Improving the recovery of your resources

Improving the recovery of your resources

By ZEISS Research Microscopy Solutions.

Producing Mineral Resources for an Evolving World. Meet the mining challenges of the 21st century with advanced analytical solutions from ZEISS. Supplying mineral resources to satisfy the increasing societal demands for infrastructure, advanced technology, and cleaner energy production requires detailed knowledge of the ore body, and of the mineralogy that influences behavior during the beneficiation process and beyond mine closure.

Reflected light photomicrograph of gold sitting at the interface between hematite and silicate/ carbonate.

Zircon cathodoluminescence. The ability to view distinct growth zones in high resolution is essential when performing geochronology studies.

Zircon cathodoluminescence. The ability to view distinct growth zones in high resolution is essential when performing geochronology studies.

Actionable data is essential to address the challenges across the entire mining value chain, from exploration, through production, to reworking of tailings, and urban mining. With the broadest portfolio of analytical solutions for the mining industry and a strong reputation as a technology leader, ZEISS is the ideal partner to help you meet current and future challenges.

Determining the mineralogical and textural influences on process behavior

Geometallurgy

To sustain the supply of staples such as Al, Fe, and Cu, and fulfill the demand for high tech metals and critical commodities, miners are turning their attention to lower grade, more complex ores that represent greater operational cost and demand a modern outlook and the application of technical innovation to meet feasibility criteria.

To develop such deposits successfully requires knowledge of the ore body, its structure, geomorphology, and description of the distinct ore types present, their textural characteristics, mineralogy, and chemistry.

Prospecting

Greenfield and brownfield

Whether a greenfield or brownfield project, the workflow to discovery is similar. Initial coverage of large areas becomes progressively focused on the most promising plots, those highlighted by indicator minerals and vectoring. Success is dependent on the microscopical analysis of numerous samples and the interpretation of the datasets.

ZEISS microscopy solutions for the mining industry make use of the complete portfolio of microscopy technologies. From field deployable stereo and compound microscopes, through lab-based light microscopes, and Scanning Electron Microscopes (SEM) offering automated mineral identification and chemical analysis. Furthermore information from these various techniques can be correlated to provide comprehensive insights from the samples.

Tailings to mineral resources

Developments in mineral processing technology are making the reprocessing of legacy tailings and heaps feasible. Either for primary or bi-product mineral commodities.

ZEISS mining solutions offer a range of analytical tools for the characterization of mineral deposits. For a pre-processed material, 3D X-ray microscopes (XRM) offer liberation analysis and high-resolution studies of low-grade deposits, ideal for measuring gold/ PGM losses to tails. ZEISS Mineralogic offers full quantitative chemical analysis and mineralogical classification and measurement. In combination, XRM + Mineralogic, can offer a full description of the tailing’s material, allowing the development of an accurate reprocessing model.

Reflected light photomicrograph of gold sitting at the interface between hematite and silicate/ carbonate.

Urban mining

In the face of increased demand for electronic goods and declining world reserves of key raw materials, urban mining, the recovery of raw materials from electronic waste, is gaining prominence as a valuable resource of tech metals. In the vast piles of electronic waste, tech metals are concentrated, ready to be recovered and recycled.

ZEISS provides the means to fully understand the 3D distribution of the components, and map the chemical composition and deportment throughout of, e.g., a phone.

Understanding the structure of the phone and the deportment of elements within provides the basis for the development of successful and efficient recovery models.

Zircon cathodoluminescence. The ability to view distinct growth zones in high resolution is essential when performing geochronology studies.

ZEISS develops advanced solutions for mineralogical analyses.

ZEISS Microscopy Solutions

About us

ZEISS is an internationally leading technology company in the field of optics and optoelectronics. For a broad spectrum of mining applications, ZEISS has worked with thought leaders in Geoscience to develop advanced solutions for mineralogical analyses.

Take, for example, the integration of machine learning into our light microscopy workflows changing the way we work with thin sections by involving automation in the description and classification steps.

For example, advances in the evaluation of 3D microscopic data reveal information previously not available that help to fine tune the efficiency of raw material processing plants.