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;这些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）-所谓的“E-tech”元素。然而，目前存在相当大的供应短缺风险，因为铂族元素目前只能在少数国家经济地开采;碲和硒是其他商品的副产品，历史上缺乏需求和非正式市场对预测的需求激增准备不足，加剧了供应风险。我们的研究将解决这些电子技术元素的供应安全问题，方法是提高：i）我们对这些元素在地壳中如何以及在何处集中的过程的理解; ii）我们有能力以最小的环境影响和经济成本回收它们。为了做到这一点，我们正在利用它们在地壳中的行为-铂族元素喜欢硫，Se、Te在岩浆体中易富集于硫化物熔体中，与硫形成矿物，而Se、Te在硫化物熔体中也富集，但在矿物中成为硫的富集剂。因此，它们在自然系统中的行为和存在受到相同过程的强烈控制;事实上，Te和Se在决定PGE行为方面可能与硫一样重要，这导致矿石的实际矿物学差异。我们建议将学术界、采矿、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，更好地了解岩浆中半金属和铂族元素之间的联系将有助于：a）对决定地壳系统中和通过地壳系统的Te、Se和PGE的循环和浓度的关键过程提供新的见解; B）更好地量化影响硫的地壳通量和过程（分馏、污染、熔体不溶性和挥发损失）和相关的喜硫元素; c）能够开发现有的和新的矿石加工技术，以提高组合半金属和铂族元素的回收率，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.