Posted on behalf of Tania Martins: Hello all! Geoconvention will be held in Calgary May 11-13, 2020. We will be organizing a special session focusing on Critical metals and raw materials that might be of interest to you. Deadline for abstract submission is January 15th, 2020. Contact Tania Martins ( tania.martins@gov.mb.ca<mailto:tania.martins@gov.mb.ca> ) if you have any questions regarding this special session. Critical metals and raw materials: research, exploration and production Critical metals and raw materials are crucial to Canada's economy and security. This is also true to many other countries. Both the European commission and the USGS publish lists of these critical metals subject to a regular review and update. These critical metals fuel our society and have a variety of uses in industry, manufacturing, modern technology, and the environment due to the use of raw materials in the so called clean or low carbon technologies (e.g., solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles). Critical metals and raw materials are mineral commodities that have important uses and no readily available substitutes, and can face potential disruption in supply. Graphite, cobalt, lithium, rare‐earth‐elements and tantalum are a few examples. Their importance also varies with time since a mineral commodity may have been considered critical 20 years ago but may not be critical now, and one considered critical now may not be so in the future. For this session, we call for a pooling of critical and raw materials expertise to outline the current status of Canadian and international research, exploration and production projects. We would like to have a mix of contributions from all research fields, from field‐based, analytical to experimental or theoretical. More information: https://geoconvention.com/<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__geoconvention.com_&d=DwMFaQ&c=qKdtBuuu6dQK9MsRUVJ2DPXW6oayO8fu4TfEHS8sGNk&r=ZmOsylkBnBBfcI7m1kIn2w&m=QbfTBVZwJb8JQ4PaeXjzSFq6C4Jul4c7j-2moKA2CdA&s=K1bGnYro-HR5fRlpq1Jh6_lOU2Fvq_6_-8hgptrvlUg&e=> https://geoconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/documentation/2020/2020_Session_Outline_Guide.pdf<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__geoconvention.com_wp-2Dcontent_uploads_documentation_2020_2020-5FSession-5FOutline-5FGuide.pdf&d=DwMFaQ&c=qKdtBuuu6dQK9MsRUVJ2DPXW6oayO8fu4TfEHS8sGNk&r=ZmOsylkBnBBfcI7m1kIn2w&m=QbfTBVZwJb8JQ4PaeXjzSFq6C4Jul4c7j-2moKA2CdA&s=yrS0T3qmTKbWlu3P8GhLROwF5-PVcpwQ1v23nDhXjXc&e=> David London School of Geosciences, University of Oklahoma 100 East Boyd Street, Room 710 Sarkeys Energy Center Norman, Oklahoma 73019 (405) 325 3253 (o), (405) 325 3140 (f) Pegmatite Interest Group: www.minsocam.org/msa/Special/Pig/