Field trip organizer: Wyatt Bain
The objective of this field trip was to expose participants to the magmatic-hydrothermal systems that characterize the American Southwest. We wanted students to better understand the geotechnical and metallurgical aspects of mining as they often control whether a deposit is economic. To accomplish this goal, the University of Alberta SEG student chapter toured the operations of the following mines: 1) Bagdad, Freeport McMoran’s copper and molybdenite porphyry in Arizona; 2) Castle Mountain, Equinox Gold’s low sulfidation epithermal gold deposit and 3) Mountain Pass, MP Mineral’s rare earth element (REE) mine in California. During these tours, students were familiarized with the local structures that controlled the emplacement of these deposits and the alteration used to help vector towards ore bodies. Emphasis was placed on rock description using textural and mineralogical evidence as clues to the formation of each deposit and making links to regional story of the Laramide orogeny . Days not spent at mine operations were dedicated to exploring the vast landscape of the basin and range province by visiting the cinder cones, the Kelso dunes, and a skarnoid magnetite deposit, all within the Mojave and Sonoran deserts.
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