My geological and research interests are in the field of ore genesis, in particular the processes by which mineral deposits form and the factors that control their distribution in space and time. I have worked on many of the great mineral districts of the African continent (Witwatersrand Basin; Bushveld Complex; Central African Copperbelt; Birimian gold deposits of West Africa) but my principal expertise is in granite petrogenesis and associated mineral deposits. At the present time my research is focused on:-
- Tectonics and metallogeny of SE Asia – with co-workers Mike Searle and Nick Gardiner we have been studying the relationships between Tethyan orogenesis and the formation of the diverse, but generally granite-hosted, mineral deposits of the Malaysian peninsula and Myanmar/Burma.
- Geology, tectonic setting and metallogeny of the Reguibat Shield in Western Sahara – this project is aimed at unravelling the geological evolution and mineral deposit setting of one of the most remote and least-studied terranes in the World, and is carried out in collaboration with Caedmon Marriott of Hanno Resources and Joshua Combs (DPhil student).
- Petrogenesis and metallogeny of the felsic rocks of the Bushveld Complex, South Africa. With co-workers Judith Kinnaird and Paul Nex of CIMERA, University of the Witwatersrand, we are studying the petrogenesis of the fertile A-type granitoids of the Bushveld Complex and in particular the relationships between the intrusive and extrusive components of this large igneous province and the processes by which innumerable poly-metallic, IOCG-like mineral occurrences have formed.
