Courses Taught

Undergraduate Courses

CSM 101 - Freshman Orientation and Success (0.5 semester hours) Introduction to resources and activities at Colorado School of Mines as well as the range of majors available to students. GEGN 401 - Mineral Deposits (4 semester hours - lecture + lab; Senior Year class) Introductory presentation of magmatic, hydrothermal, and sedimentary metallic and nonmetallic ore deposits and the analytical techniques used to study them. Chemical, petrologic, structural, and sedimentological processes that contribute to ore formation. Description of classic deposits and districts representing individual deposit types. Review of exploration techniques. Laboratory consists of hand specimen study of host rock and ore mineral suites and mineral deposit evaluation problems. Prerequisites: GEGN 316 (Field Geology) and DCGN 209 (Introduction to Thermodynamics).

GEGN 404 - Ore Microscopy (3 semester hours - lecture + lab; Senior Year or Graduate level class) Identification of ore minerals using reflected light microscopy, microhardness, and reflectivity techniques. Petrographic analysis of ore textures and their significance. Guided research on the ore mineralogy and ore textures of classic ore deposits. Prerequisites: GEGN 306 (Petrology), GEGN 401 (Mineral Deposits), or permission of the instructors. Recently this class has been taught as a short course with Dr. John Lufkin.

Graduate Courses

GEOL 515 - Advanced Mineral Deposits - Magmatic and Syngenetic Ores (3 semester hours - lecture + lab) The economic geology of magmatic deposits (Ni, Cu, Co, PGE, Ti, Fe, V), volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits, sediment-hosted ore deposits (Mississippi Valley-type Zn-Pb; Irish-type Zn-Pb; Isa-type Zn-Pb; Broken Hill-type Zn-Pb; shale-hosted "Sedex" Zn-Pb deposits; red bed copper deposits), iron oxide-Cu-Au-U-LREE deposits; placer and paleoplacer deposits; and iron formations. Emphasis on developing geological and geochemical models for ore deposition. This class commonly involves a research project done in teams on different deposits - in the last few years projects have included: Zambian Copperbelt deposits, Baja California IOCG deposits, Kalengwa Cu-Ag deposit (Zambia); and the Lupoto Cu-Co deposit (Congo). Prerequisite: GEGN 401 or equivalent.   GEOL 518 - Mineral Exploration (3 semester hours - lecture + lab) taught with Dr. Graham Closs. Mineral industry overview, deposit economics, target selection, deposit modeling, exploration technology, international exploration, environmental issues, program planning, proposal development. Team development and presentation of an exploration proposal. Prerequisite: GEOL 515, GEOL 516, or equivalent.

GEOL 598A - Field Methods in Economic Geology (2 semester hours - lecture + lab)
Field methods for examination of metallic mineral deposits. Course includes underground mapping at the Edgar test mine; drill core logging; chip logging; and surface field mapping in the Idaho Springs district. Mapping and logging focuses on hydrothermal alteration and sulfide mineralization.

GEOL 643 - Economic Geology Field Trip (1 to 3 semester hours depending on amount of lecture time and pre- and post-trip projects) Field trips to visit mines and mineral districts. Trip to visit Nevada precious metals deposits every other fall semester (led by Dr. S. Romberger). Trip to other mineral districts in the United States in alternate fall semesters (led by Dr. M. Hitzman) - trip in 1997 to the SE Missouri lead and iron oxide district; 1999 trip to New Jersey and New York (Franklin and Adirondacks). Spring semester trips include: 1998 Hemlo, Sudbury and Noranda districts, Canada (led by Dr. R. W. Hutchinson and Dr. G. Closs); 1999 Transect Across the Andes - northern Chile and Argentina (led by Dr. M. W. Hitzman); 2001 British Columbia and NW USA; 2002 Death Valley region; 2006 Brazil (Carajas and central Brazil). Many field trips include mapping and/or drill logging exercises at one or more mines. (click here to see a sample of past field trips)

GEOL 616 - Advanced Mineral Deposits (2 to 3 semester hours) Seminar in specific topic in economic geology. Topic chosen depending on interest of graduate students and faculty. 1997: Structural Geology of Ore Deposits (Dr. M. Hitzman and Dr. E. Nelson).