SA and WA Innovators of the Year 2023: Chrysos Photon Assay and Portable PPB
The South Australian Government has awarded the Chrysos Photon Assay team the Innovator of the Year at the 2023 South Australian Science and Innovation awards last Friday evening.
The Chrysos Photon Assay team, consisting of chief technical officer Dr James Tickner, chief executive and managing director Dirk Treasure, Dr Alvin Chowles and Dr Rhys Preston, were awarded for developing and commercialising their game-changing Photon Assay technology for the mining industry.
Dr Tickner says being able to understand how much valuable metal is in the ore is an essential part of the mining business.
“Photon Assay is a completely new approach,” he said.
“It uses high-powered X-rays to hit samples and activate any metal in the samples by giving off a signal which we can measure and determine the grade of the ore.
“It is disruptive to an industry that has been using the same methods for the last 3000 years.
Mr Treasure says this new technology and approach provides significantly better outcomes for the environment and is more efficient for mining companies.
“Every point of the way needs analysis,” he said.
“We do it better than how it is currently being done in the industry – faster, more accurate and more environmentally friendly.
“’Photon Assay is an enabling technology, so by virtue of being faster, we enable the industry to do things that they’ve never been able to do before.
“The better data you have, the faster you can make decisions, and the better your plant is going to operate.
Chrysos Corporation began about six years ago with five staff in the first year; now, the company has up to 120 people.
The rapid growth does not appear to be slowing down for Chrysos in its current lifecycle.
“We anticipate a market of about 600 units around the world, so there’re huge opportunities for us to grow,” Dr Tickner said.
“Longer term, we’re starting to look at doing a wider range of commodities and a different range of applications.”
Mr Treasure says the company has built a framework for future growth.
“As you start to introduce better ways of doing things – whether they be safer, more environmentally friendly, more efficient – once they gain traction in the industry, it really starts to the snowball.
“We’ve got that attention from major miners, from major laboratories – we’re now operating on a global basis.”
WA Innovator of the Year 2023
On the other side of the country, the WA Government has announced Portable PPB Pty Ltd as the WA Innovator of the Year 2023.
WA Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Dawson commended Portable PPB Pty Ltd on taking out the top prize for their highly sensitive portable gold detector, which was among a field of 17 finalists vying for the title.
“It was a very tough job for the judges to choose the winners from such a wide range of amazing high tech and innovative solutions and full credit to Portable PPB Pty Ltd for coming out on top with their gold detector,” he said.
