SAMPLING , ANALYSIS AND LAB ASSAY
SGS has announced a joint venture agreement with Golden Compass , one of Saudi Arabia ’ s largest exploration and mining consultancy and service providers , to open and operate a new geochemistry laboratory in Saudi Arabia to provide sample preparation and geochemistry analysis to the mining and minerals industry in the country .
The lab will support the country ’ s growing mining ambitions and ensure that local explorers and mining operators have access to world-class testing services , SGS says . The joint venture will maximise the strengths of SGS ’ s analytical experience and services across the mining lifecycle , in addition to leveraging Golden Compass ’ s mining operations and drilling and exploration consultancy services .
“ We are excited to build on SGS ’ s established presence in Saudi Arabia by adding geochemistry services , especially at a time when there is significant growth in the mining and minerals industry ,” Lawrence Ng , Global Vice President , Geochemistry at SGS , says . “ Together with our joint venture partner , we look forward to helping exploration and mining companies identify , quantify and realise the full potential of their mineral deposits .”
The newly-opened facility , operated by SGS experts , is located in Jeddah and will provide : n Sample preparation , including drying , crushing , pulverising and sieving ; n Fire assays with AAS and gravimetric finish multi-element testing ; n ICP-OES ; n ICP-MS ; and n Carbon and sulphur analysis .
This laboratory will have the latest equipment and follow SGS ’ s strict quality assurance and quality control standards to maintain the same high level of analysis expected of SGS worldwide , the company says .
Meshary AlAli AlDehashi , CEO of Golden Compass , said : “ This investment will contribute to achieving SGS – Golden Compass investment goals to support and enhance local content by localising some mining services . This will help realise the goals of Saudi Vision 2030 , which focuses on transforming the kingdom into a major mining hub .”
most notably the speed in which they can make decisions and move their projects forward .”
For example , Barton Gold has cited its use of detectORE as a significant contributor to the recent discovery of mineralisation at the Tolmer prospect in South Australia . detectORE was used to pre-screen all drill samples at the project and , with this information , Barton expanded its RC drilling program in real time with additional targeted drill holes . These holes provided better spatial coverage of mineralised structures and enabled wider intercepts of mineralisation to be intersected . Five of the seven best intercepts of the program came from drill holes added to the program following detectORE screening . Use of detectORE on this project also resulted in a 63 % reduction in laboratory assay costs by sending only samples to the lab that were identified as anomalous by detectORE .
Todd Houlahan , Portable PPB Director Global Sales , explained : “ Daily gold results from an exploration project are game-changing , enabling field teams to alter their sampling strategies in response to findings . This allows them to undertake multiple sampling phases in days or weeks , not months or even years . This facilitates the testing of more targets , increasing discovery chances .
“ The detectORE process will be industry standard within five years , without question .”
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