MetalIntelligence

Balz Kamber (TCD)

Network Coordinator

Balz Kamber is the Chair of Geology and Mineralogy (established 1843). He is a geochemist working on understanding the elemental cycles that operate on the Earth, particularly in the surface environment. His research spans from the very fundamental questions of 'how did the earliest Earth look' to environmental studies on the fate of pollutants in the environment and economically important issues, including the supply of raw materials needed to support renewable technologies. Common to all these investigations is the need for quantitative chemical and isotopic data. His group is active in the development of novel analytical methods that transcend the boundaries between chemistry, geology, material science and environmental science.
He leads a dynamic research group funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the EU's FP7 and H2020 programmes and national funding agencies such as the EPA and GSI. He is committed to the concept of chemical fingerprints, not just in the geosciences but also in archaeology, environmental, ground water, atmospheric and forensic studies. He is the Deputy Director of the Science Foundation Ireland Centre iCRAG and a collaborator in many EU and worldwide networks. He has published more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and is recognised for his originality and cross-disciplinary approach.
He views the present time as a golden era for the geosciences and is passionate about informing society about the realities of energy supplies and the monumental challenges we are facing in the decades ahead.

Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco (TCD)

Dr. Juan Diego Rodriguez-Blanco is an Ussher Assistant Professor in Nano-Mineralogy at Trinity College Dublin. He studies the mechanisms by which minerals form and transform at the nanoscale. His aims are: (i) to shed light on biomineralisation processes, which are deeply linked to the evolution of past and future ocean chemistry; (ii) to study mineral-water reactions that can be applied to remediate polluted waters and soils, to control the mobility and to find new sources of strategic metals. Most of his research has focused on the understanding of the formation mechanisms of carbonates, phosphates and sulfates, using a series of state-of-the-art, in situ synchrotron methods combined with conventional off-line techniques.

Alexandra Stavropoulou (TCD)

ESR1

Alexandra is a MetalIntelligence PhD Researcher, based in Trinity College Dublin (TCD). Her study will include Scanning Electron Microscopy (collaboration with Oxford Instruments) and other cutting-edge techniques to improve mineral identification. Prior to her PhD, Alexandra obtained a master’s and bachelor’s degree from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), where she studied manganese oxide surface area (N2 BET method) and gold occurrence in Sappes, NE Thrace, Greece, respectively. Minerals have always been the focus and the passion to go after. In 2015, she worked briefly for Hellas Gold, an Eldorado Gold Corporation company, as a Junior Geologist in Exploration Department, where among others she used XRF to log drill cores and TerraSpec in soils.

Marco A. Acevedo Zamora

ESR2

Marco is a Peruvian geologist studying a Ph.D. on the Geochemistry of metallurgical plant feed materials in relation to their metallurgical behavior. His geological education includes a Master´s degree from University of Geneva-UNIGE (Switzerland, 2016) and an Engineering degree from National University of Engineering-UNI (Peru, 2012). His focus is on geochemistry, petrology and ore deposits, for elaborating theoretical and empirical models that can be compared and complement his observations in the field and of previous workers.
He is passionate about Economic Geology, PCDs, and, recently, with R programming. As a student and recent graduate, he has worked in the Andes doing brownfield exploration and mine geology in medium-large mining companies (Antapaccay, Milpo, and Marsa) that operate locally. Lately, he was involved in a core-logging project with Buenaventura (Tantahuatay mine), working as an intermediate geologist of an exploration consultancy firm. The variety of deposit types and mine operations he has worked in have been instructive on the study (mapping, sampling, and interpretation) techniques that are applicable in the field, and on the complementary operational insights that have to be considered.

Una Farrell (TCD)

Dr. Una Farrell is a Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin, where she divides time between network management for the MetalIntelligence project, and lecturing in paleontology. She has a BA from TCD and a PhD from Yale University, where she worked on exceptionally preserved trilobite fossils. She went on to take care of the invertebrate fossil collection at the University of Kansas, and most recently has been working as a lab and data manager at Stanford University, before returning to Ireland. She continues to work on the Sedimentary Geochemistry and Paleonenvironments project remotely.

Christina Wanhainen (LTU)

Christina Wanhainen, PhD, is professor of Ore Geology at Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. The core focus of today’s research is to understand the ore forming processes that creates sulphide- and gold deposits. Mineralogical, geochemical, isotopic, structural, and geometallurgical aspects are dealt with, in order to increase the knowledge of where such ores can be found, and to better understand their mineralogical character in relationship to metallurgical processes.

Jan Rosenkranz (LTU)

Dr. Jan Rosenkranz is Chaired Professor in Mineral Processing at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Sweden. His research interest are in the development of comminution test methods for geometallurgy, investigation of flotation cell scale-up as well as modelling and simulation of mineral beneficiation processes. Jan is work package leader for geometallurgy and mineral processing at the CAMM Centre of Advanced Mining and Metallurgy at LTU, member of the management group of the industry funded HLRC Hjalmar Lundbohm Research Centre, and expert group member of the Strategic Innovation Programme for the Swedish Mining and Metal Producing Industry (SIPSTRIM).

Pratama Istiadi Guntoro (LTU)

ESR3

Pratama's passion lies in mineral and metals processing as well as their applications in different fields. He has been involved in several different projects related to processing of dolomite stones to produce refractories, scaling up of copper redox flow battery, as well as developing kinetic models of copper matte-slag in flash smelting. He is currently working in Metal Intelligence to develop software and tools that are capable of processing 3D X-ray tomography images of rocks and ores. Additionally, he will also assess potential on-line implementations of such tools in mineral processing plants.

Glacialle Tiu (LTU)

ESR4

Glacialle's curiosity leans toward understanding a rock’s ‘metamorphosis’ - how they are formed and transformed into useful materials. Through her industrial experience and studies, Glacialle's expertise has expanded from geology to mineral processing. Her current research focuses on the detailed geometallurgical characterization of a Zn-Pb-Ag deposit in Sweden. The research aims to develop innovative tools which can help optimize the beneficiation process economically and environmentally.

Caroline Izart (Outotec/TCD)

ESR5

Caroline is a MetalIntelligence PhD student working in the Outotec HSC team in Pori, Finland. Her study will be focused on the conception and improvement of a platform designed to train operators in virtual mineral processing plants.
She has graduated in 2016 from the Nancy School of Geology in engineering and management of ores and mineral raw materials and have been working as a research engineer for the GeoRessources laboratory before joining the MetalIntelligence project.

Pedro De Souza Bergamo (Outotec/LTU)

ESR6

Pedro Bergamo is a Brazilian researcher based at Outotec (Finland) Oy and pursuing a PhD at Luleå University of Technology. His passion for chemistry and computer science started at the University of Franca, Brazil. There he acquired his Master’s degree in Chemistry with a special focus on the computational aspects of the science. His main research line was the study of Rare Earth elements, trying to establish a correlation between luminescence intensity parameters and molecular characteristics such as symmetry and bonding energies. He also worked as an assistant professor at the University and as a chemistry teacher at a pre-college school. At Outotec (Finland) Oy, he is responsible for the development and improvement of dynamic and predictive process models for Outotec’s Modeling and Simulation research team. These models will be used to improve the efficient design of real plants as well as being implemented in virtual training simulators to train future plant operators.