This article is 6 years old. Images might not display.
Chrysos Corporation was formed in 2016 in partnership between CSIRO and RFC Ambrian for the purpose of commercialising the photon assay technology.
Ausdrill, in turn, has invested in Chrysos Corporation and is assisting in commercialising the company's technology.
Ausdrill, through the minerals laboratory MinAnalytical, is the first company in the world to offer the technology to mining companies. The first machine has the capacity to analyse up to 50,000 samples per month, with a further commitment made to install the next two units into Kalgoorlie.
The technology behind the Chrysos, developed by CSIRO, can reduce the time it takes to analyse a drilling sample from up to 48 hours, to less than 10 minutes.
The photon assay process combines speed with a high degree of reliability and is an alternative to the traditional fire assay process.
According to Ausdrill, it represents a chemistry-free approach to material analysis that gives accurate results in minutes, and it also delivers higher accuracy than fire assays, with significantly reduced sample preparation.
A further benefit is that the new process enables the sample to be tested repeatedly if required - unlike fire assay, which involves the destruction of the sample.
"For Australian mining companies, this technology delivers such a fast turnaround that has never been available to the market before, and does so with less sample preparation and in a non-destructive fashion," said Ausdrill's chief operating officer - Australia, Andrew Broad.
"This opens up a whole range of possibilities for our clients to review their processes to take advantage of the accessibility to results, which ultimately will deliver cost savings to their business.
"This is game-changing technology, and it has certainly generated a lot of interest in the industry, with several major companies supplying samples for the validation process that we are currently working through."
While gold is currently the focus for the technology, it may be used to analyse other minerals in the future.
