Student: Geoff Heggie

Thesis: Behaviour of Platinum-Group Elements in Komatiites: Implications for the Scale of Nickel-Sulphide Ore Formation Process

This PhD project, which will conclude in March 2010, investigated the scale of the vertical and lateral variation of the geochemical signature associated with nickel-sulfide ore-forming processes in variably mineralised komatiites. The study focused on a range of variables: emplacement style, volcanological facies, mineralisation style, age, and komatiite geochemistry. The outcomes of this study, which will soon be published in leading scientific journals, benefitted the resource industry and the scientific community with a large body of high-precision platinum-group element data.