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Aussie scientists develop tech to increase savings, productivity in mineral exploration

Xinhua, September 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

Australian scientists have developed technology that will speed up the process of analyzing mineral exploration, saving time and money.

"Lab-at-Rig" was developed by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and allows mining companies to analyse at the "coalface" - the chemistry and mineralogy of rocks within minutes of drilling.

The Lab-at-Rig technology is expected to result in "massive cost savings in drilling, exploration and overall mining operations," according to the CSIRO's Lab-at-Rig Project Leader, Dr Yulia Uvarova.

Uvarova said in a statement on Tuesday that the technology automatically analyses the cuttings from a drill site, while simultaneously offering traditional sampling methods, meaning companies are not inconvenienced by determining the make-up of the samples.

She said it would cut down the time it takes for exploratory companies to determine whether a certain area was suitable for drilling.

"If mining or exploration companies have real time information about the mineralogy and chemistry in the drill-hole they can efficiently plan what to do next; whether that is to drill deeper, drill further holes, try elsewhere or to stop," Uvarova said on Tuesday.

"Ultimately, Lab-at-Rig will provide improved decision making and productivity for mineral resource operations."

Currently, some methods of data analysis take up to three months and millions of dollars to determine the results of drilling. The process includes setting up drill sites, the actual extraction of the material, the logging of the drill cores and the delivery of the samples for analysis at a lab.

The CSIRO claims Lab-at-Rig can cut the process down to just a single, one-hour cycle and was born out of the frustration involved with waiting for lab results.

"Our 'light bulb' moment was in 2011 when a group of researchers were watching a diamond drilling operation near Adelaide and observed the fluid carrying the drill cuttings to the surface," Uvarova said.

"They asked the question, 'What if we could analyse the cuttings separated from that fluid in real time?'"

The technology was developed over two years in conjunction with companies Imdex and Olympus, under the Deep Exploration Technologies Cooperative Research Centre (DET CRC). Endi