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Thursday July 1
Time: 6pm – 7:30pm
Coopers Alehouse at the Earl, Pulteney Street Adelaide
Frank Bierlen
Outline:
Seeing as our borders remain firmly closed, Frank will take the audience on a (hopefully) visually appealing journey to the Red Sea Hill of northern Sudan, where he was part of the team that discovered the first confirmed porphyry Cu (+Au) deposit in the Proterozoic Arabian Nubian Shield (ANS). In view of the ANS’ geological age, the popular belief had long been that this extensive accretionary arc assemblage was ‘too old’ to be prospective for porphyry Cu deposits, which are perceived to have a relatively low preservation potential. Further discoveries of this globally important deposit type, together with other mineralization types associated with porphyry systems in supra-subduction and orogenic settings (epithermal, IOCG, IRGS, orogenic Au, skarn) also likely in this highly prospective yet extremely under-explored frontier region. The talk will touch on aspects of regional geology, the make-up of the Jebel Ohier deposit, why he thinks a ca. 815 Ma old porphyry Cu deposit has been so well preserved, and what all of this means for challenging existing paradigms. Not just in a place like Sudan, but also in Australia.
Frank is a geologist with 30 years of experience as a consultant, researcher, lecturer and industry professional. Frank has held exploration and generative geology management positions with QMSD Mining Co Ltd, Qatar Mining, Afmeco Australia and Areva NC, and consulted for, among others, Newmont Gold, Resolute Mining, Goldfields International, Freeport McMoRan, and the International Atomic Energy Agency. He is a non-executive director of PNX Metals, and chaired the Advisory Board of a Luxemburg-based private equity fund between 2014 and 2021. Frank has worked on six continents spanning multiple commodities, and over the course of his career has published and co- authored ~50 contributions in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals, book chapters and conference papers. He has extensive experience in all aspects of grass roots to mine-stage mineral exploration, target generation, project management and oversight, due diligence studies, mineral prospectivity analysis, metallogenic framework studies, and mineral resources market & investment analysis. Frank obtained a PhD (Geology) from the University of Melbourne, is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (AIG), and a member of both the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) and the Society of Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits.
