Earth and Environmental Sciences

Photo of Prof Karen Hudson-Edwards

Prof Karen Hudson-Edwards

Professor in Sustainable Mining

 K.Hudson-Edwards@exeter.ac.uk

Overview

Telephone +44-(0)1326-259-489
Twitter @KarenHEGeochem

Overview

I am an environmental geochemist and mineralogist and a member of the Mining, Environment and Society group. I mainly work on the environmental impacts of mining and on sustainable mining practices. Specifically, I research the mechanisms and products of contaminant cycling in mine wastes, ground and surface water, contaminated land and dusts, the development of remediation and management schemes for mine wastes, the global biogeochemical and health impacts of mining, and sustainable mining of technology metals and critical raw materials. 

I joined the Environment & Sustainabilty Institute and Camborne School of Mines in October 2017. Prior to that I worked in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Birkbeck, University of London, for almost 20 years. 

Biography

  • 2017-present Professor in Sustainable Mining, University of Exeter
  • 1998-2017: Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader and Professor in Environmental Geochemistry and Mineralogy, Birkbeck, University of London
  • 1998: NSERC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Department of Mineralogy, The Natural History Museum
  • 1997: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of Geography, University of Leeds
  • 1993-1996: PhD, University of Manchester
  • 1989-1992: Exploration Geologist, Falconbridge Ltd
  • 1981-1989: Geologist, Geological Survey of Canada
  • 1985-1987: MSc (Economic Geology), Department of Earth Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
  • 1981-1982: BSc (1st class honours), Department of Geological Sciences, Queen's University, Canada

Publications

List of publications

Professional Bodies

Editor, GeoHealth 
Associate Editor, Frontiers in Earth Sciences, Geoscience and Society
Fellow of the Geochemical Society
Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland
Member of the American Geophysical Union

Other Academic Activities

External engagement

Opportunites

I am always interested in hearing from prospective MSc or PhD research students or postdoctoral researchers. Please get in touch with me to discuss opportunites and potential collaborations.  

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Publications

Copyright Notice: Any articles made available for download are for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the copyright holder.

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  • Melezhik VA, Hudson-Edwards KA, Skuf'in PK, Nilsson L. (1994) Pechenga area, Russia - Part 1: geological setting and comparison with Pasvik, Norway, Transactions - Institute of Mining & Metallurgy, Section B, volume 103, no. May-August, pages 129-145.
  • Melezhik VA, Hudson-Edwards KA, Green AH, Grinenko LN. (1994) Pechenga area, Russia - part 2: nickel-copper deposits and related rocks, Transactions - Institution of Mining & Metallurgy, Section B, volume 103, no. May-August, pages 146-161.

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Further information

Research

  • Characterisation of contaminant-bearing mine wastes, environmental minerals, waters, dusts
  • Development of remediation and mitigation schemes for mine wastes
  • Global biogeochemical and health impacts of mining

Current Research Projects

NEMO Near-zero-waste recycling of low-grade sulphidic mining waste for critical-metal, mineral and construction raw-material production in a circular economy

This is an EU Horizon 2020 project conducted with 14 European partners. The NEMO project will lead to the unrestricted supply of critical raw materials (CRMs; Co, rare earths and Mg), valuable metals (Cu, Ni, Zn, and Sc), industrial minerals (Na2SO4, K2SO4 and MgSO4) and construction raw materials for cement and concrete production, originating from domestically available, but currently unexploited, sulfidic mining waste, and in this way substantially reduce Europe’s dependence on the imports of these vital raw materials.

NEMO Project Website

                       Bioreactors for NEMO Project

Legacy Waste in the Coastal Zone: Environmental Risks and Management Futures
(1 Jan 2020 - 31 Dec 2023)

Legacy Wastes in the Coastal Zone: Environmental Risks and Management Futures is a £1.5 million, four year research project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as part of a Highlight topic. It brings together expertise in waste management, freshwater and seawater geochemistry, geomorphology, hydrology, ecology and environmental policy to provide a multi-scale assessment of the risks posed by municipal and mineral-rich legacy wastes in the coastal zone and provide a framework for their effective future management. The project team includes researchers from Newcastle University, University of Hull, University of Exeter, University of Leeds, University of Plymouth, Liverpool John Moores University, University of Glasgow and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Patrizia Onnis is the Exeter PDRA on the project, and Elin Jennings is doing her PhD on the Carnon River, Cornwall, as part of the project.

