SEG Distinguished Lecturer

The SEG Distinguished Lecturer is selected on the basis of preeminence in economic geology, either on some phase of scientific research or on the application of the science to minerals exploration and/or development. One or two lectures are presented at regularly scheduled SEG conferences. This lecturer may or may not be available to accept additional requests.

HeadshotDavid Holwell

SEG Fellow


  Talk Titles

  • Unconventional Magmatic Sulfide Systems: Looking Outside of the Box for the Next New Ni-Cu-PGE Discovery
  • Tracing Metal Fluxing Through the Lithosphere from Magmatic Sulfide Through Porphyry to Epithermal
  • The Northern Limb of the Bushveld Complex: New Developments in the World’s Most Valuable Ore Deposit
  • Porphyry Fertility Starts in the Lower Crustal Goldilocks Zone

  Biography

David Holwell is an associate professor in applied geology in the Centre for Sustainable Resource Extraction at the University of Leicester, UK. He completed his Ph.D. research at Cardiff University on the Platreef deposit in the Bushveld Complex, and, after three years working as a consultant exploration geologist on a range of commodities across the globe for SRK Exploration Services, he joined Leicester in 2009. His main research areas focus on magmatic ore deposits, especially Ni-Cu-Co-platinum group element (PGE) sulfides, including PGE deposits in the Bushveld and Skaergaard Complexes, and a range of Ni-Cu sulfide systems across the globe, with a specialization in southern Africa. He has led, and been involved in, numerous projects funded by NERC in the UK and by global industry, including BHP and Anglo American, that apply fundamental geoscience to exploration targeting and the understanding of orebodies and the crustal cycling and concentration of critical metals required for the energy transition. Most recently, he has been researching more unconventional Ni-Cu-Co-PGE-Te systems and investigating the links between the magmatic sulfide mineral system and porphyry epithermal deposits at a translithospheric scale. He is a Fellow of the SEG and an Associate Editor of Economic Geology, most recently guest editing the Special Issue in memory of the late Tony Naldrett.