About Us
The Sediment-Hosted Mineral Systems research team sits within CSIRO’s Mineral Resources - Discovery Program
Dr Susanne Schmid
- Dr Susanne Schmid is a principal geologist with 20 years’ experience in mineral exploration, mining industry and government. She worked in greenfield exploration across Greenland, Africa and Australia with focus on sediment-hosted mineral systems and adaptation of petroleum exploration techniques to mineral exploration. Her particular interest is in diagenesis and sedimentology.
- Primary Emailsusanne.schmid@csiro.au
Dr Chirantan Parui
- Dr. Chirantan Parui, a structural geologist, joined the CSIRO Mineral Resources as a CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Fellow in March 2023. His research focuses on understanding the kinematic and mechanical evolution of orogenic belts and sedimentary basins, integrating high-resolution geological mapping, laboratory analysis, and kinematic modelling.
- Primary Emailchirantan.parui@csiro.au
Dr Val Zuchuat
- Field sedimentologist, basin analysist, and sequence stratigrapher, incorporating numerical methods into research. My research is focusing on the continental to shallow-marine transition zone, and how these systems respond and record the signature of autogenic and allogenic forcings. I am hoping to incorporate and apply a lot of these concepts for mineral exploration in sedimentary basins.
- Primary Emailval.zuchuat@csiro.au
Dr Giovanni Spampinato
- Giovanni is a structural geophysicist with expertise in processing and interpretation of geological and geophysical data, and 3D modelling & inversion. Giovanni’s focus is on integration of geophysics with other geospatial datasets to improve the understanding of geological terranes undercover and associated mineral systems. His interests include creating new methodologies for integrated 3D geological modelling and mitigating geological risk in resources management.
Dr Heather Sheldon
- Dr Heather Sheldon is a geologist specialising in numerical modelling of fluid flow, heat/solute transport and rock deformation. Recent work has included development of a new workflow for quantifying permeability and modelling fluid flow in sedimentary basins, which can be used to predict fluid pathways in sediment-hosted mineral systems. Other areas of interest include safe waste disposal, aquifer thermal energy storage and use of low-temperature geothermal resources for heating and cooling.
- Primary Emailheather.sheldon@csiro.au
Dr Thomas Poulet
- Dr Thomas Poulet investigates geological instabilities using multi-physics and numerical modelling approaches. In the context of sedimentary basins, he focuses on faults, to understand their formation, behaviour, and critical impact on fluid flow, ranging from conduits to baffles, including combinations of both. Recently, he has also been modelling the permeability anisotropy stemming from strata, which can also control mineralisation fluids.
Dr Raphael Baumgartner
- Dr Raphael Baumgartner joined CSIRO Mineral Resources in early 2020. He focusses on studying ore forming processes in ancient and present-day geological environments, for which he utilises both traditional and cutting-edge analytical methods in petrography, mineralogy, and (stable isotope) geochemistry.
- Primary EmailRaphael.Baumgartner@csiro.au