muon tomography Archives - International Mining

Cosmic rays and hyperspectral imaging are central features in two mining technology projects backed by the Advanced Manufacturing Growth Centre, with major implications for safety and access to strategically important materials, the centre says.

mDetect is a Swinburne University (Melbourne, Australia) spinout specialising in astrophysics research into muons, a type of subatomic particle that results from the Earth’s atmosphere being hit by cosmic rays. They are sometimes described as the heavy cousin of electrons, with their mass helping them pass deep into objects; much further, for example, than ground penetrating radar.

The company has commercialised telescopic devices and software in a system that uses muon behaviour to monitor and map tailings dams, providing real-time information on stability of the critical infrastructure in mining operations.

Assisted by A$248,191 ($161,354) in co-funding from AMGC’s Commercialisation Fund, mDetect has trialled its muography-based imaging system at OZ Minerals (now part of BHP) operations, and leveraged key partner Swinburne to assist with development, documentation, design for manufacture, production automation and other input ahead of scale manufacture. Back in 2021, the AMGC said OZ Minerals was expected to trial this at Carrapateena in South Australia.

Co-founder of mDetect, Dr Jerome Donovan, said: “Thanks to AMGC, we’ve gone from idea to impact, developing our product for commercial sales, securing key agreements and developing our design for scaling manufacturing – it has by far been our best government-funded program experience. With high-profile partnerships secured, mDetect is set to revolutionise global industries and enhance mining safety.

“Taking highly-technical IP – and which has heritage in dark matter research, no less – and delivering a market-ready product is never easy. But we are very nearly there thanks to the support from AMGC.”

The project is expected to lead to A$7.7 million in revenues in the fifth year after completion and has already resulted in new jobs at the growing company, according to the centre.

AMGC Managing Director, Dr Jens Goennemann, added: “An Australian manufacturer harnesses the power of space to protect lives on Earth. That’s Australian manufacturing at its best – globally relevant, collaborative and highly complex. mDetect is truly a leader in their field, poised to make a global impact.”

From using space particles to leveraging electromagnetic imaging, EQ Resources, the owner of the formerly dormant Mount Carbine tungsten mine in north Queensland, has devised a method to identify and extract tungsten from waste sources, following its discovery at the site in the year 1895.

AMGC supported EQ Resources through A$600,000 in co-investment to support a project to recover tungsten from a mine waste stockpile and low-grade deposits, incorporating hyperspectral imaging sensors on a wheel loader, artificial intelligence-assisted decision making, and X-ray sorting technology.

The project linked EQR with Mt Carbine Quarrying Operations, Plotlogic, TOMRA, Cronimet and the University of Queensland. It has helped deliver an additional A$3.6 million in revenues since completion of the project, according to the centre.

*Photography for EQ Resorces at Mt Carbine Operations, 21 Sep 2022.*

Kevin MacNeill, CEO of EQ Resources, said, “Early co-investment form AMGC allowed EQ Resources to accelerate the commercial development of our technology, furthermore it gave us the credibility to apply for follow-on programs and secure a A$6 million grant from the Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative to move from pilot to operational scale.

“EQ Resources’ hyperspectral imaging technology demonstrates that there is still significant life in historical mines where waste piles are mountains of opportunity – in this case 130-year-old piles of tungsten containing waste.”

Goennemann said: “In taking a step back two centuries ago and looking at the resources we already have a hand, EQ Resources will be able to extract greater value from resources long-thought unusable both here in Australia and abroad.”

Canadian subsurface intelligence company, Ideon Technologies, has been named an industrial affiliate of Stanford University’s Mineral-X program – an exclusive research community uniting the fields of geosciences, resource economics, data science and artificial intelligence (AI) to inform optimal decision making along the critical minerals supply chain.

As an affiliate, Ideon will engage with faculty and scientists at Stanford University in collaborative research on technological innovations needed to create a resilient mineral supply chain for the clean energy transition, it says. More specifically, research will focus on optimising exploration targeting and resource characterisation using advanced data analysis and stochastic modelling to maximise orebody knowledge and dramatically reduce the timeline from discovery of critical mineral and metal assets to production.

Ideon calls itself a world pioneer in muon tomography, using the energy from supernova explosions in space to provide X-ray-like visibility down to 1 km beneath the Earth’s surface. The company says it is addressing the worldwide shortage in critical mineral supply by helping major mining companies achieve greater certainty in their orebody knowledge to precisely target high-recovery, low-waste deposits of the critical minerals required to fuel the clean energy transition. The Ideon subsurface intelligence platform integrates proprietary detector hardware for downhole and in-mine deployment, imaging systems, multi-physics fusion and inversion technologies and artificial intelligence to provide high-resolution 3D visibility underground and generate geologic value, Ideon says.

“We are tackling the underlying problem of geological uncertainty in the mining industry,” Ideon CEO & co-Founder, Gary Agnew, said. “Mining companies in the critical minerals space rely on intensive drilling to understand the subsurface, using a hit-and-miss approach targeting poorly constrained geological anomalies. They make high-risk, high-cost decisions based on only fractional knowledge of what’s beneath the surface. This research collaboration with one of the world’s leading universities will yield better knowledge of orebody characteristics, better informed mine planning, extension of mine life, more compelling economic outcomes and greater efficiencies across the entire mining value chain.”

Dr Jef Caers, PhD, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Stanford, will serve as liaison with the Ideon team, sharing his expertise on decision making under uncertainty in developing the critical mineral supply.

“Through Mineral-X, we aim to accelerate the transition to clean energy by increasing the volume and speed of critical mineral supply,” Caers said. “We are committed to achieving this by developing protocols that champion environmental stewardship and community representation.”

Dedicated post-doctoral scholars at Stanford will support the collaboration, developing advanced geophysical techniques to accelerate the exploration and discovery of energy transition minerals.

Ideon says it offers the only straight-line subsurface imaging technology available today, delivering the highest available resolution along with precise anomaly location information, at depths not supported by other subsurface geophysics methods.

Australia’s AMGC accelerating muon detection, hyperspectral imaging mining work

Ideon Technologies to join Stanford University’s Mineral-X program