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South Africa: Laser Technology for Determining Gold Grade |
| Source: |
CSIR e-News - November 2013 |
| Source Date: |
Friday, November 29, 2013 |
| Focus: |
ICT for MDGs
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| Country: |
South Africa |
| Created: |
Nov 29, 2013 |
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The aim of the project is to test whether it is possible to detect and/or determine the gold grade on narrow gold reef deposits.
LIBS is a mature technology that is capable of detecting trace quantities of elements in a variety of materials. Though the technology is mature, it has not been used for the detection and determination of gold grade in mines.
The LIBS technique operates by focusing a high-power pulsed laser onto a small area at the surface of a rock sample. The laser pulse ablates a very small amount of material which generates a luminescent plasma plume. Because all elements emit light of characteristic frequencies when excited, LIBS can detect all elements; limited only by the power of the laser, the sensitivity, and wavelength range of the spectrograph and detector.
The project – dubbed MineLibs – commenced in the second quarter of this year and is envisaged to be a long-term project depending on the outcomes of the research, says the CSIR’s Dr Jeannette McGill, who is the project leader.
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South Africa: Laser Technology for Determining Gold Grade The CSIR has been awarded an international research contract through AngloGold Ashanti Technology Innovation Consortium to pre-test a novel application for detecting and determining gold grade The project will see CSIR laser and mining research experts team up with Applied Photonics in the United Kingdom and HoneyBee Robotics in the United States to pre-test an application for Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy LIBS in South African gold mines
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