The remains of volcanoes from billions of years ago are helping scientists identify both bygone continental boundaries and new places to find mineral resources in Australia.
Continue reading Prehistoric volcanoes to prospect for metals
Tag Archives: gold
Predicting where gold and copper lie
Indonesian and Australian scientists are part of a team searching for buried treasure: using the movement of tectonic plates to predict when and where giant deposits of gold and copper should form, while building an understanding of the conditions these deposits are created in.
The project, which was begun in 2013 and due for completion in 2016, is using Southeast Asia as a ‘natural laboratory’ to explore these natural processes and their products. Knowing when and how deposits formed can help us understand geological processes occurring today.
Predicting Australia’s mineral future
Predictive mineral exploration by Australian scientists has given local mining companies a powerful edge in the hotly competitive world gold market. Instead of pouring money – and lots of it – into the ground in the quest for undiscovered mineral deposits: often coming up empty.
Measuring mercury with a Midas touch
RMIT University researchers have used nanotechnology to create a pioneering sensor that can precisely measure one of the world’s most poisonous substances—mercury.
The mercury sensor developed by RMIT’s Industrial Chemistry Group uses tiny flecks of gold that are nano-engineered to make them irresistible to mercury molecules.
From Roman nanocrystals to new gold catalysts
Two thousand years ago, Roman glass blowers used gold nanocrystals to create vases with brilliant colours ranging from red to purple. Today, gold nanocrystals are being used as catalysts in chemical reactions and may even become high-density data storage devices.
Gold nanocrystals aren’t gold in colour. They change colour as their size and shape change.
Continue reading From Roman nanocrystals to new gold catalysts