Mineral scanning technology company Orexplore Technologies Limited has entered into a $1.55 million binding agreement with BHP for field deployment at the Carrapateena mine.
Orexplore will provide BHP with site-based drill-core and sample digitalisation services under the agreement. The work will focus on adding value to the operations by unlocking new rock mass characterisation and geometallurgical information to boost short and medium-term mining and operational planning and decision processes.
According to the Company, its “Smart Domaining” (SDM) solution, backed by its proprietary technology, will also allow increased Orebody Knowledge across the deposit, resulting in improved modelling and value drivers for downstream mining, processing, and reconciliation results.
As part of installing three GeoCore X10 units into the core farm, Orexplore will collaborate with the operations team to integrate new information flows into the site processes and systems. Through augmented logging and advanced Machine Learning (ML)-based analysis methods, the team hopes to change standard core logging and analysis procedures.
“We are proud to be deploying our technology into BHP’s Carrapateena mine and excited to continue our work with BHP’s TAD team. Orexplore is working in close collaboration with the BHP TAD team that is leading the way in the successful adoption of transformational technologies such as the Orexplore technology platform,” Orexplore Managing Director Brett Giroud said.
According to him, the agreement highlights the growing global demand for rapid, non-destructive 3D information to inform decision-making, drive collaboration, and create value in mining operations.
The initial field deployment of Orexplore consists of scanning and analysis of roughly 15,000m of drill core and samples at Carrapateena to demonstrate the effective integration of these new technologies into the site operating workflows.
Orexplore’s Technology Platform consists of its GeoCore X10 field sensing unit, which collects information from drilled core in less than 15 minutes per metre, and its Orexplore Insight software. Remote geological decision-makers worldwide may use the program to examine and interpret data to enhance ore body information acquisition. This can potentially speed up decision-making throughout the mining value chain, from exploration to operational improvements.
“We are advancing our mission to improve the sustainability of the mining industry, through delivering new technology tools to the field in support of geology and mining professionals transforming their processes and ways of working. We seek to achieve this through automating scanning and analysis tasks and delivering unique new insights from drilled core through machine learning and analysis to improve exploration, operational, planning and development decision quality and speed,” Giroud said.
