View the PACIFIC project video PACIFIC Project on sustainable mineral exploration - YouTube

Download the PACIFIC project presentation https://www.pacific-h2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/PACIFIC-Project-presentation.pdf 

Download PACIFIC first press release (July 2018): PACIFIC first press release

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 report presents two versions of the flyer produced in the framework of the PACIFIC project. Both documents are included as annexes to this deliverable and can be downloaded on PACIFIC public website: https://www.pacific-h2020.eu/media/ 

The project flyer is a means to introduce PACIFIC to the public and more specifically to stakeholders in the project research domain. The initial version of the PACIFIC flyer produced at the start of the project (see section 2 - first item) sums up the project objectives, background and expected results. It also includes the list of partners
involved, as well as contact details for the project. This version was printed and distributed at partners' premises and during the PACIFIC internal and external events organised in the first two years of the project.

A digital update of the PACIFIC flyer has been prepared at the beginning of the third year (see section 2 ʹsecond item) to provide further information on the challenges addressed by the PACIFIC research activities, the expected results and their expected impact on mineral exploration. The list of project partners, the logo section and the coordination team section have also been updated as required. 

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.