity of the data. PERC is for a group of Russians visiting IOM3 in also represented in the Extract-IT project London. Such masterclasses can be made and in the European Innovation Partnership available more generally, but are no substi- on Raw Materials. tute for the full training courses that are to This has been a very active period for We sadly report the death of Dan Germi- be developed. the Pan-European Reserves & Resources quet in the Paris train crash in July. He was New participants in PERC will be the Reporting Committee, PERC, including a long-standing and active member of the Council of Mining Engineers Associations participation in several EU projects. Par- committee, and was to have taken respon- of Spain, to be recognised as an organisa- ticularly notable is that presentations on sibility for developing PERC’s training pro- tion which can award appropriate profes- PERC, CRIRSCO, and UNFC were given by gramme. His place as EFG representative on sional qualifications (EurIng) through its Eddie Bailey and Steve Henley at the inau- PERC is to be taken by Pim Demecheleer of membership of FEANI. They will then gural meeting of the Minventory project, Sibelco. Newly co-opted member Ed Sides join the Spanish geologists who are already whose purpose is to develop a database of of the consultancy firm AMEC will lead recognised through their participation in European solid mineral resources, where our training activities. In July, Steve Henley EFG (EurGeol members of EFG’s Spanish the use of PERC and related standards is led a ‘masterclass’ on minerals reporting member association, ICOG).

New website of the IUGS Task its objectives and activities. This new site is on matters of professionalism in geoscience Group on Global Geoscience now available online at http://tg-ggp.org/. on a local, national, and international level, Professionalism The new website will provide informa- by facilitating: tion on professionalism in geoscience, and • Rapid conversion of research findings The Task Group on the activities of the TGGGP, to the global to applied geoscience technologies Global Geoscience Pro- geoscience community including: and methodologies; fessionalsism (TGGGP) • Applied geoscience professionals • Greater relevancy in applied geosci- was formed in 2012 • Learned geoscience societies ence at the university level; with the purpose of • Geoscience researchers • Increased education in professional ensuring that geosci- • Geoscience educators skills at the university level; entists, active in all areas of geoscience, are • Early-stage geoscience graduates • Research project design and fund fully engaged in the transformation of their • Geoscience students and those con- allocation through greater apprecia- profession – a profession that is increasingly sidering geoscience studies tion of societal needs; relied upon by the public to provide expert • Governments • Clear pathways and assessment crite- opinions and service, and to safeguard the • NGOs ria for geoscience graduates seeking public interest. The European Federation of • Academic institutions, and to attain professional qualifications; Geologists is one of the sponsoring organi- • Members of the public interested in and zations of this Task Group and backs its Earth Science. • A greater understanding of geosci- activities through administrative support. The information on this site will benefit ence professionalism by employers, One of the first actions of the Task Group society and the global geoscience commu- governments, NGOs, academic insti- was to establish a website communicating nity by acting as a forum for collaboration tutions, and the general public.

GEOTRAINET events who can both design install and commis- at those who had received training during sion efficient systems. the preceding GEOTRAINET project, in With the launch of the new organisation, order to update their knowledge and skills. two events were organised in November It could also serve as an introduction to 2013 with the aim of improving the knowl- those new to GEOTRAINET who are inter- GEOTRAINET is now established as an edge of planning for and national devel- ested in pursuing further training activities association which will: opments in shallow geothermal in Europe in their home country. • deliver training and certification pro- and helping to keep stakeholders informed Audience: grammes recognised all over Europe about the future of Shallow Geothermal • GEOTRAINET National Coordina- in the field of shallow geothermal Training in Europe. tors, energy, Planning and good practice, 14 Novem- • GEOTRAINET Trainers or those • provide benchmark standards for ber 2013: During this event the benefits of interested in becoming one, consistent voluntary further educa- shallow geothermal energy in the light of • Local and Regional planners in tion in participating countries. the European sustainable energy frame- charge of the certification of geo- The training programme is aimed at work were reviewed and practice examples thermal installers (implementation GSHP installers and designers and will discussed. of the RES Directive). provide the market with trained experts in Update Training for trainers, 15 the field of shallow geothermal technology November 2013: This course was aimed More information: www.geotrainet.eu.

