Earth X-ray for Low-Impact Mining

Meeting our national and global commitments to emission reductions requires the increasing utilization of clean technologies. The demand for the minerals needed in clean-tech (such as nickel, copper, zinc, and cobalt) is expected to grow by at least fivefold in the coming years. At the same time, the mineral resource industry needs to reduce its own environmental impact.
The time is therefore ripe for transformative innovation in the mining sector. The Earth X-ray project aims to develop a Discovery Platform that allows for investigating the mineral composition at depths of up to 1 km beneath the Earth surface. This unprecedented capability will be made possible by integrating the novel muon tomography technology from Ideon with a new-to-the-world gravimeter and advanced artificial intelligence from SFU. Combined, these technologies will provide the mining industry with a low-cost, minimally invasive technology for sustainable mineral exploration.

Faculty Supervisor:

Glyn Williams-Jones;Behraad Bahreyni;Derek Bingham;Don Estep

Student:

Partner:

Ideon

Discipline:

Earth science

Sector:

Environmental Science and Technology; Natural Resources; Mining

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: