Preservation accessibility of west virginia geological samples and analysis of critical minerals samples FY2025PROJECT period: 5 1 2025 through 4 30 2027DESCRIPTION of project purpose: priority 2:…

The West Virginia Geological Economic Survey received a $147,142.30 Project Grant award from the U.S. Geological Survey under the National Geological and Geophysical Data Preservation Program (CFDA 15.814) to support two key objectives:

1. Purchase a new benchtop X-ray diffraction device to collect analytical data on potential critical mineral resources from the agency's legacy geological samples. This equipment will enhance the WVGES's capabilities to characterize and preserve critical mineral data.

2. Prepare and submit 300 critical mineral samples from the state's geological collections for whole-rock and trace element geochemical analyses at the USGS Geology, Geophysics, and Geochemistry Science Data Center. All resulting geochemical data will be made publicly available.

The 2-year project period runs from May 1, 2025 through April 30, 2027, with the goal of improving access to West Virginia's geological data and critical mineral resources to support scientific research, economic development, and infrastructure planning.

Activities

Priority 2: the recipient will purchase of a benchtop x-RAY diffraction device to collect analytical data on potential critical mineral resources. Priority 3: prepare and submit 300 samples for geochemical analysesdeliverables and expected outcomes: the x-RAY diffraction device will greatly enhance the capabilities of wvges to collect analytical data on potential critical mineral resources. All geochemical data processed by USGS under priority 3 will be publicly available. All projects will have required metadata submitted to rescicoll.intended beneficiary(IES): the west virginia geological economic survey strives to make legacy and modern data accessible not only to our own researchers but also to any entity that can utilize these materialsand data to further the geological knowledge of the state, region, and country.

Subrecipient activities

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