Future Challenges for the U.S. Geological Survey's Mineral Resources Program (2003) / Chapter Skim
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5 Envisioning the Future Mineral Resources Program
5 Envisioning the Future Mineral Resources Program
Pages 95-114
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From page 95... ...
As discussed in Chapter 1, private markets are likely to yield suboptimal outcomes for scientific research and information collection and dissemination from the perspective of society as a whole justifying four federal roles in minerals science and information. These roles are science and information, basic research, advisory, and international.
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From page 96... ...
This life-cycle scope would include purely geological investigations and fundamental oredeposit research, but it also would embrace multidisciplinary work (environmental, geochemical, geophysical, geobiological) and investigations into, for example, environmental aspects of minerals development, waste disposal, recycling of mineral-based materials, and material flows throughout the mine life cycle, including mine closure and environmental management in perpetuity.
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From page 97... ...
Or the program could continue to use a broader definition of information that would include minerals information such as minerals production, consumption, recycling, material flows, and the wealth of irreplaceable geological mapping, and geochemical and geophysical data that exist in mining districts. The broader definition might imply development and testing of methods and procedures to generate and evaluate recycling and material flows data and synthesis and archival management of multidimensional geospatial databases and digital maps.
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From page 98... ...
At one extreme, the MRP could consider itself the "minerals geoscientist" of the Department of the Interior and focus its activities on satisfying the needs of the department, including the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and National Park Service. A broader focus would be domestic satisfying the needs of domestic users of mineral resources science and information, including other agencies of the federal government (e.g., U.S.
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From page 99... ...
These include: · strengthen liaison and coordination with related federal agencies (e.g., National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Weather Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, and National Science Foundation) ; · maintain and improve relations with state and regional government organizations and with nongovernmental organizations that are users of natural science information; facilitate the use of natural science information by the general public and by stakeholders for critical issues; · increase interactions with the private sector, foreign customers, and partners; encourage USGS scientists to publish their research results promptly in journals, present papers at conferences, and convene workshops and seminars; and · nurture student interest in the natural sciences.
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From page 100... ...
The committee encourages increased collaboration with a wide variety of users. The committee recommends that the MRP develop an expanded vision that embraces a broad definition of mineral resources, including a focus on life-cycle and sustainable development, a strong international role, which will expand the current users, and a balance between basic and applied research, recognizing that many of the program priorities are oriented toward more applied research.
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From page 101... ...
Second, and most importantly, the MRP is a logical organization to conduct this activity because it already focuses on economy and public policy, whereby information on land stewardship, and material flows and other vital information are provided to government policy makers for responsible management of public lands. The MRP also possesses a vast array of tools and technologies (e.g., modeling, data integration, sophisticated analytical capabilities, and partnering experience with other agencies and organizations)
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From page 102... ...
Because a major issue with in-pit disposal of solid wastes is the potential for impacts to ground water, MRP involvement in such land-use evaluations and planning would need to be coordinated with experts from the Water Resources Division. Regulatory and liability issues are also involved with in-pit solid waste disposal and necessitate close collaboration with relevant land owners or land management agencies; federal, state, and local regulatory authorities; and mining companies.
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From page 103... ...
Assays as well as representative rock and core samples should be archived and located within the threedimensional digital GIS archive, preserving data and samples that are unique in space and time after mining has consumed the zone of mineralization. The MRP now has an outstanding opportunity to expand its production of timely and useful data sets by assuming a national leadership role in data mining and by creating the first national threedimensional mining district database to support broad crustal interpretation in important regions.
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From page 104... ...
The United States has approached a crossroads that will determine if the crustal geological context of mineral resources will finally be illuminated by digitizing and incorporating mine data into the national mapping data base. Such "data mining" is more than plotting deposit size and grade of ore deposits in relation to crustal geological features, but rather the incorporation of all aspects of ore deposits (parent intrusives, sedimentary basins, vein and fault patterns, wall rock alteration, and exposure history)
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From page 105... ...
In some cases, districts outside of the United States may have the best deposits for study. Projects selected for the MRP team should focus on those that provide information that is needed for setting government policies and for supporting land management work in other agencies.
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From page 106... ...
The MRP already examines mineral resources availability for the future and thus has a unique perspective on the types of technology needed to assess and process these resources. The objective would be to bridge the gap between purely basic academic and purely applied industry research by conducting projects that focus on the development and application of novel approaches to solving minerals- and mining-based problems that are not typically within the capabilities or scope of industrial research and development departments.
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From page 107... ...
The committee believes that the MRP should play a major role in sustainable land-use planning by providing scientific and technical leadership in the evaluation of national mineral resources with the objective of facilitating improved land management decisions. The MRP should explore new state and local partnerships where appropriate.
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From page 108... ...
Program and Project Planning The first step in the implementation is to ensure that the mission statement of the MRP is consistent with the mission of the USGS. The next step is the development of a new vision statement for MRP that encompasses portions of the existing program that would continue and incorporates the thrust of newly defined program areas.
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From page 109... ...
Project proposals, submitted by MRP staff or outside participants, must be subjected to external review to ensure that they meet program objectives and other criteria set forth in the program and project plans. Adoption of an expanded set of programmatic areas may lead to new collaborations.
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From page 110... ...
The principal advantages of an external grants program are new opportunities for broad-based collaboration, which would leverage expertise across a broad spectrum of researchers, and increased communication with the external research community that would contribute to improved program and project planning. The main disadvantages are possible quality control and quality assurance issues that could undermine data quality and integrity, potential loss of timeliness in project completion, and possible distortion of the MRP mission.
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From page 111... ...
As the MRP evolves to meet the nation's changing needs for minerals science and information, so must its workforce. High-quality personnel are essential for developing high-quality minerals science and information; therefore, the committee urges the MRP to devote substantial efforts to recruiting and retaining excellent staff.
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From page 112... ...
environmental stewardship with special emphasis on developing postmine land-use alternatives integrating GISbased information from mines and urban planners and addressing unique environmental issues associated with mine closures, (2) data integration and data mining that accentuate the capture and storage of irreplaceable mining district data and the use of such archived data for creating the first national three-dimensional database in support of crustal interpretation, (3)
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From page 113... ...
Envisioning the Future Mineral Resources Program 113 velop specific program and project planning processes that include external reviews, ensure that projects fit with the USGS and MRP missions, and specifically respond to priority issues defined by Congress. The committee urges the MRP to devote substantial efforts to recruiting and retaining staff for new program areas and also to look to interagency and university employee exchanges and an external grants program to gain the necessary expertise.
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From page 114... ...
The committee believes that the MRP should play a major role in sustainable land-use planning by providing scientific and technical leadership in the evaluation of national mineral resources with the objective of facilitating improved land management decisions. The MRP should explore new state and local partnerships where appropriate.
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