Fernando Fagundes Fontana

Rio Tinto

Fernando is a geologist with experience in mine geology and geometallurgy. From 2020 to early 2023, Fernando developed research on Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) applied to mineral exploration and mining, including developing strategies for downhole LIBS analysis, in partnership with the MinEx CRC at the University of South Australia where he conducted his PhD. In 2022, participated in an internship within CSIRO where he assisted in the development of strategies (supervised and unsupervised) for automated geological modeling using geochemical data and the Data Mosaic method. In his current role in Rio Tinto, Fernando develops and promotes the use of LIBS (pLIBS, LIBS scanning) and workflows based on multiple analytical techniques for mineral exploration and early geometallurgical assessments. His main interests are Geochemistry; Data Analysis, including machine learning applications; Chemometrics, Geometallurgy, and Mineral Exploration.