105
7 Training Organisations and Establishments in France and Europe
extraction, conversion—programme on the downstream aspects of the cycle and
nuclear energy), which aims to support research and development on the exploration of uranium and thorium deposits. As part of the deep-sea mineral resources
foresight study, an evaluation was carried out of the potential of French laboratories
in the field of knowledge and exploitation of submarine natural hydrogen resources.
It is also worth noting the active collaboration between the National Agency for
Radioactive Waste Management, CNRS and universities on underground storage
of radioactive waste through the Forpro programme (deep geological formations).
Finally, the attribution of “LabexRessources 21” (laboratory of excellence on
strategic metal resources for the twenty-first century) to research teams in Nancy
grants this cluster recognition in the field of raw materials; it clearly demonstrates
the government’s will to organise French efforts on this theme.
Research Needs
In the conclusions of the report of the European Commission’s Raw Materials
Initiative, point 8 highlights the need to “Promote skills and focussed research on
innovative exploration and extraction technologies, recycling, materials substitution
and resource efficiency”. As concerns CNRS-INSU (INSU Earth sciences foresight
study 2011), the “Metallogeny of mineral resources” aspect appears as one of the key
aspects structuring the French scientific community involved in issues relating to raw
materials, alongside the aspects of “sediment basins” and “ground water hydrology”.
As for ore deposits, they constitute a specific case of land-based endogenous and
exogenous transfer processes. The scientific challenges relating to these deposits are
therefore shared with research in the fields of geodynamics and transfer/interactions
between the asthenosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere, and naturally involve a large
share of the scientific community devoted to Earth sciences.
Today, the improvement in provisional metallogenic models relies upon:
• Determination of temporal and structural relations between deposits with geodynamics and paleostructures,
• Characterisation of the various phases of deposits,
• Geochronology and dating of mineral deposits (in particular U-Pb, Ar-Ar,
Re-Os),
• Mineralogy (identification of new species, in particular in the field of small metals),
petrography and experimentation, in particular resulting in thermodynamic data,
• Geochemistry with the tracing of the sources of metals, binders and fluids,
• Geophysical characterisation of deposits,
• Modelling: on the one hand, numerical and thermodynamic modelling of fluids
transporting and depositing metals; on the other hand, three-dimensional and
stochastic modelling of the subsoil (in particular modelling of uncertainties).
Even if all these objectives do not fully apply to the field of marine mineral
resources, any significant progress in these metallogeny research areas should find
7 Training Organisations and Establishments in France and Europe
extraction, conversion—programme on the downstream aspects of the cycle and
nuclear energy), which aims to support research and development on the exploration of uranium and thorium deposits. As part of the deep-sea mineral resources
foresight study, an evaluation was carried out of the potential of French laboratories
in the field of knowledge and exploitation of submarine natural hydrogen resources.
It is also worth noting the active collaboration between the National Agency for
Radioactive Waste Management, CNRS and universities on underground storage
of radioactive waste through the Forpro programme (deep geological formations).
Finally, the attribution of “LabexRessources 21” (laboratory of excellence on
strategic metal resources for the twenty-first century) to research teams in Nancy
grants this cluster recognition in the field of raw materials; it clearly demonstrates
the government’s will to organise French efforts on this theme.
Research Needs
In the conclusions of the report of the European Commission’s Raw Materials
Initiative, point 8 highlights the need to “Promote skills and focussed research on
innovative exploration and extraction technologies, recycling, materials substitution
and resource efficiency”. As concerns CNRS-INSU (INSU Earth sciences foresight
study 2011), the “Metallogeny of mineral resources” aspect appears as one of the key
aspects structuring the French scientific community involved in issues relating to raw
materials, alongside the aspects of “sediment basins” and “ground water hydrology”.
As for ore deposits, they constitute a specific case of land-based endogenous and
exogenous transfer processes. The scientific challenges relating to these deposits are
therefore shared with research in the fields of geodynamics and transfer/interactions
between the asthenosphere, lithosphere and hydrosphere, and naturally involve a large
share of the scientific community devoted to Earth sciences.
Today, the improvement in provisional metallogenic models relies upon:
• Determination of temporal and structural relations between deposits with geodynamics and paleostructures,
• Characterisation of the various phases of deposits,
• Geochronology and dating of mineral deposits (in particular U-Pb, Ar-Ar,
Re-Os),
• Mineralogy (identification of new species, in particular in the field of small metals),
petrography and experimentation, in particular resulting in thermodynamic data,
• Geochemistry with the tracing of the sources of metals, binders and fluids,
• Geophysical characterisation of deposits,
• Modelling: on the one hand, numerical and thermodynamic modelling of fluids
transporting and depositing metals; on the other hand, three-dimensional and
stochastic modelling of the subsoil (in particular modelling of uncertainties).
Even if all these objectives do not fully apply to the field of marine mineral
resources, any significant progress in these metallogeny research areas should find