Executive summary: The Winter School on Sustainable Mineral Exploration was jointly organized by two European projects—PACIFIC and INFACT. The event was held at the International Campus of Andalusia in Huelva, Spain, between the 9th and 12th March 2020. The Winter School was divided in 3 lecture sessions, 1 practical session, and 2 visits to mining sites. The main goal of this school was to present the techniques and knowledge on sustainable mineral exploration that have been developed within the INFACT and PACIFIC projects. The school targeted an audience of European master students, PhDs and post-doctoral researchers. A total of 40 students, including 15 from the University of Huelva, physically attended the school. An additional 13 students participated in parts of the school via video conference, since unfortunately due to travel restrictions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic those 13 students were unable to attend in person. Videoconferencing was a last-minute adaptation made by the Winter School to allow for the participation of individuals under travel bans, quarantine, or other restrictions. Students (both physical and remote attendees) came from 13 countries. The results of the anonymous survey conducted at the end of the school reveal that the event was a success, despite the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

Executive summary: This document describes the structure and contents of the public website set up for PACIFIC on 29th November 2018 with the URL http://www.pacific-h2020.eu and updated in August 2020 to give more visibility to the expected impact of the project on mineral exploration in Europe, and reflect changes in the consortium. The website is based on Responsive web design (RWD), which provides an optimal viewing and interaction experience — easy reading and navigation with a minimum of resizing, panning, and scrolling — across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors to mobile phones).

On the PACIFIC public website, you can find information about the project objectives and results, the concept, work plan and expected impact, together with the list of participants, external advisors and projects identified for clustering opportunities. The website also acknowledges the financial support received under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme with the EU emblem as well as a specific statement. This is visible at the bottom of every webpage.

Throughout the project the PACIFIC public website will become a major tool to present the project research outcomes to a wide audience with: links to scientific peer-reviewed publications, project documentation, public deliverables and press releases available for download. On-going activities will also be regularly updated and communicated through news and events.

Executive summary: The passive seismic survey of the Kaiserstuhl test site was initiated during discussion between partners of the PACIFIC and HiTech AlkCarb H2020 projects in February 2019. The final survey design is similar to an already existing geophysical profile crossing the Kaiserstuhl volcanic edifice surveyed by electrical techniques. A total of 66 3-component nodes were deployed along of the profile, and at the center, above a fault, a few additional nodes were deployed away from the profile to be used for earthquake detection and localization.

The nodes recorded during 25 days in October-November 2019. The raw data was of good quality with stable ambient noise records over the whole duration of acquisition. Cross-correlation showed Rayleigh and Love propagation with weak dispersion, testifying to a homogeneous medium in terms of seismic velocities. However individual correlations showed low signal to noise ratio.

We processed the correlations using a classical method of surface wave tomography, and we jointly inverted Rayleigh and Love wave dispersion curves in order to obtain a 3D S-wave velocity model.

The final Vs model showed three layers parallel to the surface with strong velocity contrasts. This is unexpected in such geological context and could be an edge effect of the inversion near the bottom of the model. Once removed, the Vs Anomaly model shows a homogeneous medium with only weak velocity changes (<5%). A positive anomaly dominates the model and coincides well with the location, size, and shape of the carbonatite pipe found in the existing geological and geophysical models.

Executive Summary: The passive seismic survey of the La Cruces mine site was initiated during discussion between partners of the PACIFIC and INFACT H2020 projects in December 2018. The initial design for the deployment covered a large area, about 7 x 4 km extending to the north and south of the mine but this was reduced to a smaller tighter 2 x 1 km array in February 2019. A collapse of the northside of the open pit then eliminated the possibility of placing nodes to the west of the pit and this resulted in an even smaller array. Data treatment proved to be very difficult for several reasons. The array was smaller than originally planned, but more importantly a significant proportion of the nodes, about 30%, were placed in the pit. The large differences in elevation between adjacent nodes and the differences in orientation of pit walls and terraces introduced unanticipated difficulties in processing the seismic data. 

We used 33 days of passive seismic records to retrieve the fundamental mode of Rayleigh waves propagating in the subsurface. We mostly used man-made ambient noise generated in the vicinity of the mine in the period band [0.3 - 1.5] s. Strong anthropogenic noise in the middle of the array forced us to use one-bit normalization and very intense pre-processing to retrieve usable cross-correlation signals. We were able to pick individual group and phase velocity dispersion curves from correlations computed between the majority of sensor pairs for stations separated by less than 2 km. We retained about 15% of all possible dispersion curves after a thorough quality check based on expert visual inspection. The aperture of the array and the frequency content of the noise allowed us to invert a velocity model down to 500 m depth. Long offsets are mainly discarded inducing a poor coverage of the central part of the pit. A high velocity anomaly beneath the northern part of the site where topography is not a problem and where the array is denser can be resolved and could correspond to the massive sulphide ore body at depth. The depth of cover in the north-eastern part of the study area is well represented by the iso-velocity surface of 750 m/s.

