Earth Resources
The Earth Resources cluster conducts research on the formation and exploration of earth resources, and the sustainability of their supply and use. We consider a broad range of earth resources including rare minerals and strategic metals, groundwater, geothermal energy and the pore space for long-term CO2 storage.
While the demand for those earth resources rapidly increases due to the rise in renewable energy with battery storage, high-end computing, population growth and the need for CO2 emission abatement, the supply of those resources requires innovative science and technology enabling new discoveries. Earth resource production often bears the risk of unacceptable environmental, social and cultural impacts, requiring highly interdisciplinary and comprehensive assessments accounting for community perceptions, social and ethnic justice and techno-environmental performance at local to regional scales.
Our research has a strong focus on Australia given the importance of earth resources to its economy, however other regions of interest include South Africa, South America and Southeast Asia.
Coordinator
Ralf Haese