Project Grant 2554199

The National Science Foundation Office of Integrative Activities awarded $452,464 to the Trustees of The Colorado School of Mines on August 1, 2026, for a project grant focused on relative timing and temperature of copper mineralization in porphyry deposits.

The project investigates earth processes that result in the formation of economic porphyry copper resources, which represent the world's dominant source of copper as a critical mineral. The Colorado School of Mines team will use the large undeveloped Copper Creek copper resource in Arizona as a case study site to determine the conditions necessary for copper to form economic accumulations. Work includes field investigations—mapping and core logging to establish an integrated framework—complemented by microscale investigations employing optical petrography and cathodoluminescence microscopy to constrain temporal and paragenetic relationships. Laboratory investigations will employ fluid inclusion analysis combined with mineral stability constraints from alteration assemblages to establish the physiochemical conditions of ore deposition. The project will update the predictive mineral system model describing the spatiotemporal interplay of geological processes resulting in porphyry copper deposit formation and will provide training for STEM graduate students and a postdoctoral scholar. Work is being conducted in cooperation with an industry partner. Performance occurs at Golden, Colorado, with a period of performance from August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2029, under the NSF Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050).