Tag Archives: Mineral exploration

Smart Exploration team ready to show off their work to Toronto crowd

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The team behind the EU Horizon 2020-backed Smart Exploration project says it is ready to introduce its prototypes and software to the market.

It said project representatives are getting ready for a Canada tour to present the results and innovative solutions they have come up with over the last two years to potential stakeholders and end-users.

The Smart Exploration project develops cost-effective, environmentally friendly tools and methods for geophysical exploration in highly challenging brownfield and greenfield areas to address ever-increasing community and environmental issues, as well as reduce the return time on investments, it says. It officially begun on December 1, 2017, and is due to conclude on December 1, 2020.

Since the inception of the project, the 27 partners comprising the project consortium have worked together to meet the challenging task of developing solutions for deep mineral exploration, the partners said. The solutions have been tested and validated under diverse mining conditions (surface, underground, open pit, brownfield, greenfield) over six test sites in Europe, it says.

Even though these solutions are developed for mineral exploration purposes, they have cross- and multi-disciplinary applications and can be used by other industries, the partners said.

To highlight the project’s advances, project representatives will be present at three events in Toronto, Canada, in February and March. This includes the Toronto MERC-Smart Exploration Workshop on Novel Seismics and Electromagnetic Methods for Mineral Exploration (February 27), the Toronto Special EAGE session at the KEGS 2020 PDAC Symposium (February 29) and the annual PDAC convention on March 1-4.

Smart Exploration has developed six software (methodologies) and five prototypes throughout the project lifetime, resulting in a complete package of solutions for deep mineral exploration, it says.

Its software includes:

  • Three-dimensional frequency and time-domain electromagnetic modelling;
  • Thin-sheet time domain modelling and IP responses;
  • New solutions for near-surface problems and related deeper imaging improvements;
  • Generation of additional data from sparse active-source data with lower environmental impact; and
  • Scattering/diffractivity imaging for improved resolution depth imaging.

Three out of five prototypes have been validated and will launch in Canada, the partners said. This includes a GPS-time synchronisation system for denied environments such as underground mines; an electromagnetic broadband frequency seismic source (E-Vib, pictured); and a deep-probing time-domain electromagnetic helicopter-based system (HTEM).

The other two prototypes in the last phase of development are a slim hole modular system for mining boreholes and a UAV-Mag-EM for quickly obtaining data over difficult terrains.

Several presentations will be given during the events and the three validated prototypes will be showcased during the PDAC convention at the EU booth, the partners said.

IMDEX symposium sets the exploration scene for AME Roundup

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IMDEX recently held its fifth annual Xploration Technology Symposium in Vancouver, Canada, in which virtual reality, machine learning and new exploration technologies all received significant airtime.

The event, held on January 17, came ahead of AME’s annual Mineral Exploration Roundup, also held in Vancouver, on January 20-23. It saw 16 speakers and 160 attendees turn up.

IMDEX, which has a suite of drilling optimisation products to improve the process of identifying and extracting mineral resources globally, said the event covered multi-element data, artificial intelligence for mineral exploration and exploration instrumentation, along with a series of case studies. The focus was on improving and driving innovation in the mining industry and providing a platform to share big ideas, new technologies and new processes in exploration.

International consulting practice, SRK, had Principal Structural Geologist, Wayne Barnett, present on virtual-mixed reality, where he discussed augmented visual powers to automatically measure surface orientations and how this technology is changing best practices in data collection and analysis, IMDEX said.

Professor Bern Klein, of the University of British Columbia, meanwhile, discussed industry research to optimise value and ensure worker safety in deep underground mass mining operations.

The use of machine learning for mineral exploration in greenfield areas was discussed by GoldSpot Discoveries Corp Chief Operating Officer, Vincent Dube-Bourgeois, during the session on artificial intelligence.

Among the exploration case studies was one from Chris Gallagher, Rogue Geoscience President, a company that has been instrumental in developing several exploration technologies and geological data management systems used in the industry today, according to IMDEX.

