Profile
Ben Snook
Postgraduate
PhD research student
Applied Geology and Mineralogy
Project Title
Towards exploration tools for high purity quartz and rare metals in the South Norwegian Bamble-Evje pegmatite belt
Supervisors
Dr. Axel Müller (NGU)
Dr. Ben Williamson (CSM)
Prof. Frances Wall (CSM)
Research interests:
- Pegmatite genesis, crystallisation and mineralisation histories
- The formation of high purity quartz and REE minerals from fractionated fluids
- Nickel laterites; formation, mineralisation, analysis and extraction
Awards, Fellowships, Grants
- Primary PhD funding jointly provided by CSM and the Norwegian Geological Survey (NGU)
- Additional funding provided by The Geological Society, London (the Annie Greenly Fund), the Society of Economic Geologists (SEG; the Hugh E. McKinstry Fund) and the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IoM3; the Edgar Pam Fellowship)
Biography
September 2010 to present: MPhil in Earth Resources, Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter
January 2010 to July 2010: Junior Geologist in a Brazilian gold exploration project, Horizonte Minerals
September 2008 to September 2009: MSc Mining Geology, Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter
June 2008 to September 2008: Junior Geologist in a Brazilian iron ore exploration project, Zamin Resources
2005 to 2008: BSc Applied Geology, Camborne School of Mines, University of Exeter
Industrial Associations / Accreditations
Master of the Camborne School of Mines
Fellow of the Geological Society of London
Member of the SEG
Graduate Member of the IoM3
Publications
Andersen, J.C.O., Rollinson, G.K., Snook, B., Herrington, R. & Fairhurst, R.J. 2009. Use of QEMSCAN® for the characterization of Ni-rich and Ni-poor goethite in laterite ores. Minerals Engineering, 22, 1119–1129
Recent Conferences Attended
Poster presentation at MDSG 2011 (Imperial)
Poster presentation at PEG 2011; 5th International Symposium on Granitic Pegmatites (Mendoza and environs, Argentina)
Previous Project Titles
- “The characterisation of nickel laterites using QEMSCAN® automated mineralogy” 2008 BSc dissertation
- “Profiling Ni-bearing silicate phases in lateritised material using QEMSCAN® automated mineralogy” 2009 MSc dissertation