Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra

Over recent years, mineral trace-element compositions have become increasingly important tools in geological research. This is largely due to the advent of rapid and affordable laser ablation-ICP-MS analyses. However, while much new data is being collected and published, relatively little work has been done to develop general guidelines for the statistical treatment of mineral trace-element data. Several features of the data require careful consideration during evaluation to avoid biased results – and these are often not considered appropriately. In particular, the generally hierarchical structure of the data and its compositional nature require attention to generate meaningful and robust results. This seminar will give a general overview of the special features of mineral trace-element data and how they can be treated in statistical analyses. This will be illustrated with some relevant examples from ore geology.

Speaker: Max Frenzel, Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology

Max Frenzel leads the Geometallurgy and Economic Geology Group at the Helmholtz-Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology. He obtained an M.Sci. from the University of Cambridge in 2012, followed by a Ph.D. from TU Bergakademie Freiberg in 2016, and a postdoctoral position at the University of Adelaide in 2017-18. His research focusses on different aspects of the mineralogy, geochemistry, texture, and genesis of base-metal ores and how these affect mineral processing operations. He also works on the modelling of metal supply chains to better understand future availability issues.

Link to the seminar

Contacts: geoseminar.dst@unito.it