
GCRF Funding Cycle
2019-20
Principal Investigator
Dr Nicolas Gardiner
Schools
Earth & Environmental Sciences
ODA countries
Rwanda
Sustainable Development Goals
Rwanda, a beacon of progress in Africa, with a remarkable turnaround since the genocides of the 1990s, hosts significant deposits of critical â3Tâ metals: tin, tantalum, and tungsten. To capitalize on its resource base, in 2019 the Rwandan Government established a mining board to grow and industrialize the sector. St Andrews academics have started to develop links with local geologists and a mining exploration company, with a view to better understand the mineralisation style and geological setting of Rwanda’s 3T endowment.
Initial work has taken a range of samples which will be analysed for their geochemistry and age, and this will then be used to build a geologic framework for the country. Future plans include a PhD student who can work with local Rwandan geologists on integrating this new geological model with their datasets.