Analysis of prospective guides for sulfide occurrences in the Sul-Rio-Grandense Shield: a study of similar areas in Brazil and Uruguay to promote the mineral sector in MERCOSUR

• Grant number: 23/04732-8
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences - Geology
• Principal Investigator: César Augusto Moreira
• Grantee: César Augusto Moreira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas (IGCE). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Beatriz Guzzo Duz ; Enrique Carlos Masquelin ; Lenon Melo Ilha ; Leonardo Campos Inocencio ; Lucas Moreira Furlan ; Marco Antonio Fontoura Hansen ; Matheus Felipe Stanfoca Casagrande ; Matheus Mistrinel Pacine Feitoza do Nascimento ; Rodrigo Prudente de Melo ; Sissa Kumaira
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/14392-2 - Integrated Analysis of Geological and Geophysical Data in the Search for Deep Sulfide Deposits in the Camaquã Basin, Camaquã Mines Region (RS), BP.PD

Abstract

One strategy employed in mineral research is to select previously described targets and to conduct regional surveys for similar targets, i.e. to define representative prospective guides for known targets and to search for new targets, often by means of geochemical prospecting at the surface and robust drilling campaigns, i.e. direct tools for investigating the geological environment, in classic mineral research projects of long and expensive duration. This project proposes the use of remote sensing for mapping structural/stratigraphic controls in the search for regional prospective guides, combined with semi-regional surveys by gamma-spectrometric and magnetometric investigations, followed by target detailing by DC resistivity and induced polarization from tomographic surveys, which in the end can result in the modeling of the architecture and morphology of targets with a high degree of predictability. In this sense, this project proposes to combine a set of sequential indirect investigation methods, with the objective of defining prospective guides in Cu-Pb-Zn-As mineral occurrences, and similarly to expand research in regional terms in an attempt to discover new targets. The region of study consists of the Sul-Rio-Grandense Shield, an association of metamorphic, igneous and sedimentary rocks, distributed in a complex Precambrian tectonostratigraphic arrangement, with dozens of described mineral occurrences, existing from southern Brazil to NE Uruguay. The technological proposal of this project can provide important advances in strategies for the selection of mineral occurrences with economic potential, a condition that allows optimization of financial resources and increased chances of success. There is also a great potential for economic and social impact in the promotion of projects in a recognized mineral province in both countries, by generating essential knowledge in individual mineral exploration projects or integrated by Brazilian and Uruguayan exploration companies within MERCOSUR. (AU)