About

Building a sustainable future requires the responsible development and efficient use of Earth’s natural resources, including metals, minerals, and energy resources. Achieving this goal depends on advancing our geological understanding of rare-metal and base-metal deposits, while also revealing the mineralogical characteristics of ore and alteration minerals that control resource formation, recovery, and utilization.

Resource development and utilization inevitably generates waste materials, including mine tailings, waste rock, excavation materials, and radioactive waste. Minimizing their impacts on ecosystems and human society requires a quantitative understanding of how potentially hazardous elements are released, transported, transformed, and retained in near-surface environments.

Our laboratory investigates a broad range of topics in environmental geology, with a central focus on water–rock interactions in natural and engineered systems. We apply fundamental geochemical and mineralogical knowledge to practical challenges in resource exploration, mine-waste management, environmental remediation, groundwater protection, and the sustainable use of geological materials.

Through internationally connected and interdisciplinary research and education, we aim to develop scientists and engineers who can address complex resource and environmental challenges across regions and cultures. Our goal is to contribute both scientific knowledge and practical solutions for the sustainable development, responsible use, and effective management of Earth’s resources.

Research topics

• Natural attenuation of acid mine drainage and enhancement of chemical weathering
• Ore-forming processes of base-metal and rare-metal deposits
• Automated ore identification using hyperspectral imaging and machine learning 
• Geopolymer solidification of radionuclide-contaminated water and soils 
• Long-term stability of bentonite for the geological disposal of radioactive waste 
• Natural hydrogen generation through low-temperature serpentinization 

Field Areas

Our research is conducted in a wide range of geological settings around the world, including:

• Botswana
• South Africa
• Ethiopia
• Kenya
• Malawi
• Indonesia
• Mongolia
• Kazakhstan
• Various regions of Japan (including Hokkaido, Yamagata, Niigata, Aichi, Kagoshima, and Miyazaki)

You would be a great fit for our laboratory if you have at least one of the following interests:

• You enjoy nature and want to explore the world.
• You aspire to become a scientist or engineer with an international outlook.
• You want to publish your ideas through scientific papers and conference presentations.
• You are interested in solving real-world problems in collaboration with industry.
• You want to go beyond classroom learning and challenge yourself through research.