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Zawartość zarchiwizowana w dniu 2019-03-15

OPTIMIZATION OF THE PROSPECTION OF MINING ELEMENTS BY IN SITU NEUTRON ACTIVATION ANALYSIS.

Cel

DEVELOPMENT OF A FULLY OPERATIONAL BOREHOLE PROBE IN ORDER TO GAIN INSIGHT INTO THE LOCATION OF MINERALS OF ECONOMIC INTEREST AND, HENCE, TO REDUCE COST IN MINING EXPLORATION.

THIS PROJECT WILL FOLLOW THE WORK UNTERTAKEN FOR THREE YEARS BY THE B.R.G.M. TO DEVELOP A NEUTRON ACTIVATION PROBE. A FIRST PROTOTYPE WAS BUILT AND TESTED ON SIMULATED PITS IN THE FIRST PROBE, GIVING DETECTION LIMITS OF 0,1% DIRECTLY IN THE FIELD.

THIS PROJECT COMPRISES THE SECOND STEP INVOLVING THE FOLLOWING IMPROVEMENTS:

- EXTENTION OF THE RANGE OF ELEMENTS WHICH CAN BE INVESTIGATED BY NEUTRON ACTIVATION SUCH AS CR, CO, NI, CA, SB, ZN, REFERRING TO THEORETICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL LABORATORY RESULTS;

- OPTIMIZING THE METHOD FOR EACH ELEMENT(OPTIMUN RESPONSE FROM EITHER DECAY OR PROMPT, IRRADIATION AND COUNTING TIME, NEUTRON PULSE WIDTH), AND COMPUTING CALIBRATION CURVES TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ENVIRONMENT PARAMETERS SUCH AS DENSITY, WATER CONTENT, BOREHOLE DIAMETER).IN ORDER TO OBTAIN THESE RESULTS, A NEW PROBE WILL BE DEVELOPED, USING A NEW NEUTRON GENERATOR OF LONG LIFETIME (MORE THAN 500 HOURS) AND SMALL DIAMETER (LESS THAN 80 MM) WITH IMPROVED ELECTRONICS.

NUMEROUS FIELD TESTS OVER DIFFERENT MINERAL DEPOSITS WILL BE CARRIED OUT COMPARING THE PERFORMANCE OF THE PROBE TO THE NEEDS OF MINING PROSPECTION.

AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT THE PROBE WILL BE ASSOCIATED TO OTHER GEOPHYSICAL PROBES TO IMPROVE THE INFORMATION RESTITUTED TO THE GEOLOGIST, GIVING WITHOUT DELAY THE CONCENTRATION OF DIFFERENT METALS AND INFORMATION OF THE GEOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT FROM A VOLUME OF A FEW CUBIC DECIMETERS AROUND THE BORE HOLE.

Temat(-y)

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Koordynator

Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM)
Wkład UE
Brak danych
Adres
Avenue de Concyr
45060 Orléans
Francja

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