Long-time AGS member Richard (Dick) Jones has recently submitted a paper on Laterite-Hosted Gold Deposits. This interesting article can be viewed at this link.
Mark Holland, Ph.D. Arizona Geological Survey, The Ghost of Sutures Past: A Re-evaluation of the Yavapai-Mazatzal Province Boundary in Central Arizona (59 minutes)
AGS regrets to inform its members that James Briscoe, exploration geologist and mining prospector/developer, passed away in Tucson in November 2024. Jim graduated from Catalina High School in Tucson and received his college education at The University of Arizona including a BA.Sc and M.S. in geology and economic geology. He was a member of the Kappa Sigma fraternity.
He worked as an ASARCO geologist at the Silver Bell operation from 1965 to 1968 and helped to discover significant additional ore reserves. James Brisco founded JABA U.S., Inc. in 1995 to evaluate and develop mineral exploration properties. He was the co-founder of Liberty Gold Corp. (later reorganized as Liberty Star Uranium & Metals Corp) (resigned as Director in 2019). James also served as the Director of Mayo Gold from 2008 to 2010. He used both traditional and innovative technology methods to explore for mineral resources in Arizona, Alaska, and Nevada. He was an early adopter of the ZTEM (Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic) surveying technology.
James Briscoe was a long-time member of AGS and the Tucson chapter of SME and was both an Arizona-registered Professional Geologist (9424) and a California-registered Professional Geologist (518). He encouraged his colleagues to seek state licensing certification to raise the professionalism and respect for those in exploration and mining geology careers. James is survived by his wife, Mardee Briscoe. No service was held.
Brian Gootee and Tawnya Wilson, Arizona's Deep Subsurface: Exploring energy Resiliency through Gas Storage, Mineral-Sequestration, and Geothermal Energy. This 65 minute presentation include 10-minutes of Q&A.
Steve Reynolds, Ph.D., “Untangling the stratigraphy of the upper Paleozoic Supai and Naco Groups of the Mogollon Escarpment,” recorded 3 Dec. 2024. The 67-minute presentation includes 20-minutes of Q&A
Guido Merino and Priscilla R. Martinez
On 4 December 2024, the AGS Scholarship Committee 2024 announced the awardees of the J. Harold Courtright ($3,000) and the M. Lee Allison ($3,000) scholarships. This year’s review committee comprised Sterling Cook (AGS Councilor) and Michael McCarrel (AGS Secretary). Sterling was on hand to present the awards.
Guido Merino
The winner of the J. Harold Courtright scholarship, which focuses on economic geology, is Guido Merino. Guido is an M.S. candidate at the University of Arizona working on the ore chemistry of an epithermal-porphyry system in the Vicuna Belt of Argentina. He earned an Honors Degree in Geological Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires in July 2017.
Priscilla R. Martinez
The winner of the M. Lee Allison scholarship, Priscilla R. Martinez, is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona. Her dissertation research involves an interdisciplinary study to characterize the interplay between Cenozoic climatic-biotic events and Andean volcanism along the western South American margin.
Priscilla earned a B.S. in Geology at California State University- Northridge in 2022, and M.S. in Geology from California State University-Fullerton.
Born on January 12, 1932 in Spokane, Washington, Ted Eyde recently passed away in Tucson on November 15, 2024 at the age of 92. Ted graduated from Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology with a Master's degree in Geological Engineering (1957), a field he dedicated over six decades of his life.
Ted was an active member in the mining industry and affiliated with numerous professional organizations; including the Mining Metallurgy and Exploration of AIME, the Tucson Section of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Southwestern Minerals Exploration Association, Arizona Council of Engineering and Scientific Associations, American Institute of Professional Geologists, Arizona Geological Society, and New Mexico Geological Society. He was an expert in his field with over seventy publications and discovered one of the world’s largest zeolite (i.e., chabazite) deposits north of Bowie, Arizona in 1961 while working for Union Carbide.
A lifetime member, Ted joined the Arizona Geological Society in 1959, and served on its Investment Committee. He was instrumental in getting the Arizona Geological Society’s two scholarship funds separated from the general fund, insuring the interest from these investments would fund all future scholarships. Ted also authored two AGS industrial minerals field trip guidebooks in 1986 and 1992.
A Funeral Mass will be held on December 7, 2024, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Odilia Church, 7570 N. Paseo del Norte, Oro Valley, Arizona.
Arizona’s Role in the Green Energy Transition, Strategic/Critical Minerals, How they will be Sourced - Or Ramblings on Critical Minerals and Thoughts Thereof by Carson A. Richardson, Senior Research Scientist, Arizona Geological Survey, University
Critical and strategic minerals have been buzzy terms in the news in the last few years, but have an often-ignored history that stretches clearly back to World War I. Critical mineral topics have been receiving bipartisan support from Congress as sourcing them addresses multiple needs. For one, in the United States, we are dependent on imports of critical minerals from other countries to meet 50% to 100% of total domestic demand for almost all critical minerals. Thus, many of these supply chains are vulnerable to disruption from geopolitics, social upheaval, and other unexpected events. Additionally, the renewable (or green) energy transition away from fossil fuels to reduce carbon footprints and combat climate change will require huge amounts of metals compared to current levels. There are simply not enough active mines or emerging deposits of many of the critical minerals to meet projected global demand.
This talk will: 1) sift through the jargon around critical and strategic minerals and materials; 2) provide a survey of the history of critical and strategic minerals in the United States; 3) an overview of the known critical mineral deposits in Arizona with primary critical mineral ores and those with potential to produce byproduct critical mineral ores; and 4) future demand scenarios and how the United States could work to meet these demands.