And, Nick Payne, Global Product Manager Structural Geology at IMDEX, in his presentation ‘A New Wave of Drilling Optimisation’, discussed new technologies IMDEX COREVIBE and IMDEX XTRACTA – which, he says, offer substantial improvements in safety and productivity.

Epiroc starts work on ‘unique’ exploration drilling test centre

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Epiroc is about to start construction on a new Test Center in Örebro, Sweden, that, it says, will help perform different types of exploration drilling tests and data acquisition.

The centre is a close collaboration between industry, research institutes and academia, according to the company.

“With this Test Center, we can continue our way towards being the competence center within exploration drilling – and build networks within the industry,” Thomas Hallmén, General Manager Product Company Örebro, Epiroc Surface and Exploration Drilling division, said.

“It will create opportunities to cooperate with customers and universities as well as with researchers in order to improve our technologies and products for future requirements.”

The new Test Center, called Innovative Exploration Drilling and Data Acquisition Test Center (I-EDDA-TC), will provide a unique environment for the development of drilling, and related equipment and methods used for the exploration of mineral resources, such as borehole geophysics, according to Epiroc.

The goal for the future is to establish a leading centre that supports and creates innovation, Epiroc said, adding that it  features two boreholes each 1 km deep with fully characterised core samples.

Bjarne Almqvist, Project Leader for I-EDDA-TC and Researcher at the Department of Earth Sciences, Geophysics, at Uppsala University, said: “Effective exploration drilling for mineral resources is an area where industrial innovation plays an important role. Despite this need, there is a complete lack of test beds that allow industry to actively test novel drilling equipment.”

He added: “Our hope is that the Test Center becomes a focus for both small and large companies that work within exploration drilling and related technologies.”

The Test Center will be built next to the Epiroc Surface and Exploration Drilling division Production Center in Örebro.  It will be developed over three years and be available for customers from the beginning of 2022. The European Union has helped finance the project through the EIT Raw materials initiative.

The centre is a collaboration project between Uppsala University, Lund University, Luleå University of Technology, Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum , RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) and Epiroc Surface and Exploration Drillling division.

Swick’s Orexplore mineral scanning tech ready for first mine site trial

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In announcing the appointment of John Pizimolas as General Manager of the APAC region for Orexplore, Swick Mining Services has revealed that the first mine site trial of its mineral scanning technology is scheduled for the December quarter.

Since launching in May 2018, 18 different customers have used Orexplore in laboratory trials, according to the company.

Pizimolas, meanwhile, has more than 20 years’ experience as a metallurgical engineer in the resources industry, with senior executive expertise in leading mineral analysis across the full mine project life cycle and in new technology start‐ups, Swick said.

Prior to joining Swick, Pizimolas was Vice President, Minerals South East Asia and Pacific for SGS SA and, before then, General Manager Mine Site Services (Global) for ASX‐listed ALS Limited.

Swick Managing Director, Kent Swick, said Pizimolas’ expert industry knowledge will help drive Orexplore’s growth as it targets revenue generation in its second full year since launch.

Pizimolas said: “I strongly believe in the power of digital core tomographic imaging and the need to progress to more real-time information from drilling than has previously been available. The innovative Orexplore technology certainly delivers real commercial value and I am excited to be leading the business in driving its next phase of growth.”

Swick said the Orexplore business is transitioning towards capturing long term, in‐field digital core tomographic imaging opportunities, with the first mine site trial aimed for the December quarter. To support this field trial, Orexplore has recently taken delivery in Australia of three new specification GeoCore X10 machines (pictured) from its Stockholm facility, capable of imaging 6,000 m/mth of core.

The company said: “Successful completion of this trial is expected to enhance market confidence in the technology and drive revenue growth in Orexplore’s second full year since launch.”

Orexplore was developed over a seven-year period in Sweden and provides real-time, non-destructive assay and tomography results using whole of core data that is an improvement on the multiple weeks delay currently used in destructive chemical testing, according to Swick.

GeoCore X10 core scanning machines use patented attenuation and X-ray fluorescence combined measurement techniques to enhance the identification and understanding of key features within the entire core including:

  • Geochemical composition and mineralogy;
  • 3D structures;
  • Texture, fabric and grain size;
  • Density; and
  • Controls on mineralisation.

