21st FREIBERG SHORT COURSE IN ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
Carbonatites and their Critical Mineral Systems
Short course: December 1 - 4 2026, Freiberg, Germany
Post-course field trip: 5 December 2026 Core workshop
MORE DETAILS COMING SOON
When: 1 - 5 December 2026
Where: TU Bergakademie, TBA
Co-organisator: HIF
Registration: Opens in Summer 2026 - Closes 31.10.2026
First come first serve! Participation fees detailed below.
Contact: Questions about the upcoming course? Please contact either Kathleen-Alexandra [dot] Smart [at] extern [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de (Dr. Katie Smart) or sebastian [dot] tappe [at] mineral [dot] tu-freiberg [dot] de (Prof. Dr. Sebastian Tappe)
Lecturers:
Prof. Dr. Max Schmidt, ETH Zurich
Prof. Micheal Anenburg, Australian National University
Prof. Wei Chen, China University of Geosciences
Dr. Michael Marks, Universität Tübingen
Dr. Benjamin Walter, Universität Tübingen
Dr Nolwenn Coint, Geological Survey of Norway
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Tappe, TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Target group:
The course is open for all to attend, and we strongly recommend a fundamental background in geosciences. We welcome Bachelor and Master students, PhD students, as well as Postdocs, Senior Scientists and Industry Representatives.
Travel to Freiberg (Saxony):
Freiberg is a university town located in Saxony. Freiberg is easily accessed by train, and the main train station is Bahnhof, Freiberg (Sachsen) (find connections on bahn.de). If you wish to fly, the closest airports include Dresden (S-Bahn and train connection to Freiberg), Berlin (2.5 hour train or bus via Dresden) or Leipzig-Halle (1.5 hour train via Chemnitz).
Accommodation:
We recommend booking early due to the popularity of the local Christmas market in December. Please find a list of hotels here: download here.
2026 Speakers:
Prof. Dr. Max Schmidt, ETH Zurich
TBA
Dr. Michael Anenburg, The Australian National University
Michael Anenburg is a research fellow at the Australian National University and an SEG Lindgren Fellow. He is an experimental petrologist with a keen interest in carbonatites, magmatic sulfides and PGE systems, and other exotic high temperature systems. He specialises in rare earth elements as an ore and as a tool, and develops computational methods for these and for thermodynamics.
Prof Dr. (APL) Michael A. W. Marks, Universität Tübingen
Prof Dr. (APL) Michael A. W. Marks is senior researcher at the University of Tübingen with a focus on the petrology, geochemsitry and mineralogy of alkaline rocks and carbonatites. He has worked on numerous field projects from Greenland to northern Europe, Russia and the East African Rift. Michael’s interest cover a wide range of topics, including peralkaline magma evolution, the behavior of volatiles in magmas and minerals, trace-element chemistry as petrogenetic indicators in igneous rocks, phase equilibria, and stable-isotope systematics in magmatic systems.
Prof. Wei Chen, China University of Geosciences
Wei Chen received her BSc degree in Environmental Science from Nanjing University in 2010, and her PhD in Geology from the University of Notre Dame, USA, in 2014. She is currently a Professor of Geochemistry and Economic Geology at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan). Her research focuses on carbonatites and alkaline rocks, their associated critical metal resources, and the development of microanalytical techniques.
Dr. Benjamin Florian Walter, Universität Tübingen
Dr. Benjamin Florian Walter is a senior researcher, and laboratory manager in the Petrology and Mineral Resources Group at the University of Tübingen. His research focuses on carbonatite and alkaline rock petrology, economic geology, sedimentary geochemistry and petrology, and non-magmatic hydrothermal mineralization with a focus on processes involving critical metals. Ben authored more than 75 peer-reviewed publications and consulted for industry and public authorities. He led several projects on carbonatites and alkaline silicate systems funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and has extensive field experience in Southern Africa. He participated in the HiTech AlkCarb Project and is Co-Investigator of the Malawi-based Songwe Hill ICDP REE‑DRILL Project. His work applies an integrated analytical approach combining petrography, fluid inclusion microthermometry, micro-Raman spectroscopy, electron microprobe analysis, LA-ICP-MS, isotope geochemistry, and U-Pb geochronology. Ben received the Victor Moritz Goldschmidt Award in 2023 for his contributions to research on hydrothermal and carbonatitic fluids. He teaches at the BSc and MSc level and supervises undergraduate to doctoral students in economic geology and petrology.
Dr Nolwenn Coint, Geological Survey of Norway, Trondheim
Dr Nolwenn Coint has a background in igneous petrology and geochemistry and is a researcher at the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), in the Mineral Resources section. She integrates field and petrological observations, together with mineral chemistry, to reconstruct the evolution of magmatic reservoirs and understand the formation of associated ore deposits.
She has worked with a range of intrusive systems:
- Jurassic calc-alkaline Cordilleran batholiths (PhD project, California, USA)
- Proterozoic AMCG (Anorthosite, Mangerite, Charnockite, Granite) suites - Rogaland and Vesterålen-Lofoten AMCG suites and their related Fe-Ti-P mineralizations (Norway)
- Permian alkaline intrusions -Oslo rift and related Fe-Ti-P and Nb-Zr-REE mineralizations (Norway)
Lately, she has focused more closely on understanding the evolution of the Fen alkaline and carbonatite complex and the formation of associated mineralizations, including the largest REE deposit in Europe.
Prof Dr. Sebastian Tappe, TU Bergakademie Freiberg
Sebastian Tappe is a professor of economic geology and petrology at the Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg in Germany. Prior to this very recent appointment, he held faculty positions in these disciplines at the University of Johannesburg and at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. He also had industry stints with De Beers Exploration in Toronto and Johannesburg as a specialist in petrology and geochemistry. Sebastian is interested in a range of magmatic and magmatic-hydrothermal mineralization types, ranging from primary diamond deposits through Li-pegmatites to base-metal sulfide deposits. His current research focusses on the geodynamic evolution and petrology of critical metals endowed carbonatites worldwide.
