Our energy and mobility model is currently being reconsidered, alongside the continuous evolution and implementation of new technologies. In order to abandon the fossil fuel-based model and create a cleaner, more sustainable society, we need a commitment to research along with the exploration and application of critical metals. Those are basic elements for making real the exploration and application of energy transition policies.
This line of research being carried out at the Mineralogy and Petrology Department is based on the exploration and characterization of mineral deposits of these types of critical element, especially elements in the rare earths group.
Part of the research in this line is being carried out in the project entitled, MAGEC REEmounts: Materiales para generación de energía, catálisis y fotosíntesis artificial en Canarias y exploración de tierras raras en carbonatitas subaáreas y en montes submarinos [Materials for energy generation, catalysis and artificial synthesis in the Canary Islands and exploration of rare earths in subaerial carbonatites subareas and seamounts] (2021-2023), granted by the Canary Island Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society and in which the Museum participates as part of the research team.
Associated articles
- Díaz-Acha, Y., Campeny, M., Tauler, E., Bosch, J., Melgarejo, J.C., Camprubí, A., 2020. Critical elements in supergene phosphates: the example of the weathering profile at the Gavà Neolithic mines, Catalonia, Spain. Minerals 10, 3.
- Castillo-Oliver, M., Melgarejo, J.C., Torró, L., Villanova-de-Benavent, C., Campeny, M., Díaz-Acha, Y., Amores-Casals, S., Xu, J., Proenza, J.A., Tauler, E., 2020. Sandstone-Hosted Uranium Deposits as a Possible Source for Critical Elements: The Eureka Mine Case, Castell-Estaó, Catalonia. Minerals 10, 34.
- Menéndez, I., Campeny, M., Quevedo-González, L., Mangas, J., Méndez, J., 2019. Distribution of REE-bearing minerals in felsic magmatic rocks and paleosols from Gran Canaria, Spain: intraplate oceanic islands as a new example of potential, non-conventional sources of rare-earth elements. Journal of Geochemical Exploration 204, 270-278.
- Cacho, A., Melgarejo, J.C., Camprubí, A., Torró, L., Castillo-Oliver, M., Torres, B., Artiaga, D., Tauler, E., Martínez, A., Campeny, M., Alfonso, P., Arce-Buroga, O.R., 2019. Mineralogy and Distribution of Critical Elements in the Sn-W-Pb-Ag-Zn Huanuni Deposit, Bolivia. Minerals. 9, 753.