The scan results are made available to the client for viewing and analysis through Orexplore’s Insight software. This enables interactive 3D manipulation of the tomography data which can lead to accurate definition of geological structures, the ability to define lithological contacts and the true boundaries of mineralisation. It also provides element concentration data for further analysis.

Australia mineral exploration on the up

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More than A$2.3 billion ($1.54 billion) was spent on minerals exploration in Australia in 2018-19, according to exploration expenditure data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

This investment is up 19% from the previous year and has seen investment in gold exploration rise – also by 19% – to a new record high of A$964 million, according to the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA).

The MCA said this growing investment by mining is helping to secure Australia’s long-term prosperity.

The highest increase in exploration investment in an individual state was in South Australia, up by 55% to A$85 million.

”The mining industry needs stable policy settings from both state and federal governments to continue to deliver benefits for all Australians,” the MCA said.

“The recently announced Productivity Commission enquiry into resources sector regulation is a welcome first step in ensuring state and federal governments have the policy settings that continue to support mining and even greater investment in exploration to develop Australia’s next wave of critical mineral, base metal and gold mines.”

This exploration investment is creating and supporting jobs throughout the country, especially in regional Australia.

When exploration investment translates to minerals production, Australia is the big winner, the MCA said. Mining is the country’s largest source of export revenue and has generated A$212 billion in company tax and royalties for Australia over the last decade, it added.

IMDEX’s drill and blast technology gains traction

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IMDEX, known for its technical sensing capabilities in exploration, is looking to lock in non-cyclical global revenue streams through the development of technology for drill and blast applications.

The company, in an update last week, said its BLAST DOG™ technology remains on track to increase mine to mill efficiency for clients globally and it was conducting trials in multiple commodities with global resource companies.

To date, successful trials have been undertaken in Nevada, USA, and in Queensland, Australia; with additional trials planned in Chile and Australia in the first half of 2020, IMDEX said.

“The company continues to have strong support from industry partners including: Orica; Anglo American; Teck Resources; and METS Ignited and expects to generate revenue from the drill and blast technologies in the 2020 financial year,” it said.

In addition to updating the market on its BLAST DOG technology, the company also revealed details about drilling productivity technologies COREVIBE™ and MAGHAMMER™.

Back in January 2018, IMDEX revealed it had an exclusive option agreement to acquire Flexidrill and its patent protected drilling productivity technologies, the COREVIBE and MAGHAMMER.

“The company has been progressing the development of these technologies based on strong demand from drilling contractors and resource companies,” IMDEX said, adding that it undertook successful trials at the company’s test site in New Zealand, which concluded that COREVIBE generated a productivity gain of 33% over conventional coring. These results were also validated by SGS, a leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company, according to IMDEX.

More recently, IMDEX conducted client trials with the COREVIBE in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. “These trials were successful and supported the results achieved at IMDEX’s test site,” the company said.

Further trials with another large drilling contractor in Arizona, USA, are scheduled for late July 2019 and IMDEX expects to have COREVIBE units on rent in the current September quarter, it said.

Development of the MAGHAMMER at IMDEX’s test site in New Zealand is also progressing and the company intends to commence client trials in the second half of 2020, it said.

“The first iteration of the MAGHAMMER will be targeting high speed pre-collar drilling through barren rock to the coring zone,” IMDEX said. “This eliminates the need for multiple drill rigs at site and accordingly, the MAGHAMMER will significantly reduce the cost of drilling these targets. Additional development of the MAGHAMMER will provide geological samples.”

On the basis of continued positive development of the drilling productivity technologies and ongoing successful client trials with COREVIBE, IMDEX said it anticipated exercising its option to acquire Flexidrill in December 2019.

IMDEX Managing Director, Bernie Ridgeway, said: “We have an exciting pipeline of new technologies and connected devices to support our growth strategy. The new technologies have the potential to grow our core business by enhancing technical leadership; and extending our capabilities into the larger adjacent mining market, to create an additional non-cyclical revenue stream.

