Orexplore’s gold detection technology begins commercial validation testing

Orexplore Technologies (ASX: OXT) is conducting commercial validation tests on its new gold detection technology with multiple tier-1 gold mining companies.

Orexplore’s technology detects nuggety gold on-site within 20 minutes, optimising the volumes of processed and transported core samples to laboratories which can take weeks or months to provide results.

It quickly identifies nuggets larger than 100 micrometres in size through the full 3D volume of the core. It aims to reduce the required drill sample volumes and can potentially accelerate the utilisation of gold grades for operational grade control and improved nuggety deposit characterisation.

Nuggety gold mines are difficult to find, design and operate, yet remain highly valuable if well developed and operated.

Orexplore’s technology allows the coarse gold to be analysed in its natural state without the need for cutting and subsampling. Also, as the core is not crushed, the contained gold particles can be characterised along with the minerals and structures that they are associated with.

The technology gives companies in the mining industry the ability to generate a deeper understanding of the character of gold mineralisation, with a view to improve drill targeting and operational grade control.

Orexplore managing director Brett Giroud commented on the technology.

“Gold mining faces increasingly challenging operating conditions, with nuggety gold deposits possibly being one of the hardest to find, mine and operate successfully,” he said.

“We think there is a great opportunity to help this sector of the industry with the deployment of new technology such as Orexplore’s GX10® system.

“As a full-core digitisation technology, we can characterise nuggety gold mineralisation within minutes at the core farm.

“These data streams can potentially support rapid site-based operational grade control processes and improve the gold characterisation to help unlock the value tied up in typically higher-risk nuggety gold deposits.”

Currently, multiple tier-1 gold mining companies are testing this technology to confirm its effectiveness with a specific focus on comparing results using Orexplore’s technology against traditional laboratory methods.

Initial testing has been successful, leading to increased interest for larger scale commercial laboratory and site-based trials.