PI: Dr William McCarthy and Dr David McCollum
Geology and geographical political boundaries dictate that some 80% of all copper is extracted from porphyry mines in the Global South. As the industrial appetite for critical metals grows in the Global North, so does the imperative to minimise the environmental damage caused by the mining processes that satisfy this demand, and to responsibly safeguard and pass on economic benefit and societal wellbeing to nations that produce these metals in the Global South.
This research brings leading UK researchers from the University of St Andrews, Satbayev University and Nazarbayev Universities together to put innovation into practice in the Global South’s primary resource sector. Since February 2019, our team has successfully held three international meetings and is, at present, conducting additional fieldwork in east Kazakhstan in collaboration with our academic and industrial partners. We have engaged with policy makers from the Ministry for Industry and Infrastructural Development and have made forward progress in gaining a declaration of support from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Whilst continuing to work with our industry partners, the funding awarded has been invaluable in enabling us to operate with autonomy and focus our efforts on research that directly benefits the people of Kazakhstan. Our rapid progress in the last three months has generated substantial interest among early career scientists in Kazakhstan and the demand for spaces on our workshops is twice which was originally planned. We have chosen to be inclusive and open to applicants from a range of institutional backgrounds, and we see this as a positive move. 