“Our new technologies – including the COREVIBE, MAGHAMMER and BLAST DOG – have the ability to deliver important advancements in drilling methods and mining workflows. New deposits are likely to be deeper and under cover; and resource companies are embracing innovation to achieve greater productivity. These new technologies position our company to benefit from changing industry dynamics.”

 

OZ Minerals Explorer Challenge winners crowned

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OZ Minerals has awarded multiple prizes as part of the online crowdsourcing Explorer Challenge, organised in partnership with energy and resources open innovation platform Unearthed.

The submissions for the crowdsourcing competition to find new exploration targets at the Mount Woods tenements of the Prominent Hill copper-gold mine (pictured), in South Australia, ranged from cutting edge machine learning to advanced physical modelling, with OZ Minerals making more than six terabytes of public and private exploration data available to competitors.

The three month long competition concluded on May 31, 2019, having seen over 1,000 global participants from 62 countries register for the chance to not only win a A$1 million ($701,156) prize pool, but also have its concepts tested in real life, with the top targets scheduled to be drilled by the end of 2019.

First prize (A$500,000) went to Team Guru, a team made up of Michael Rodda (data scientist), Jesse Ober (environmental scientist) and Glen Willis (process engineering) for an approach that included interpretable machine learning models for mineral exploration using geochemistry, geophysics and surface geology.

Second prize (A$200,000) went to DeepSightX, a team made up of Dong Gong, Javen Qinfeng Shi, Zifeng Wu, Hao Zhang, Ehsan Abbasnejad, Lingqiao Liu, Anton van den Hengel, Karl Hornlund, and John Alexander Anderson. This team exploited multi-disciplinary skills at the intersection of artificial intelligence and geoscience, leveraging this to generate an artificial intelligence model to provide promising exploration targets in the Prominent Hill Region (PHR) supported by best practice geoscience.

Third prize (A$100,000) went to Hugh Sanderson, Derek Carter and Chris Green from team Cyency. Cyency has a strong data science and geoscience background, with Sanderson practising “deep learning” for several years, Carter being involved with the technical and software side of mining for over 10 years, and Green being an experienced geologist. The team said: “With so much data, it was difficult to know where to start, so we started with what we knew – the results from the Data Science Stream. We had a set of models that we knew were pretty good at predicting mineralisation across Australia, so we ran them over the tenement…we applied several data science techniques to estimate a set of candidate points, and then selected the 10 best of these.”

The Student Team prize of A$50,000 went to deCODES’ Christopher Leslie, Matthew Cracknell, Angela Escolme, Shawn Hood, and Ayesha Ahmed. A team of early career researchers from CODES, University of Tasmania, its approach was driven by considering an iron oxide copper gold (IOCG) metallogenic model, and then “striving to produce digital proxies for all aspects of that model. Our prospectivity layers were created using a mix of manual and traditional data handling methods as well as basic machine learning approaches”.

The Genius prize (A$25,000) went to Team OreFox’s Warwick Anderson, Sheree Burdinat, Kudzai Dube, Amy Leask, Alan Ryou Pearse, Ashleigh Smyth, and Nick Josephs. The brainchild of two exploration geologists, Anderson and Burdinat, OreFox has built up a team of experts with backgrounds in geophysics, data science, statistics, geology and prospecting to tackle the Explorer Challenge, using its proprietary artificial intelligence systems to analyse the data supplied by OZ Minerals as well as open source data obtained through Geoscience Australia and the SARIG database.

The Insights prize (A$25,000) was awarded to Avant Data Solutions, a multidisciplinary team consisting of data science and programming, and geological domain expertise. The team took a heavily data driven approach with verification and interpretation using geology, with the challenge tackled, first, by analysing and exploring the data in detail and finding what data might be overlooked.

The Data Hound and Fusion Prizes (both A$25,000) went to Team Phar Lap and SRK Consulting, respectively.
Team Phar Lap consists of a mathematician, a physicist, a German trained geologist and ecologist, a pilot, and a US trained geologist, offering a latticework of geosciences and data science. The consortium used a mixed approach between geological interpretation and data crunching with a strong focus on controlled learning.