Legacy Waste in the Coastal Zone Website

Lithium for Future Technology (LiFT)
(14 Nov 2020 – 13 Nov 2023)

Lithium (Li) demand is expected to increase significantly over the next decade, due to its use in batteries for electric vehicles and stationary power storage. Global supplies of lithium are currently dominated by salt-lake brines (salars) in the ‘Lithium Triangle’ of South America, and Li-pegmatites, chiefly mined in Australia. Additional geological resources include Li-clays, Li-rich borates, and Li-micas in granites. There is still much to learn about how lithium is mobilised, transported and concentrated in the Earth’s crust (the lithium cycle). The £2 million, NERC-funded LiFT project will investigate all aspects of this lithium cycle, and develop a new quantitative understanding of the processes linking all the deposit types that will underpin the search for new, sustainable Li resources. The LiFT consortium includes researchers from the British Geological Survey, the Natural History Museum, and the universities of Edinburgh, Exeter, and Southampton, together with an international group of project partners.

Alastair Skeffington is the Exeter PDRA working on the geomicrobiology of lithium. Becca Kirk is doing her GeoNetZero-funded PhD project on lithium wastes and microbiology, in tandem with LiFT. Rowan Halkes is the Exeter GRA doing life-cycle assessment on lithium mining.

Lithium for Future Technology (LiFT) Website

UKRI Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Centre Met4Tech
1 Jan 2021 - 31 Dec 2023

The EPSRC-funded, £4.5 million Met4Tech Circular Economy Centre brings together UK research teams already working on how to improve and assure the supply of technology metals, how to manufacture goods to be re-used and recycled, and how to recycle complex goods such as batteries.The Centre will conduct new interdisciplinary research on key interventions to improve each stage in the cycle and join the different stages of the value chain together such that raw materials can be newly mined and recycled, and manufacturing technology can be linked directly to re-use and recycling. Business and social experts will research how best the UK can put all these stages together to make a new technology metals circular economy roadmap. The industry partners and key stakeholders will be invited to ‘test drive’ the new model.

Met4Tech Website

Impact

Eden Project Living Worlds Exhibit

I helped to advise the Eden Project with their Living Worlds Exhibit that is on disply until 2023.

Coal Waste Tips Safety in Wales

I advised the Law Commission on their consultation on Regulating Coal Tip Safety in Wales.  I was subsequently interviewed by BBC Wales to this issue.

External Engagement

Editorial Responsibilities

Editor for GeoHealth

Associate Editor for Frontiers in Earth Sciences, Geoscience and Society

Teaching

I teach on a variety of modules, including

Year 3

CSM3444  Soil Mechanics and Mine Tailings Engineering

MSc

CSMM441 Mine Waste Characterisation, Prediction and Treatment

CSMM443 MSc Mining Environmental Management Research Project and Scientific Article

CSMM444 Soil Mechanics and Mine Tailings Engineering

MSc Programme

I also lead the MSc Mining Environmental Management

Supervision

Postdoctoral Researchers

David Dew

David is a postdoctoral research fellow working on the EU Horizon2020 NEMO project. David has worked for several decades in industry in South Africa, Chile and elsewhere, managing bioleaching and other mining projects. 

Carmen Falagan

Carmen is also working on the EU Horizon2020 NEMO project to develop and test innovative bioleaching processes using acidophilic microorganisms. She previously worked at Bangor University in the Bangor Acidophile Research Team (BART). See Carmen's website for more. 

PhD Students

Richie Chalkley

Richie is working on an Exeter University-funded project entitled 'Building a global acid rock / acid mine drainage biogeochemical model for environmental impact assessment'. Richie is co-supervised by Professor Kevin Gaston (Exeter). 

Monica Kalichini

Monica's project is 'Bridging the profit margin to environmental impact gap for reduced Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) prevalence in mineral processing'. She is working on several case studies in Zambia using QEMSCAN and other mineralogical techniques for her project. Monica is co-supervised by Dr Rob Fitzpatrick (Exeter).

Johannes Meusberger

Johannes' project is entitled 'Characterisaton of sulfate minerals in extreme environments by coupled Raman spectroscopy - neutron and synchrotron diffraction'. The project is jointly funded by the STFC and the University of Exeter. Johannes is co-supervised by Dr Rich Crane (Exeter), Dr Dominic Fortes (ISIS) and Prof Chiu Tang (Diamond Light Source). See Johannes' website for more.

Gabriel Ziwa

Gabriel is a Commonwealth Scholarship PhD student whose project is entitled 'The environmental geochemistry and mineralogy of cobalt in mining-affected environments'. He is co-supervised by Dr Rich Crane (Exeter). Gabriel previously did an MSc at Curtin University in Australia. Read more about Gabriel here. 

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