July 9, 2024
In early June, the Hydrothermal Geochemistry and Critical Minerals conference—aka ThermoCon 2024—was held at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR) in Socorro. In all, 43 participants from all over the world attended, including representatives from national and international research universities, national laboratories, federal agencies, and industry, along with about 20 students. The goal of the meeting was to form a community across disciplines to advance cutting-edge science on critical minerals and hydrothermal geochemistry. The meeting focused on critical minerals, thermodynamics, molecular dynamics, ore-forming processes, and extraction techniques for a range of elements that are of strategic importance to the United States. The meeting was hosted by Alexander Gysi (NMBGMR/New Mexico Tech [NMT]), Nicole Hurtig (NMBGMR/NMT), and Laura Waters (NMT).
The field of thermodynamics touches many aspects of geosciences, chemistry, material sciences, and much more, and is currently seeing a renewed interest because of critical minerals. This interest is echoed by governmental agencies, the public, and scientists because of the importance of critical minerals for high-tech and green technologies. However, surprisingly little is known about the thermodynamic properties of critical minerals, in particular at the high temperature and pressure conditions of ore-forming processes that are important for their enrichment in Earth’s crust.
Lab tours were conducted at the New Mexico Bureau of Geology and highlighted Dr. Gysi’s ore deposits and critical minerals lab, Dr. Hurtig’s Raman spectroscopy lab, and Dr. Waters’ petrology research lab. In the evenings at Deju House, graduate students presented posters of their projects and were able to meet and network with others in the field.
In addition to presentations and workshops, there were excursions to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge and a field trip to the Lemitar Mountains, just north of Socorro. Dr. Gysi talked about rare earth element (REE) occurrences and resources in New Mexico and the relevance of mobilization of REEs in hydrothermal fluids. Eric Ruggles, a graduate student in NMT’s Earth and Environmental Science Department, presented some of his findings on the hydrothermal veins that contain REE minerals overprinting the Lemitar carbonatite dikes. Dr. Waters and Dr. Hurtig introduced the general geology of the Rio Grande rift, the Socorro magma body, and the volcanic activity in the area.
The meeting was a unique platform for sharing research, student networking, and workforce development. A collection of conference abstracts is available in NMBGMR Bulletin 166: geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/166/