Processes governing semi-metal - PGE linkage in crustal magmatic systems: opportunities for discovery and recovery

英国的低碳未来取决于新的和不断发展的技术，如太阳能和氢燃料电池；这反过来又依赖于以前只开采少量的稀有原材料，如碲（Te）、硒（Se）和铂族元素（PGE），即所谓的“E-tech”元素。但是，目前有相当大的供应短缺的危险，因为目前只能在少数国家经济地开采PGE；铜和硒是其它大宗商品的副产品，而历史上需求不足以及非正式市场对预期需求激增准备不足，加剧了供应风险。我们的研究将通过改进来解决这些电子技术元素的供应安全问题：i)我们对控制这些元素在地壳中集中的方式和位置的过程的理解；ii)我们以最小的环境影响和经济成本恢复它们的能力。为了做到这一点，我们利用了它们在地壳中的行为——PGE是嗜硫的，所以很容易集中在岩浆体中的硫化物熔体中，形成含硫的矿物，而Se和Te也集中在硫化物熔体中，但成为矿物中的硫替代品。因此，它们在自然系统中的行为和发生受到相同过程的强烈控制；事实上，Te和Se在确定PGE行为方面可能与硫一样重要，这导致了矿石实际矿物学的差异。这就影响了如何最好地处理它们，以最大限度地减少能源消耗和对环境的影响。我们建议将来自学术界、采矿业、矿产勘探、加工、太阳能电池板生产和燃料电池设计的研究人员和工业合作伙伴聚集在一起，其驱动原则是更好地理解岩浆中半金属和PGE之间的联系将：a)为确定Te、Se和PGE在地壳系统中的循环和浓度的关键过程提供新的见解；B)更好地量化影响硫（分馏、污染、熔体不混溶和挥发性损失）和相关亲硫元素的地壳通量和过程；c)促进现有和新的矿石加工技术的发展，以提高半金属和PGE组合的回收率，同时减轻提取和加工的环境足迹。

A low carbon future for the UK depends on new and evolving technologies such as solar power and hydrogen fuel cells; these in turn are reliant on rare raw materials previously only mined in small quantities such as tellurium (Te), selenium (Se) and platinum group elements (PGE) - so called "E-tech" elements. However, at present there is considerable risk of supply shortages as the PGE can currently only be mined economically in a few countries; Te and Se are by-products of other commodities and supply risk is compounded by the historical lack of demand and an informal market ill-prepared for the predicted demand surge. Our research will tackle the security of supply of these E-tech elements by improving: i) our understanding of the processes that govern how and where these elements are concentrated in the Earth's crust; and ii) our ability to recover them with minimal environmental impact and economic cost.To do this we are taking advantage of their behaviour in the crust - the PGE are sulphur-loving, so readily concentrate in sulphide melts in magma bodies and form minerals with sulphur, whereas Se and Te also concentrate in sulphide melts, but become sulphur-replacers in minerals. Thus their behaviour and occurrence in natural systems are strongly controlled by the same processes; in fact Te and Se may be as important as sulphur in determining PGE behaviour, which leads to differences in the actual mineralogy of the ores. This then affects how they can be best processed in order to minimise energy usage and environmental impact.We propose to bring together researchers and industrial partners from academia, mining, mineral exploration, processing, solar panel production and fuel cell design, with the driving principle that better understanding the linkage between semi-metals and PGE in magmas will:a) provide new insight into the key processes that determine the cycling and concentration of Te, Se and PGEs in and through crustal systems;b) better quantify crustal fluxes and processes affecting sulphur (fractionation, contamination, melt immiscibility and volatile loss) and the related sulphur-loving elements;c) enable the development of existing and novel ore processing techniques to improve recovery of combined semi-metal and PGE, whilst mitigating the environmental footprint of extraction and processing.