The course provides an introduction to the nature and formation of mineral and energy resources. It is designed for those students wishing to work in the future as professional geologists, resource engineers and in other fields of geoscience. It covers: the geological setting, characteristics and genesis of major categories of metallic resources, the nature and origin of coal-bearing sequences and the generation, migration, entrapment and degradation of petroleum. Laboratory study of hand specimens, thin and polished sections is undertaken. Exploration and development methods are described.

Note/s: Up to four days of fieldwork is a compulsory part of this course for which students will incur personal costs.