College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University

Gold rush

In his own version of the old gold rushes, geology's Paul Spry travels the world searching for gold.

Like the prospectors of the past, Paul Spry is searching for gold.

But unlike those prospectors who may have only gone to California, Alaska or South Africa, Spry, professor and chair of the department of geological and atmospheric sciences, is searching for (and researching) gold deposits in Wyoming, Montana, Nevada, Alaska, Australia and Fiji.

Spry's original research focused on lead zinc deposits. But it was while he was at the Iowa State geology field station in northwestern Wyoming one summer that he first became interested in gold deposits.

"I now have a long-term project (eight to nine years in the making) during which I have looked at a special type of gold deposit in Montana," he said. "It has expanded into those other geographic regions as well."

Spry's research interests are in economic geology and mineralogy and include the geochemistry of metallic and non-metallic deposits. He is particularly interested in the petrological, mineralogical, stable isotope and fluid inclusion characteristics of epithermal and mesothermal gold deposits.

His work in Montana, Alaska, Australia and Fiji concerns the origin of gold telluride deposits.

"There are large amounts of gold associated with tellurium in these locations," Spry said.

In fact, the largest gold vein in the world (Kalgoorlie in Australia) contains gold tellurides. Spry said estimates indicate there are 62 million ounces of gold in that location. He is also working on the large Emperor gold telluride deposit (11.5 million ounces) in Fiji.

Spry has graduate assistants in both locations conducting research.

While the gold formed in tellurium is not as "pure" as the more traditional gold found during the old gold rushes or currently in South Africa, it is still much more valuable than the tellurium it formed with. But gold isn't necessarily found when tellurium is discovered.

So Spry's research strives to answer two questions -

* How do these gold telluride deposits form?; and,

* How can companies find more gold.

"Exploration is critical for companies," Spry said. "We're trying to determine what we can from the areas where we find both tellurium and gold. What can we see from these rocks that will make it easier to predict where gold can be found?"

Mining companies continue to rely on researchers and experts like Spry. But they also employ individual prospectors to find new gold discoveries. Not unlike the gold rushes of the old days.

"Small companies will find a deposit and sell the rights to a bigger company," Spry said. "There is still a gold rush. But it's a rush of companies, not individuals."

Still it's the individuals he meets that is one of the reasons why Spry's interest in geology continues.

"You meet a lot of incredibly interesting people," he said. "All the prospectors and geologists have a story to tell. I have been lucky to meet and work with a lot of people with a whole bunch of different backgrounds. Geologists are a fun-loving bunch. We have a certain pioneering spirit."

You would have to have a pioneering spirit when you travel to some of the remote locations Spry goes to while researching gold deposits. In Fiji, the Emperor mine is located on the edge of an old volcano. Temperatures in the mine can reach up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit with 90 percent humidity.

"Personally that was the most uncomfortable I've ever been," Spry said. "But it's always satisfying to find something."

Especially if it's gold.