News: NMT Awarded a U.S. DOE EPSCoR Grant to establish an experimental research hub for studying critical minerals in hydrothermal fluids
A team of researchers at NMT, led by Dr. Alexander Gysi, Dr. Nicole Hurtig, and Dr. Laura Waters has been funded $2.5M through a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Basic Energy Sciences Geosciences EPSCoR grant over a two-years period to study rare earth elements (REE) in hydrothermal fluids and minerals. The project supports two NM bureau of geology staff, two postdoctoral fellows, five PhD students and four undergraduate students to conduct experiments that target: (1) REE speciation in hydrothermal aqueous fluids, (2) REE adsorption on clay minerals, and (3) solubility and stability of REE mineral solid solutions and their coordination chemistry.
Dr. Alexander Gysi, director of the Ore Deposits and Critical Minerals Lab at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR) says: “I’m very excited we have received this award which allows us to build a sustained experimental research hub on critical minerals at NMT and provides internship opportunities for students. This significant DOE EPSCoR award puts us on the map for critical minerals research in the U.S. and worldwide, as very few labs conduct high pressure-temperature hydrothermal experiments with experts who link fundamental research with knowledge in geosciences to advance our understanding of critical minerals deposits in geologic systems. The ultimate goal is to develop new technologies and predictive thermodynamic models with potential applications to exploration of critical mineral deposits and for mineral extraction/separation.”
Five open PhD positions
We seek motivated candidates to join our new critical minerals experimental research hub – NMT CritMin – with a strong interest in critical minerals research, experimental geochemistry, Raman/ UV-vis spectroscopy, thermodynamics and computational geochemistry. As part of a cohort of PhD students you will be able to conduct research funded through a DOE EPSCoR Basic Energy Sciences/Geosciences project at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
For more information and how to apply please download here.
Funding
This project is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) EPSCoR, Basic Energy Sciences, Geosciences program - DE-SC0026161 (PI: Alexander Gysi; co-PI/Is: Waters and Hurtig at NMT), REE fractionation through coupled hydrothermal REE‐Cl/SO4/CO3 ligand complexation and mineral adsorption/solid solution interaction mechanisms.
