From 15 to 17 September, RSE took part in the joint SGI-SIMP 2026 Congress in Padua, an event dedicated to discussion on geoscience topics for the protection of the planet.

How can subsurface data acquired in the oil and gas sector be utilized for natural hydrogen exploration? This question was addressed in a presentation by Ilaria Antoncecchi, who presented a scientific poster on “Integrated analysis of oil&gas and complementary datasets for assessing natural hydrogen potential in the Western Southern Alps”. This work is part of the Hydrogen Project funded by MASE under the “Ricerca di Sistema” for the 2025–2027 three-year period. It represents an initial approach to using well and seismic data to evaluate the conditions governing the generation, accumulation, and surface migration of natural hydrogen.

Riccardo Maria Ridolfi presented today at the SGI – SMI Congress in Padua during the session on Critical Raw Materials (CRM) the progress of the project “Integrated workflow for CRM recovery from Rosas mine tailings (Sulcis, Sardinia)”. Following the first year’s work, which involved a review of existing data in regional historical archives, it was possible to identify the Rosas mining site (disused) for the initiation of a sampling campaign aimed at initiating geochemical/mineralogical analysis to identify the presence and concentrations of any critical minerals recoverable from the site’s mining waste. Laboratory activities are underway and are being carried out at the RSE laboratory in Piacenza.

More info here. https://www.geoscienze.org/padova2026/