Biography:
Maxwell is an M.Sc. student in geological sciences at the University of British Columbia (UBC). His research focuses on the magmatic-hydrothermal evolution of the Camp Creek Cu-Au-Ag-Mo porphyry deposit in BC’s Northwest Region as part of the collaborative BC Porphyry Project at Mineral Deposit Research Unit During his B.Sc. in exploration geology at Cardiff University, UK, he investigated analytical methods testing soil geochemistry for gold exploration in Wales with Sarn Helen Gold. Maxwell worked previously at Anglo American and now works at Brixton Metals as part of his M.Sc. research. Maxwell is the current UBC Society of Economic Geologists (SEG) Chapter President, a team member of the SEG Discovery to Recovery Podcast team and the Chair of the global SEG Students Committee. Maxwell wants to pursue a career in the mining industry to help source critical minerals needed for the green energy transition, with the desire to become a leader in the field and provide opportunities for other students to develop their interest in geoscience.
Project: The Magmatic-Hydrothermal Evolution of the Calc-Alkalic Cu-Au-Ag-Mo Camp Creek Porphyry Deposit, Northern British Columbia
Porphyry deposits are a significant potential source of critical metals for new technologies (e.g., copper, gold, molybdenum). As the majority of near-surface porphyries have been discovered, developing tools for investigating ‘blind’ subsurface porphyry deposits is vital to meet increasing global resource demand. This project focuses on characterizing the alteration, mineralization, and timescales of magmatism in the Late Cretaceous calc-alkalic Cu-Au-Ag-Mo Camp Creek porphyry deposit located within the Stikine terrane in northwest BC. This research integrates petrography, Micro x-ray fluorescence element mapping, shortwave infrared studies, U-Pb geochronology, and whole rock geochemistry, and will contribute insights into potential geochemical vectors for discovering blind porphyry Cu-Au-Mo-Ag mineralization essential to sourcing critical metals for the green energy transition. Project outputs will focus on improving the classification of different porphyritic intrusions and cross-cutting relationships in porphyry deposit formation, with the goal of determining if favourable porphyry characteristics can be recognized at surface.
