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Technological innovation will drive new exploration strategies

14th October 2016

By: Nadine James

Features Deputy Editor

  

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Increased innovation in analytical instrumentation and unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone, technology will further enhance the means and cost of exploration, thereby enabling the development of new exploration strategies, says mining consultancy The MSA Group.

Oxford University and University of the Witwatersrand professor, and geoscience consultant Laurence Robb states that developments in analytical instrumentation – particularly those in the field of laser-based inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) – will revolutionise analytical procedures, enabling analyses of individual minerals on a micrometre scale.

ICP-MS is an analytical technique used for elemental determinations and can detect metals and nonmetals at concentrations as low as one part per quadrillion. Determinations are achieved by ionising mineral samples with ICP and then using a mass spectrometer to separate and quantify the ions. ICP-MS is faster and more accurate than other elemental analysis techniques, including atomic absorption and optical emission spectrometry.

“While this technology is still largely used as a research tool, its availability and implementation on a commercial basis will drastically alter the earth sciences in terms of analytical capability, thereby leading to the creation of new exploration strategies,” Robb states.

Further, he advises that drones will continue to impact on mapping and survey techniques in the mining and exploration sectors as access to big-data technologies increases.

MSA senior project geologist Craig Blane adds that drones are routinely used to produce highly detailed digital terrain models and extremely high-resolution imagery.

He tells Mining Weekly that drone technology is currently only cost effective when used over small areas and that larger areas are better covered by satellite processes. However, this is likely to change within the next decade as drones become more accessible and their capabilities are improved.

Blane states that commercial laboratories have used the mining industry’s current downturn to develop new products and services. This includes the improved analysis of selenium and halogens, which will have significant potential for exploration geochemistry.

“We have also seen improvement in the detection limits of multi-element geochemical analyses used to determine backgrounds and in identifying subtle anomalies,” he comments.

Another technological advancement is the widespread adoption of tablet-based data entry systems for field-based staff to validate and deliver data to centralised databases. The centralised databases are also increasingly connected, allowing automated data population from several data sources, including tablets, mobile phones and Internet-enabled monitoring systems, as well as subcontractors such as commercial laboratories. Access to data held within databases is also improved, with simpler methods of displaying key data using mobile phone applications and dashboards.

Additionally, the hyperspectral analysis of core/chip samples – used to identify subtle alteration signals that can be used to vector towards mineral deposits – is more affordable. Blane notes that, while this type of analysis is not new, it is more cost-effective, as commercial laboratories now offer the technology to smaller exploration companies.

He suggests that the advent of drones, big-data technologies, connected devices and other innovative technologies will ensure that exploration processes become less expensive and more efficient and accessible by smaller or nontraditional players in the mining sector.

Companies and countries that adopt the technological revolution now will have a distinct advantage over those that are slower to adapt, states Blane.

Changing Focus
MSA geology operations manager Michael Cronwright says exploration and mining companies have largely focused on niche minerals, such as graphite, lithium, cobalt, tin and columbo-tantalite in the past year, owing to increased demand in the manufacture of consumer electronics and hybrid vehicles.

“Driving demand in the lithium, graphite and cobalt space are the large electric vehicle programmes planned by China. This is in addition to the megafactories planned by companies like electronics company LG and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, with the latter intending to supply batteries for hybrid vehicles and off-grid systems,” he explains.

The electronics market is also driving much of the columbo-tantalite and tin demand. Cronwright notes that the move away from using lead-free solder in 2003 by the manufacturing and service industries created a large demand for tin and accounts for about 50% of global tin consumption.

“A lot of hard-rock lithium projects and associated waste dumps that have been mined in the past for feldspar, beryl and columbo-tantalite offer potential opportunities to miners and prospectors. Many of the copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo have always produced cobalt as a by-product. These projects . . . are being revisited with the intention of targeting cobalt-rich portions of deposits.

“The days of speculative exploration plays are a thing of the past – at least for the moment,” states Cronwright, concluding that the bulk of the exploration and geological activities at current projects will involve less exploration and more due-diligence-type work and technoeconomic evaluations.

Edited by Tracy Hancock
Creamer Media Contributing Editor

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