Since the end of 2021, Minalyze have had a successful partnership with the Colorado School of Mines with the purpose of conducting research that advances the use of technology with the help of the Minalyzer CS. We got to chat with Thomas Monecke, professor and director of CASERM (The Center to Advance the Science of Exploration to Reclamation in Mining), to hear about the progress so far and his thoughts about the future.
CASERM is a partnership between the Colorado School of Mines and Virginia Tech that is changing how geoscience data is used in mining, with the long-term goal of preparing and educating the next generation of scientists and engineers for mining.
Minalyzer CS was set up at the Colorado School of Mines to conduct methodology development and testing in late 2021, and in January 2022, the lab started to operate effectively. The main idea and expectation with the collaboration were to coregister different data sets on core, which, according to Thomas, is more complex than it might sound.
– The Minalyze platform offers coregistered images, lidar, continuous XRF, and RQD. In the meantime, we have been working on coregistering hyperspectral data and have achieved 100% coregistration. I believe this is a huge step for machine learning research, both for us and the industry in general.
What potential do you see with Minalyzer CS for the mining industry?
– The industry has a chance to improve data quality by adding value to core logging. Multiple people logging core inconsistently causes major problems in big programs, which leads to issues especially in 3D modeling. In the short term, using the Minalyzer CS in industry workflow can reduce conventional assaying costs by identifying ore and waste. This will quickly pay for the instrument.
The Minalyzer CS is run 24/7 for the various research projects within CASERM, and we are looking forward to seeing what it can help future research bring. If you’re curious to read about one of the project highlights, check it out here:
https://www.minesnewsroom.com/news/whats-carbon-sequestration-potential-copper-nickel-and-platinum-ore-deposits-mines-led-project
Big thanks to Thomas and this team at Colorado School of Mines and Virginia Tech!