Collection Editors

Kathryn Moore University of Exeter (Geoenergy Deputy Editor)
Juliana Segura-Salazar The University of Queensland 
Katerina Savinova The University of Queensland

Scope

Geoenergy is calling for papers to be submitted to a thematic collection on “The energy-critical metals for a low carbon transition”.

The 2020 report of the World Bank on ‘Minerals for Climate Action’ estimated that demand for materials such as graphite, lithium and cobalt could increase by as much as 500% by 2050. There is risk that such headline-grabbing critical raw materials may be subject to supply shortages where manufacturers are dependent on imports. While the critical raw materials often have very specific uses based on their specialist properties, copper is just one example of the cross-cutting metals that are used in all energy generation and storage technologies. There is significantly rising demand by volume for the cross-cutting metals. A range of articles is encouraged on the topic of ore deposits for energy-critical metals, including the critical raw materials and the cross-cutting metals.

The research approaches that will be accepted include:

• Petrology and geochemistry of mineral occurrences and ore deposits where energy-critical metals are the primary commodity of interest.
• Mineralogical associations and mineral chemistry in ore deposits where energy-critical metals may be produced as co-products of bulk metal mining, and methods of mineral characterisation to inform geometallurgical access to ore deposits.
• Modelling of the geological processes that concentrate the energy-critical metals.
• Development of geomodels for the energy-critical metals based on multiple ore deposits, or extensive literature review.
• Issues of access to geological resources of energy-critical metals, which can include geoscience-centred transdisciplinary research.
• Chemical pathways of the energy critical metals in the environment, including in legacy deposits and at active industrial sites, and alternative types of ore deposits.
• Life Cycle Analysis and responsible sourcing of energy critical metals from ore bodies.

Submission

Full author guidelines can be found here.

Submission should be made via the Geoenergy Editorial Manager website.

When submitting manuscripts make sure to identify the submission as being for ‘The energy-critical metals for a low carbon transition’ collection by selecting it from the ‘Section/Category’ drop-down list.

Submission deadline: 31 October 2023

For any queries contact the journal office: geoenergy@geolsoc.org.uk

Accepted papers will appear below on an ongoing basis.