Tectonic Shifts happening in the "XRF for Mining" World
Innov-X Systems has significantly increased its presence in the rapidly expanding XRF market for various applications within the mining sector by acquiring the staffing and technical expertise of JBS Technologies.
Michael J. Gray, Innov-X's VP of Sales and Marketing, said, "Innov-X has been extending the reach of XRF into mining field-based applications for some time. These moves represent a corporate strategic decision to increase, very significantly and very rapidly, our visibility and position in this sector. We have been watching field-based XRF solutions gain importance to the mining sector; we decided now was the time to make a bold move."
That bold move was an acquisition of JBS Technologies (JBST), the former Australian distributor and global mining strategy arm for Niton XRF products. All of the employees of JBST, including its founder Jason Bawden-Smith, have transferred to Innov-X and now make up the new Innov-X Australia entity: the International Mining Group (IMG). In addition to Bawden-Smith and the JBST staff, Innov-X is excited to add a new Global Mining Sales Director, Todd Houlahan; as well as well-respected Geologist Aaron Baensch, who hails from another division of the JBS Group.
This new group is much more than a sales channel; it is a gathering of 50 years experience in mining applications and has a proven track record of applying XRF to mining exploration in new and innovative ways. The first fruits of this strategic initiative are already available and are being shown this week. An intense initial thrust in product development has led to the improvement of the Omega Series.
Jason Bawden Smith, now Innov-X's head of mining strategy said, "An impressive mining team has been gathering over the past few months at Innov-X. We have been advising sales, marketing and technical people on this sector and are now ready to take our new product to market. The Omega Series will bring the Innov-X offering closer to a point where the robustness of the information it generates can be compared with laboratory results. These new units have been designed to greatly assist the exploration geologists integrate instant geochemistry with differential GPS and other field data and at the same time allow managers to advance projects by several months."
"Now is the time", said Bawden-Smith. "The industry is ready to deepen its dependence on XRF, and we judged that Innov-X alone has the right approach for this expansion. We are very excited to bring our decades of mining expertise to a company with Innov-X's energy and forward thinking."