The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) today announced a new QEMSCAN® service that will assist the mining industry by providing precise quantitative mineralogical analyses that are essential for proving resource deposits that lead to mine development. SRC will be the first QEMSCAN® service provider in Saskatchewan and one of only a handful in Canada.
SRC has invested $1.4 million in the new service, which will provide a strong link between mineral exploration and mineral processing that will help companies find new deposits and evaluate the economic potential of these deposits while still in the exploration stage and particularly in the mineral processing stage.
Justice Minister and Attorney General Gordon Wyant, on behalf of Economy Minister and Minister responsible for SRC Bill Boyd, announced the new service. Located at SRC’s Saskatoon Innovation Place location, the service will allow mining companies to increase productivity and competitiveness in an environmentally sustainable manner.
“Mining and mineral processing are key sectors of our economy, with Saskatchewan being one of the largest mineral producers of potash and uranium in the world,” Wyant said. “By helping companies prove out resource deposits to eventually mine and process, SRC is part of a mining cycle that creates and maintains jobs in Saskatchewan, across Canada, and around the world.”
The QEMSCAN® service, commonly the first phase of any mineral processing program, will complement the current testing services of SRC’s Advanced Microanalysis Centre™ and Mineral Processing Pilot Plant.
“SRC has a long track record of providing real-world solutions to the mining industry,” SRC President and CEO Dr. Laurier Schramm said. “This new service, in addition to SRC’s current capabilities in this sector, will enhance SRC’s ability to serve mining industry clients as a ‘one-stop-shop’ to meet their analytical testing needs here in Saskatchewan."
QEMSCAN® is a sophisticated electron microscope capable of advanced electron spectroscopy that enables scientists to determine the bulk mineralogy and liberation characteristics of various types of ore samples. The new service will be made available to potential clients immediately.
Read the News Release on the Government of Saskatchewan's website.