Executive summary: This report describes events that took place in collaboration with other research projects during the second year of the PACIFIC project, from June 2019 to June 2020. Clustering activities are central to Work Package 7 “Collaboration and clustering with other research initiatives”. To that end, the PACIFIC project has initiated and completed a number of activities with multiple research initiatives. In the second year of the project, clustering activities significantly accelerated, and the earlier links made with other European projects started to yield concrete results and concrete plans for further activities. This report is an update to D7.2 (M12)—Report on joint events with other research projects in the first year.

During this year PACIFIC has established a very strong collaboration with the H2020 project INFACT and this is reflected throughout this report. 

Executive summary: To create synergies and optimise project results and impact, the PACIFIC project dedicates the Work Package 7 to collaboration and clustering with other research projects under the same call topic, and other relevant projects in the field funded by Horizon 2020 (H2020). PACIFIC partners thus collaborate with ongoing research initiatives in the mineral exploration area.

During the first year of the project, the collaboration took several forms, that are developed in this deliverable according to the following axes:

1. Joint activities organised with other projects in the cluster;
2. Participation in international events and conferences with other H2020 related projects;
3. Ongoing and future collaborations.

This report must be understood as the first of three reports on joint events with other research projects, that will be produced through the duration of the project: D7.2 (M12), D7.3 (M24) and D7.4 (M36). Thus, the information provided, especially in the “Ongoing and future collaborations” section, will be reviewed or updated in next reports. 

Executive summary: One of the PACIFIC’s goals is to support the European Innovation Partnership (EIP) on Raw Materials with its aim to translate its mission into concrete actions. To do so, PACIFIC will collaborate closely with the existing, recently finished or future H2020 projects funded under the same or similar topics.
This document includes a concrete plan for clustering with these projects, aiming to facilitate planning of joint online and physical events, sharing results and exchanging on the difficulties encountered.

The clustering plan is divided in three main sections:

• Inventory of relevant H2020 projects:
  • List of the on-going, recently finished and future projects
  • Analysis of the identified projects’ objectives and planned results
  • Assessment of the potential similarities and/or synergies with PACIFIC
  • List of all the projects’ planned events and plan for possible joint events
  • Identification of the potential entry points and established contacts
• Presentation of the common online space facilitating discussions and clustering
• Action list

This clustering plan will be considered as a living document to be reviewed in each General Assembly meeting to monitor the progress made in its implementation and allow for regular updates to take into account the evolving European context and prioritisation.

Executive summary: This report summarises recommendations for improved communications surrounding mining-related activities, based on an overview of existing communications through a behavioural science lens (Deliverable 6.1), and a computer-based behavioural experiment run in 2019 (Deliverable 6.2).
The work was undertaken by the Behavioural Research Unit of the Economic and Social Research Institute, a research group specialising in understanding how people process complex information and use it to make decisions. This is pertinent in the context of the PACIFIC project as people’s comprehension of mining-relating activities (and attitudes towards the same) relies on individuals processing complex information about risks and benefits from a range of sources.
The goal of this research is not to design communication tools that will best ensure that a company can secure a ‘social license to operate’. Rather, it is to inform best practice for communication strategies that promote understanding and empower stakeholders to make well-informed decisions, whatever the outcome may be. This is particularly important at a time where misinformation is becoming more widespread.
Herein we have made a suite of recommendations for improved communication about mining-related activities that may be utilised by a range of end-users (agencies, geological surveys, companies, etc.). For this project the research has primarily considered the general public as the target audience. That said, many of the findings presented have relevance to communications with otherstakeholders, such as shareholders, policy makers, and regulators.
As mentioned above, the recommendations are based off an overview of existing communication materials, as well as the results of a first behavioural experiment. This experiment had some unexpected findings, which will be investigated further in follow-up experiments in early 2021. The results of these may provide further insights that will be communicated in due course.

Executive summary: 

This report details the design and result of a computer-based behavioural experiment to gauge how the format of information provided to the public affects their understanding and perception of mining[1]related activities. The experiment was undertaken by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI – third party to GSI) in fulfilment of Deliverable 6.2, as part of WP6 of PACIFIC (Social acceptance & perception of risk for mining activities).

The design of the experiment was informed by a previous evaluation of currently used mining-related communication materials (Deliverable 6.1), as well as the broader social science and psychology literature. Insights gained from the results will be used to inform the design of follow-on experiments and will be used to generate recommendations for future communications (Deliverable 6.3).

Executive summary: As part of WP6 “Social acceptance & perception of risk for mining activities” the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) will be conducting computer-based behavioural experiments designed to gauge how the format of information provided to the public affects their understanding and perception of mining-related activities (D6.2). The results will be used to generate recommendations for future communications (D6.3). The focus of this report concerns the evaluation of currently-used mining-related communication materials, and forms a part of the preparation process for these future deliverables.
The primary aim of this deliverable is to gain insights regarding written communications in order to inform the design of experiments, and the information content included. A number of other EU funded projects are undertaking a more thorough assessment of interactions with stakeholders and evaluating best practice on a more general level.
As the behavioural experiment will be conducted in Ireland, information was collected from companies operating in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland (UK). Although companies in Northern Ireland adhere to UK licensing and regulation, their interaction with local communities is largely comparable to that in the Republic. Their information materials are therefore useful to include.