I’ve been talking about a #mineralfindertechnology (MFT) that has emerged that has the potential to revolutionise the exploration phase of mining. This technology is capable of reducing the time taken by more than 80%, the cost by more than 80%, and increase the success rates. With the growing demand for minerals to support the EV market, this technology is here at the right time. This technology could be the key to unlocking new mineral deposits and bringing them into production far more quickly than previously imagined. This is a game-changer for the industry and we can't wait to see the impact it will have.
What is the science behind it? And how does it work? Today I’ll discuss physics principles behind the technology at a high level. In my next post I’ll talk the process.
Orebodies, gemstone, oil, gas, and water in the subsoil and bedrock create electro-magnetic anomalies in the earth’s magnetic field. With the right equipment these anomalies can be detected passively and measured quite precisely, to give indication for where to investigate further.
Traditional satellite imagery and spectrometry (using the radio waves, microwave, and infrared light) produces pictures, produces imagery, of the surface mineralisation but not the subsoil. But surface presence is typically not more than 50% of the total orebody, contributing to low exploration success.
What makes #MFT unique is that in every phase, it produces data that is not surface pictures, is not imagery, it is subsoil geophysics built from the processing of multi-spectral information from satellite, remote, and ground-based detection.
While MFT also looks at microwave frequencies, the focus of MFT is the deep blue and ultraviolet spectrometry and resonant frequencies of minerals of interest. This is where it is unique and why it is so accurate.
MFT has data on the resonant frequency of every mineral and ore of interest. The UV resonant frequencies used are from the MFT proprietary database, they are not from academic research nor in published literature. And if MFT have a mineral sample, a drill core, we can precisely calibrate the resonant frequencies of the poly-metallic materials of interest in your orebody.
Most metals are too reactive to exist on their own in the earth and they exist combined with other elements. So, ore bodies are highly variable in nature appearing as native elements, carbonates, sulphides, oxides, hydroxides, etc., and as happened with one client, there were six different forms of copper in the one ore body. And MFT is able to delineate between them.
There is no other electromagnetic or passive technology that can give you the 3-dimensional level of detail and accuracy you get with MFT (down to 9.8 km).