IUCRC Phase II+ Virginia Tech: Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining (CASERM)

采矿对于现代社会向可持续未来的过渡至关重要。满足全球对地球资源的需求是一个巨大的挑战。工业大学合作研究中心（IUCRC），以促进勘探采矿复垦科学（CASERM）是弗吉尼亚理工大学和科罗拉多矿业学院，行业合作伙伴和政府机构之间的合作努力。该中心是跨学科的。它加强和促进在地球物理学，地球化学，矿物学，计算科学和统计学，采矿作业和工程的跨学科发现。向采矿和相关地球科学部门的所有领域传授知识是中心的核心使命。该中心的活动改变了地球科学数据在勘探和采矿业部门的使用方式，从矿产勘探阶段开始，一直持续到矿山关闭和环境修复。中心研究活动的重点是极大地改善全球矿产勘探和矿石及其他自然资源开采的方式，以创新的科学和技术为基础的解决方案取代行业经验和基于经验的决策，为决策提供信息，增加勘探成功的机会，并降低财务风险。该中心的目标包括促进社会经济繁荣和帮助减少采矿对环境的影响。更广泛的影响包括劳动力发展，这是中心活动的一个基本要素。它不仅包括研究生和本科生的培训和参与行业相关的研究，还邀请行业参与大学的研究活动，重点是推进经济的采矿部门的状态;而不仅仅是响应单个公司的需求。该中心还与社区学院的教师和学生谁与大学教师和学生在采矿部门的重要性的项目工作，进一步推进其劳动力培训目标，通过吸引学生对两年制学位或证书的工作。该中心，以促进勘探科学复垦采矿（CASERM）的重点是推进勘探/通过与行业建立合作伙伴关系，开展有利于采矿业、学术界和社会的竞争前研究和劳动力发展，促进采矿业部门的发展。该中心的宗旨和长期愿景是应对严峻的研究挑战，并在开发矿床三维地下地质模型方面提供知识创造引擎;整合各种地球科学数据，为决策提供信息，并最大限度地减少地质风险;设计新的、更快和更准确的评估，评估从实地采集的岩心和其他地质标本的经济潜力;促进矿产勘探科学;改善采矿作业和安全。它有五个行业驱动的研究重点：（1）矿产勘探和矿产系统模型;（2）地质建模和资源表征;（3）先进的技术解决方案;（4）矿山开发和运营;（5）采矿的社会和环境影响。该中心的愿景需要在广泛的学科合作。对于弗吉尼亚理工大学来说，知识基础源于其对人工智能和机器学习的独特关注，适用于矿山勘探和开发需求。它在该中心的作用是开发新的和新颖的方法，以提高地下采矿的安全性，提高需要爆破的产量，并探索在采矿部门使用数字孪生。它与合作伙伴Site，科罗拉多矿业学院的合作，带来了矿产勘探，样品分析，并将新知识整合到已建立的矿石生成模型中，从而增加了发现新矿床的可能性，并从矿山废物堆中收集必要元素，并对其进行补救，使其恢复环境健康。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估来提供支持。

Mining is essential to modern society's transition to a sustainable future. Meeting the global demand for earth resources is a grand challenge. The Industry-University Cooperative Research Center (IUCRC) to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining (CASERM) is a collaborative effort between Virginia Tech and the Colorado School of Mines, industry partners, and government agencies. The Center is interdisciplinary. It strengthens and promotes cross-disciplinary discoveries in geophysics, geochemistry, mineralogy, computational science and statistics, and mining operations and engineering. Knowledge transfer to all areas of the mining and related geoscience sectors is a core Center mission. The Center's activities transform the way geoscience data are used in the exploration and mining industry sector beginning with the mineral exploration stage and continuing through mine closure and environmental remediation. Center research activities focus on dramatically improving the way global mineral exploration and mining of ores and other natural resources are done, replacing industry experience- and empiricism-based decisions with innovative science and technology-based solutions that inform decision making, increase the chances of exploration success, and reduce financial risk. Center goals include promoting socio-economic prosperity and helping reduce the environmental impact of mining. Broader impacts include workforce development, an essential element of Center activities. It includes not only graduate and undergraduate students training and involvement in industry-relevant research but also invites industry participation in university research activities focused on advancing the state of the mining sector of the economy; and not simply responding to the needs of a single company. The Center also engages with community college instructors and students who work with university faculty and students on projects of mining sector importance further advancing its workforce training goals by engaging students working toward two-year degrees or certificates.The Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining (CASERM) is focused on advancing the exploration/mining industry sector through the establishment of a cooperative partnership with industry that conducts pre-competitive research and workforce development of benefit to the mining industry, academia, and society. The purpose and long-term vision of the Center is for addressing serious research challenges and providing an engine of knowledge creation in the development of 3-D subsurface geologic models for mineral deposits; integrating diverse geoscience data to inform decision making and minimize geological risk; devising new, faster, and more accurate assessments of the economic potential of drill core and other geological specimen taken from the field; advancing the science of mineral exploration; and improving mining operations and safety. It has five industry-driven research thrusts: (1) mineral exploration and mineral system models; (2) geological modeling and resource characterization; (3) advanced technology solutions; (4) mine development and operations; and (5) social and environmental impacts of mining. The Center's vision requires collaborations across a broad range of disciplines. For the Virginia Tech Site, the intellectual foundation stems from its unique focus on AI and machine learning that it applies to mine exploration and development needs. Its part in the Center is to develop new and novel means of increasing safety of underground mining, improving yields requiring blasting, and exploring the use of digital twins in the mining sector. Its collaboration with its partner Site, the Colorado School of Mines, brings expertise in mineral exploration, sample analysis, and integration of new knowledge into established models of ore generation that increase the possibility of finding new ore deposits and harvesting essential elements from mine waste dumps and remediating them to bring them back to environmental health.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.