:: JKMRC Researchers Take a Closer Look at the Material World

The JKMRC will play a major role in a diverse range of research projects at the University of Queensland through their recent acquisition of a cone beam tomograph.

The tomograph’s primary purpose will be to scan for material dispersion inside mineral samples, such as the grains of gold inside chalcopyrite.

JKMRC Director Professor Tim Napier-Munn said this will provide the minerals sector with a powerful new capacity to understand mineral associations in ores, and so develop strategies to selectively liberate the mineral grains from one another more efficiently than at present.

The tomograph is one of only two of its type in Australia, and uses similar technology to the more widely used medical CAT scanner – but with much more detailed image resolution.

JKMRC researcher Dennis Golchert explained that medical CAT scan imaging has a resolution down to a millimetre, whereas the SkyScan 1072 x-ray microtomograph can get down to a two micrometres (microns) resolution. It means mineralogists can now get a much finer 3-D view of the internal structure of an object through this non-destructive testing method, potentially helping to deliver a broad range of commercial outcomes.

JKMRC researcher Dennis Golchert with a small piece of chalcopyrite, clearly showing the composition of gold through the tomograph screen in the background.

The tomograph is jointly funded by a University of Queensland research infrastructure (RIBG) grant and contributions from a consortium of UQ groups including the JKMRC, the Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, Pyrosearch, and the Divisions of Chemical Engineering, Materials, and Mining and Minerals Process Engineering.