-Critical Minerals matter-

Dr. Behnam Sadeghi is a Geoscientist with a focus on mineral exploration, specifically Critical Minerals. After receiving his MSc and BSc degrees in Mining Exploration Engineering overseas, Behnam was awarded his Ph.D. in Geosciences from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, in June 2020. He was subsequently employed by the EarthByte Group at the University of Sydney (USYD) as a Research Fellow. Then in 2021, by securing his position at the EarthByte Group as the Honorary Research Fellow, also as a Visiting Research Fellow at the Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre (ESSRC) at UNSW, Behnam joined the mineral industry in Perth, WA, to extend his network with both academia and the industry, collaborate with stakeholders, and find a clear idea about the current requirements in the industry that could be improved by geoscientists.

In December 2021, he was awarded a Fulbright Future Postdoctoral Scholarship (funded by The Kinghorn Foundation) to be hosted by Carnegie Institution for Science, Earth and Planets Laboratory (EPL), Washington, D.C., and partly by Stanford University, School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, California, for sustainable mineral exploration on the Earth and the other planets (e.g., Mars).

As one of his main fields of expertise integrated with geosciences, he has developed several novel multifractal classification models to classify anomalies. For this work, he received the first "Founders Scholarship" award of the International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG) in 2020, now being presented annually to the most outstanding student or post-graduate scientist in the field of Geosciences. In Dec 2022, due to his achievements in both academia (research and teaching) and the industry as a senior geologist, he received the IAMG 2023 Andrei Borisovich Vistelius Research Award. This award is given to a young scientist biennially for promising contributions to research in the application of mathematics or informatics in any field of the earth sciences by IAMG. Behnam is the first Australian recipient of this award.

Behnam is the youngest Associate Editor of ‘Ore Geology Reviews’, ‘Geochemistry/Chemie der Erde’, and ‘Ore and Energy Resource Geology’, and the Editorial Board of ‘Earth Science Informatics’, 'Minerals', and ‘Mining’. He was the lead-convener of a session in “SGA 2021” (postponed to March 2022) in New Zealand (SGA: Society of Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits) with co-conveners from Australia and China, and the co-organizer of MinProXT-2022 conference. He was also the lead-convener of a session in “EGU 2023” with co-conveners from the US (Carnegie Institution for Science and University of Idaho), and the lead-convener of a session in “IAMG 2023” with co-conveners from UK and Ireland. He was also the lead-guest editor of the special issue of the journal of ‘Geochemistry/Chemie der Erde’, 2021, entitled: Mineral exploration: a journey from fieldwork to lab work, computational modeling and mineral processing. He is currently leading a Special Issue for the journal ‘Geochemistry/Chemie der Erde’ entitled: 'Critical Minerals: Current Perspectives', 2023, with co-guest editors from Italy, India and USA; and one Special Issue for the journal Minerals (July 2022 to 30 Jun 2023: deadline), entitled: Advanced Data Analytics in Earth and Environmental Sciences, with co-guest editors from Australia (USYD and Rio Tinto). Also, currently he serves as the co-guest editor of a Special Issue for the journal ‘Geochemistry/Chemie der Erde’ entitled: 'AI-Driven Mineral Exploration.'

Behnam has a long industry experience in Australia and overseas as a junior/senior geologist (GIS and data analysis) and consultant, and he has collaborated with a variety of research institutes, mining and geology companies as well as several geological surveys, e.g., several ASX companies in WA, Geological Surveys of Sweden, Cyprus, Iran, North Ireland, and research institutes in Australia, US, UK, Canada, China, Kazakhstan, Ireland, India, Germany, Morocco, Italy, Spain, etc. That is why Behnam was awarded the fellowships of the Association of Applied Geochemists (FAAG), the Australian Institute of Geoscientists (FAIG), and the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (FAusIMM). Behnam is also AIG’s Registered Professional Geoscientist (RPGeo).

MEMBERSHIP IN ASSOCIATIONS

     o   The American Geophysical Union (AGU). 

     o   The Geological Society of America (GSA).

     o   The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM): Fellow.

     o   The Australian Institute of Geosciences (AIG): Fellow and RPGeo.

     o   European Geosciences Union (EGU).

     o   Society for Geology Applied to Mineral Deposits (SGA).

     o   Geological Society of Australia (GSA).

     o International Association for Mathematical Geosciences (IAMG): Lifetime member.

     o   The IAMG Outreach Committee Member.

     o   The Association of Applied Geochemists (AAG): Fellow.

     o   Fulbright Australia.

     o   Engineers Australia (EA).

     o   Mental Health First Aid Australia.