The primary aim of the DESIRED project is to trace the source and study the distribution of (partially) siderophile elements (including gold [Au] and the platinum group elements [PGE: [Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd], and rhenium [Re]) in terrestrial rocks and meteorites to better constrain planetary differentiation processes and the formation of (giant) ore deposits. Because siderophile elements are typically depleted in the crust and mantle by several orders of magnitude relative to their solar abundances, they are also known as precious metals. Mineable deposits of these metals usually result from the erosion of (ultra)mafic rocks that may sample distinct mantle domains.
