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

矿业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项巨大的挑战。工业大学合作研究中心(IUCRC)是弗吉尼亚理工大学和科罗拉多州矿业学院、行业合作伙伴和政府机构合作建立的，旨在推动采矿勘探和复垦科学的发展(CASERM)。该中心是跨学科的。它加强和促进了在地球物理、地球化学、矿物学、计算科学和统计学以及采矿作业和工程方面的跨学科发现。向采矿和相关地球科学部门的所有领域转让知识是中心的一项核心任务。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补救。中心的研究活动侧重于显著改进全球矿产勘探和开采矿石及其他自然资源的方式，以创新的科学和技术解决方案取代基于行业经验和经验主义的决策，为决策提供信息，增加勘探成功的机会，并降低金融风险。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与工业相关的研究，而且还邀请业界参与大学的研究活动，重点是促进经济中采矿部门的状况；而不是简单地回应单一公司的需求。该中心还与社区大学教师和学生在矿业领域重要的项目上合作，通过吸引学生攻读两年制学位或证书来进一步推进其劳动力培训目标。矿业勘探与复垦科学促进中心(CASERM)致力于通过与行业建立合作伙伴关系来促进勘探/采矿行业，开展对矿业、学术界和社会有益的竞争前研究和劳动力发展。该中心的目的和长远愿景是：应对严峻的研究挑战，为矿藏三维地下地质模型的开发提供知识创造引擎；整合各种地球科学数据，为决策提供信息，并将地质风险降至最低；对从野外采集的钻芯和其他地质标本的经济潜力进行新的、更快、更准确的评估；促进矿产勘探科学；改善采矿作业和安全。它有五个行业主导的研究项目：(1)矿物勘探和矿物系统模型；(2)地质建模和资源特征；(3)先进技术解决方案；(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范围内进行合作。对于弗吉尼亚理工大学的网站来说，智力基础源于其对人工智能和机器学习的独特关注，并将其应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创新的方法来提高地下采矿的安全性，提高需要爆破的产量，并探索数字孪生兄弟在采矿部门的使用。它与其合作伙伴科罗拉多矿业学院合作，带来了矿物勘探、样品分析以及将新知识整合到已建立的成矿模型中的专业知识，这些模型增加了发现新矿藏和从矿山废弃场中收集基本元素并对其进行补救以使其恢复环境健康的可能性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.