Traceability of Minerals and Metals via Geochemical Fingerprinting

Dear Colleagues,

The traceability of minerals and metals refers to the ability to identify and trace the history, location, distribution, and application of the product, part, and material in the supply chain. It is widely considered as a key enabler for pursuing UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as it ensures and enhances supply chain transparency, which is vital for mitigating economic, social, and environmental impacts alongside enormous raw material production and consumptions. The importance of mineral and metal traceability is partly reflected by various legislations mandating the disclosure of information about raw materials such as the European Raw Material Act (2023).

Using geochemical and isotopic signatures of ore minerals and refined metals have been demonstrated as a potential tool for upstream traceability (the so-called 3TG conflict minerals, Franken et al., 2012, Geoscientific and Societal Challenges, pp.213‒227) and even whole-chain traceability (lithium, Desaulty et al., 2022, Nature Communications, 13, p.4172). A similar concept has been widely adopted in provenancing metal artefacts in archaeology. In these successful studies, three types of knowledge are fundamental, deposit-scale homogeneity, global-scale uniqueness, and along-chain trackability. Homogeneity means that the target geochemical signatures should be invariable across different generations (time) and locations (space) within the ore minerals; uniqueness means the signatures of the target deposit should be distinctive compared to other deposit worldwide; trackability means that the signatures should be conservative along the supply chains.

With a mounting interest in raw material traceability, it is reckoned that more proof-of-concept studies should be carried out. This Special Issue, “Traceability of Minerals and Metals via geochemical fingerprinting”, is specifically devoted to such proof-of-concept studies. It is hoped that this SI may provide the first opportunity of its kind for communicating and publishing novel results on mineral and metal traceability.

The SI will welcome all submissions concerning traceability concept and techniques, but a preference will be given to mineral deposit studies and geometallurgy that address the deposit-scale homogeneity and along-chain trackability issues. The SI has no preferences about the raw material under study. The material could be critical or strategic or neither, and it could be industrial metals, construction materials, or even gemstones.

Dr. Xuan Liu
Dr. Iryna Makarava
Guest Editors

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• traceability
• mineral deposit
• geochemical fingerprinting
• isotopic tracing
• geometallurgy
• supply transparency