The main objective of GeoNickel project was the development of novel geological, geophysical and information technology tools for mineral exploration, specifically for the nickel which is a strategic metal for the European industry.

THE PROJECT

While the European countries consume almost two-fifths of the entire world consumption of nickel, the largest nickel ore reserves are in remote areas in other parts of the world. Western European nickel mines, located in Finland, Greece and Norway, satisfy only 9 % of nickel metal consumption.

GeoNickel’s innovative exploration technologies developed in were applied to the identification of new hidden nickel deposits in Europe.

These technologies were designed to be applied to a great variety of metal deposits thus expanding the potential benefits for the European industry.

One of the first goals of the project was the development of new models for nickel and their host formation deposits for sulphidic and lateritic deposits.

Also new geophysical instrumentation and information technology tools were developed in order to increase the efficiency of current geophysical exploration methods in regional, local and deposit scale.

CONSORTIUM

A consolidated research group with a renowned academic and industrial profile.

• General Mining & Metallurgical S.A. Larco (GR)
• Geological Survey Of Greece, IGME (GR)
• Geological Survey Of Finland, GSF (FI)
• Iris Instruments (FR)
• National Centre For Scientific Research “Demokritos” (GR)
• National Geological Survey Of France, Brgm (FR)
• algoWatt SpA (IT)