European Geologist 36 | November 2013 61 EAGE/EFG Photo Contest 2013

In 2013, the European Association of Geosci- entists and Engineers (EAGE) and the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) are for the first time jointly organising a photo contest. The theme of this year’s contest is ‘Geoscien- tists at work’. All EAGE and EFG members were invited to submit photos that portray some aspects of the theme by, for example, depicting geological features of the earth relevant to geoscientific work, geoscientific activities (such as field geophysics, mapping 1st prize: Bart Zwemmer, EAGE, View from the Rotary Table. or modelling) or the geoscientist’s roles in particular sectors (such as oil and gas, natu- ral hazards, water resources, construction or mining and minerals). After an impres- sive amount of entries, the selection of a professional jury and the voting of EAGE and EFG members, the 12 best photos were announced in May 2013. These 12 photo- graphs were exhibited during the 76th EAGE Conference & Exhibition in London (10-13 June) and are currently displayed at the Bel- gian Museum of Natural Sciences in the context of the EFG Hydrogeology Work- shop (22-23 November 2013, Brussels) and Council Meeting (23-24 November 2013, Brussels). The winning photographers will furthermore receive an EAGE/EFG calen- dar for 2014 that includes their own photos. From June to August 2013 EAGE and 2nd prize: Daniele Andronico, Consiglio Nazionale dei Geologi/EFG, Volcanic eruption observsation. EFG members had the chance to cast their votes for their favourite pictures both during the exhibitions and online. The con- tributors of the most popular photographs receive the following prizes: • First prize: an iPad • Second prize: ‘Untouched Nature’ (book) + EAGE bookshop voucher worth EUR 100,- • Third prize: ‘Untouched Nature’ (book) + EAGE bookshop voucher worth EUR 50,- • Top 12: custom-made 2014 calendar with the photographs included The book ‘Untouched Nature’ is kindly sponsored by eoVision.

More information: www.houseofgeosciences.org. 3rd prize: Michiel van der Meulen, KNGMG/EFG, Realmonte salt mine.

62 Submission of articles to European Geologist magazine

Notes for contributors Spanish can be provided by EFG. parentheses). If the industry standard is not • The abstract should summarize the essential SI, exceptions are permitted. The Editorial Board of the European Geologist information provided by the article in not Illustrations magazine welcomes article proposals in line with more than 120 words. • Figures should be submitted as separate the specific topic agreed on by the EFG Council. • It should be intelligible without reference files in JPEG or TIFF format with at least The call for articles is published twice a year in to the article and should include informa- 300dpi. December and June along with the publication tion on scope and objectives of the work • Authors are invited to suggest optimum of the previous issue. described, methodology, results obtained positions for figures and tables even The European Geologist magazine publishes fea- and conclusions. though lay-out considerations may require ture articles covering all branches of geosciences. Main text some changes. EGM furthermore publishes book reviews, inter- • The main text should be no longer than 2500 views carried out with geoscientists for the sec- words, provided in doc or docx format. Correspondence tion ‘Professional profiles’ and news relevant to • Figures should be referred in the text in italic. the geological profession. The articles are peer • Citation of references in the main text should All correspondence regarding publication should reviewed and also reviewed by a native English be as follows: ‘Vidas and Cooper (2009) cal- be addressed to: speaker. culated…’ or ‘Possible reservoirs include EFG Office All articles for publication in the magazine should depleted oil and gas fields… (Holloway et Rue Jenner 13, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium. be submitted electronically to the EFG Office at al., 2005)’. When reference is made to a work E-mail: [email protected] info.efg@eurogeologists according to the follow- by three or more authors, the first ame fol- ing deadlines: lowed by ‘et al.’ should be used. • Deadlines for submitting article proposals • Please limit the use of footnotes and number Note (title and content in a few sentences) to them in the text via superscripts. Instead of the EFG Office (info.efg@eurogeologists) using footnotes, it is preferable to suggest All information published in the magazine are respectively 15 July and 15 January. The further reading. remains the responsibility of individual contribu- proposals are then evaluated by the Editorial Figure captions tors. The Editorial Board is not liable for any views Board and notification is given shortly to • Figure captions should be sent in a separate or opinions expressed by these authors. successful contributors. doc or docx file. • Deadlines for receipt of full articles are 15 References Subscription March and 15 September. • References should be listed alphabetically at the end of the manuscript and must be Subscription to the Magazine: Formal requirements laid out in the following manner: • Journal articles: Author surname, initial(s). 15 Euro per issue Layout Date of publication. Title of article. Journal • Title followed by the author(s) name(s), place name, Volume number. First page - last page. Contact of work and email address, • Books: Author surname, initial(s). Date of publication. Title. Place of publication. • Abstract in English, French and Spanish, EFG Office • Main text without figures, • Measurements and units • Measurements and units: Geoscientists Rue Jenner 13, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium. • Acknowledgements (optional), E-mail: [email protected] • References. use Système International (SI) units. If the Abstract measurement (for example, if it was taken • Translation of the abstracts to French and in 1850) was not in SI, please convert it (in

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