SRK’s team was made up qualified structural geologists across offices in Perth, Melbourne, Toronto and Vancouver, with “the approach including the re-interpretation and/or value-add of the provided and available datasets followed by a multi-pronged and integrated targeting approach applying data-driven machine learning (based on a balanced random forest algorithm) and weights of evidence to guide a set of knowledge-driven mineral systems informed fuzzy inference solutions”, Unearthed said.

OZ Minerals Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Cole, said: “The innovators who participated in the Explorer Challenge have provided approaches to mineral exploration that we never would have imagined internally, including ways to fuse datasets together, combining multiple layers of information, and making predictions based on the extensive datasets.

“Reviewing the diverse range of solutions that have come back from this process has been truly remarkable.”
Unearthed Industry Lead – Crowdsourcing, Holly Bridgwater, previously worked for a decade as a geologist in resource exploration and definition. She believes that crowdsourcing will transform the lengthy and intensive exploration process.

“We are extremely excited by the incredible range of solutions submitted by these pioneers that can generate high quality exploration targets in an efficient way,” Bridgwater said.

“Many industry professionals and mining companies are beginning to realise that their true competitive advantage in exploration is speed, not necessarily data or technological intellectual property. I think that the ability that the crowd gives you to generate new ideas, develop solutions, and automate processes, is something that can make a big difference and provide that competitive advantage.”

Southern Innovation extends minerals analysis agreement with BHP

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Technology company Southern Innovation says it has entered into a multi-year collaboration agreement with BHP to further research applications of the METS company’s radiation-based minerals analysis technology.

Under the agreement Southern Innovation will provide BHP with technical expertise to uncover solutions to specific challenges BHP faces in mineral exploration and extraction, the company said.

Southern Innovation and BHP have worked together since late 2015 to develop and commercialise technology to improve the performance of radiation-based analysis in mining applications, using a complex signal-processing algorithm developed by Southern Innovation Founder Paul Scoullar at The University of Melbourne.

BHP Vice President of Technology Global Transformation, Rag Udd, said: “Our continuing engagement with the METS sector ensures that our industry successfully adapts to technological change while creating and sustaining global technological and skills leadership in key areas of mining and our supply chain.

“An internationally competitive, appropriately skilled and innovative METS sector is critical to help maintain Australia’s leading position in the global resources sector.”

Southern Innovation’s CEO and Managing Director, David Scoullar, said: “We are delighted to formalise our ongoing relationship with BHP to further research applications of our radiation-based minerals analysis technology to meet challenges across BHP’s domestic and international commodity portfolio.

“Our engagement with BHP over the last three years has successfully developed new-to-world METS technology and products in Australia and enabled us to double our workforce. With this new research and ongoing product development work, we will be adding even more employees dedicated to this task with a view to redoubling our workforce over two years.”

Industry body for the METS sector, Austmine, has been supporting Southern Innovation since 2015 through the Australian Technologies Competition and the Accelerating Commercialisation Program with the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, and more recently with grant funding via the Entrepreneurs’ Programme.

Austmine CEO, Christine Gibbs Stewart, said: “It’s critically important that emerging METS companies can access customers, funding, expertise and networks to enable the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies in the METS sector.

“Southern Innovation is a great example of how small, agile innovators can help big businesses like BHP solve previously intractable challenges.”

MICROMINE’s Whitehouse to explore machine learning in exploration at APCOM 2019

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MICROMINE says machine learning has the potential to transform mineral exploration, and the company’s Ian Whitehouse intends to discuss just how at the upcoming APCOM 2019 conference, in Poland.

More than 500 delegates from across the globe are expected to travel to Wroclaw, in June, to discover the latest developments in the application of technology in the mineral industry at the 39th Application of Computers and Operations Research in the Mineral Industry (APCOM) conference.

Whitehouse, MICROMINE’s Geobank Product Strategy Manager, will be a keynote speaker at the symposium, which has the theme “Mining Goes Digital”.

