Nigel Cook

Professor Nigel Cook

Grant-Funded Researcher (E)

School of Chemical Engineering

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Nigel Cook is a mineralogist-geologist with research interests in complex ore deposits, sulphide mineralogy, geochemistry, mineral processing and geometallurgy. He obtained his PhD from the University of London, U.K. in 1988. He has worked in Canada, Germany and Norway before joining The University of Adelaide in 2009. He served as Director of the ARC Research Hub for Australian Copper-Uranium and is currently Director of the PRIF RCP Industry Consortium 'Unlocking Complex Resources through Lean Processing'. Nigel is Past President of the International Association on the Genesis of Ore Deposits (IAGOD) and was Editor-in-Chief of Ore Geology Reviews between 2003 and 2011. In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious Kutina-Smirnov Medal "in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field of economic geology". Nigel has three times (2020, 2022, and 2023) been named as "Australia's research lead in mineralogy and geochemistry" (The Australian newspaper).

Research interests: sulphide mineralogy; distribution of trace elements in ore systems; geometallurgy, solid solution, mechanisms of trace element incorporation; location and migration pathways of radionuclides in sulphide ores; strategic elements, rare earth elements; uranium mineralogy; LA-ICP-MS microanalysis, South Australian Cu-AU-Au ores

2016-2020 Australian Research Council Research Hub for Australian Copper-Uranium, co-funded by BHP Olympic Dam, OZ Minerals, and the South Australian Mining and Petroleum Services Centre of Excellence

2016-2020 The FOX project project (Trace Elements in Iron Oxides), supported by BHP Olympic Dam and the South Australian Mining and Petroleum Services Centre of Excellence.

2018-2020 CRC-P: 'Intelligent vision, sensing and data fusion for mining and exploration' (Total Project Value: $4,640,052)

2018-2024 PRIF RCP Industry Consortium "Unlocking Complex Resources Through Lean Processing" (Total Project Value $14.6 million)

2020- ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Integrated Operations for Complex Resources

2017, 2018, 2019

Introduction to Mineral Processing (Level 2)

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Cross-borehole seismic interferometry to interpolate rock mass and geometallurgical variables Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Amirreza Shakib
    2024 Principal Supervisor Distributions of critical minerals in ores Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Zina Habibi
    2023 Co-Supervisor Cu and Zn isotope characterisation of an IOCG: a spatially constrained pilot project at Olympic Dam Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Sumitha Gunatilake
    2022 Co-Supervisor Behaviour of Critical Metals During Smelting of Copper Concentrates from Olympic Dam Plant, South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Hassan Gezzaz
    2022 Principal Supervisor Composition and Evolution of Sulphide Assemblages from Olympic Dam, South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Samuel Anthony King
    2022 Principal Supervisor IOCG and IOA deposits from the Carajás Mineral Province: Approach from ore-forming processes/ore deposits linking textures with chemical/isotopic compositions Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Miss Yuri Tatiana Campo Rodriguez
    2022 Co-Supervisor Towards a Cislunar Macronutrients Supply Chain: Life Cycle Assessment of Microfluidic Extraction Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Mr Manuel Alejandro Varon Hoyos
    2021 Principal Supervisor Integration and analytics of drill sensor information to derive geometallurgical attributes. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Xiaomeng Gu
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2016 - 2020 Principal Supervisor Genesis of the Blackbush Uranium Deposit, South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Urs Immanuel Domnick
    2016 - 2020 Principal Supervisor The Mineralogical Deportment of Radionuclides in South Australian Cu-Au-(U) Ores Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Nicholas Daniel Owen
    2016 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Iron-Oxides in the Olympic Dam IOCG-Deposit and Adjacent Prospects, South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Max Robert Verdugo Ihl
    2016 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Deportment of radionuclides in copper concentrate from Olympic Dam Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Mark Rollog
    2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Iron-Oxides in Precambrian Banded Iron Formations of the Middleback Ranges, South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr William Mark Keyser
    2015 - 2019 Principal Supervisor Mineralogical Distributions of Radionuclides in Copper-Uranium Ores, Olympic Dam, South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Danielle Sierra Schmandt
    2014 - 2017 Principal Supervisor The Evolution of Apatite in Iron-oxide-copper-gold Mineralization of the Olympic Cu-Au Province: Unraveling Magmatic and Hydrothermal Histories through Changes in Morphology and Trace Element Chemistry Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Sasha Krneta
    2014 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Trace Element Distributions and Partitioning Trends in Hydrothermal Base Metal Sulphide Ores Comprising Sphalerite, Galena, Chalcopyrite and Tetrahedrite-Tennantite Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Luke Leslie George
    2014 - 2017 Principal Supervisor Feldspar Petrography and Geochemistry: Insights into the Magmatic-Hydrothermal Evolution of IOCG Systems from South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Dr Alkiviadis Kontonikas-Charos
    2014 - 2016 Co-Supervisor The Evolution of Uraninite, Coffinite and Brannerite from the Olympic Dam Iron Oxide-Copper-Gold-Silver-Uranium Deposit: Linking Textural Observations to Compositional Variability Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mrs Edeltraud Irene Macmillan
    2011 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Spatial-Temporal Evolution of Skarn Alteration in IOCG Systems: Evidence from Petrography, Mineral Trace Element Signatures and Fluid Inclusion Studies at Hillside, Yorke Peninsula, South Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Roniza Ismail
  • Committee Memberships

    Date Role Committee Institution Country
    2016 - 2019 Chair Commission on Ore Mineralogy International Mineralogical Association -
    2016 - ongoing Representative International Association for Genesis of Ore Deposits (IAGOD) - -
    2008 - 2012 President International Association on the Genesis of Ore Deposits (IAGOD) - -
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2016 - ongoing Associate Editor Minerals (journal) - -
    2003 - 2011 Editor-In-chief Ore Geology Reviews - -
  • Position: Grant-Funded Researcher (E)
  • Email: nigel.cook@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Santos, floor Second Floor
  • Room: 205
  • Org Unit: Mining and Petroleum Engineering

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