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Earth Resources & Meteorites

Earth Resources & Meteorites

Giulio Solferino

I am an experimental petrologist by training (ETH Zurich) with experience in many world-leading laboratories. I am trying to understand the origin of the elusive meteorites ‘Pallasites’ combing experiments at magmatic temperature and pressure, numerical models, and natural samples characterization. The applicative part of my research focuses on Mineral Resources, where I use my petrological and geochemical knowledge to assess formation conditions and potential for extraction of metal commodities in various regions of the Earth.

Currently, I tackle two projects:
1. Cu resources in SW Ireland and Irish Midlands (collaboration with iCRAG centre: http://www.icrag-centre.org/).
2. Energy Critical Elements -  ECE (e.g., https://www.aps.org/policy/reports/popa-reports/upload/elementsreport.pdf) resources in the British Isles.

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Backscattered Electron image of experiment product (dark grey = olivine, light grey = Fe-Ni) Photograph of a slice of Springwater pallasite (ETH Zurich collection)
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Alloclasite, an important cobalt mineral (Co belongs to ECE) from the locality Scar Crags (Lake District, UK) X-ray elemental distribution map for antimony (Sb) in an arsenopyrite crystal (Sb and As belong to ECE – Dale Head North, Lake District, UK)

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