Whitehouse said the application of machine learning to the process of collecting and analysing geological data in mineral exploration has the “potential to transform the way explorers operate”. He will delve into just how during his “Transforming Exploration Data Through Machine Learning” presentation on June 6.

“By adding machine learning to the process of collecting and analysing geological data, we vastly reduce the time a geologist spends doing administration work, enabling more time to concentrate on the quality and analysis of the data collected,” he said.

“This type of offering creates opportunity to lower exploration costs and increase the amount of data that can be collected, which are key drivers of the mining industry and will contribute to more exploration projects being approved.”

The traditional process of plan – drill – observe – measure – analyse, can be inefficient, and the application of technology and machine learning can address common issues such as inconsistent data collection and categorisation, Whitehouse said.

“In the exploration industry it is very common to find that one geologist has classified a rock and the next has classified it as something different. This has huge complications when trying to model the data. However, machine-learning algorithms can be used to fix these inconsistencies and errors in the databases prior to the resource geologist working with the data.”

Machine learning can be tapped by the resources industry to streamline geological processes, such as cleansing and validating data prior to starting the modelling process, according to MICROMINE.

Whitehouse said high quality DSLR cameras can provide a tool for exploration companies to collect high-quality imagery of core and chip trays, with machine-learning algorithms able to recognise features in the images.

“It is feasible for this data to be automatically collected and stored in a database,” he said.

To illustrate the power of machine learning, MICROMINE has built an algorithm to determine and map the spatial extents of core imagery in a core tray photo. The application of this technology will result in the reduction of man-hours required to manually review and analyse core tray photography, the company said.

MICROMINE is incorporating machine learning into its solutions, with the results of the research project leading to the functionality being incorporated into the Geobank data management solution, enabling core tray images to be transferred into the database and displayed in Geobank drill-hole trace along with other downhole data, the company said.

MICROMINE’s presentation is part of APCOM’s technical program, which is presented within six streams: Geostatistics and Resource Estimation; Mine Planning; Scheduling and Dispatch; Mine Operation in Digital Transformation; Emerging Technologies and Robotics in Mining; and Synergies from Other Industries.

Whitehouse will be joined by around 100 international presenters from science and industry at the three-day APCOM conference (June 4-6).

You can read more about the event here.

International Mining is a media partner for APCOM 2019.

SGS pairs portable instrumentation and machine learning with FAST

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SGS has announced a new service for the metals and mining industry, Field Analytical Services and Testing (FAST), in North America and Australia.

FAST provides real-time data acquisition in the field by pairing portable instrumentation and machine learning, according to the company, which used the backdrop of the annual Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada show, in Toronto, Canada, to make the announcement. “It will bring instrumentation into the field, provide data within 24 to 48 hours and, with the use of machine-learning, enable real-time decision-making capabilities for clients,” the company said.

Part of the solution includes Minalyze AB’s Minalyzer ED-XRF core scanning technology, according to the company.

Russ Calow, Vice President Global Analytical Services, Minerals at SGS in Canada, said: “This service offering will allow our clients to optimise their exploration programmes and production procedures, while making rapid decisions that support quicker speed-to-market.

“SGS is committed to providing analytical procedures that yield meaningful, reliable data – while integrating our in-house, industry leading machine-learning capabilities to give innovative, field based solutions to our clients.”

SGS calls itself the global leader in the geochemical laboratory analytical testing sector with over 160 geochemical laboratories in 45 countries. Its FAST solution reflects a commitment to servicing the mining and smelting industries throughout the entire value chain, leveraging leading technologies, according to the company.

“SGS operates on-site and near-site laboratories in some of the most remote locations in the world, regardless of the climate, the altitude, the logistics or the sample volume,” the company said.

“Whether requirements are at the mine site or in metal smelting and refining plants, SGS has the experience, technical solutions and laboratory professionals to help clients maximize value from their operations and reach their goals efficiently and effectively.”

SGS services to the minerals sector include geochemical analysis, resource calculation, mineralogy, metallurgy, engineering, process design and engineering, process control, water treatment and trade services.