Our team recently returned from the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) annual conference in Toronto, Canada. PDAC is one of the most popular mining shows of the year, and we love catching up with our customers and hearing directly from them about the state of the industry. This year there was a lot of optimism, which is always great to hear!
Our customers have been busy over the last year, and so have we! Check out some of the material we’ve been working on below.
What’s New for Mining and Geochemistry
Better Cobalt Analysis with Portable XRF
Despite the collapse of the price of cobalt over the past 12 months, there’s still great interest in using portable XRF to test exploration samples for it. To meet this demand, we developed a special calibration that overcomes the spectral overlap difficulties of measuring low-level cobalt in the presence of nickel and iron. Check out the presentation by Simon Bailey of Olympus Australia on the results of the new calibration.
Vanta™ Geochem Technical Tutorial Series
We recently finished filming a 9-part video series on the best practices of portable XRF for geochemistry applications. These videos are packed with helpful tips and tricks that our experts have learned over the years that help ensure all the data you generate is fit for purpose. The first 5 videos are live on our website and our YouTube channel. The final 4 videos will be released over the next few months, so keep an eye out! Each tutorial is short (about 5 minutes) and discusses important considerations when setting up a pXRF program. |  |
New Application Notes
Portable XRD for Graphite Exploration, Mining, and Extraction
Olympus portable X-ray diffractometers (
Portable X-Ray Fluorescence (pXRF) for Rapid Geochemical Mapping of Chromite Ores
We have recently published a case study completed at a chromite deposit in Russia demonstrating the effectiveness of using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) for delineating platinoids and rare-earth elements (REEs). A detailed return on investment (ROI) analysis was conducted to calculate the value of using pXRF versus conventional laboratory methods.
Meet the Team: Brendon
Brendon Johnson, Olympus Industrial Microscope Specialist (and Geologist) attended PDAC for the first time in 2019. Q: How would you describe your first PDAC? How did it compare to your expectations? A: PDAC was hyped up by the mining group as, by far, the largest and most important event each year. Thus, I was curious to see if the hype would meet expectations. In fact, PDAC did live up to the expectations! The size and focus of PDAC |  Brendon studied Geology at the University of Arizona and San Jose State University, graduating with |
Q: What was the most interesting aspect of the event for you? A: Folks often bring by interesting samples for me to image or issue a challenge to me to see if I can interpret a sample correctly. At PDAC, this tradition held true when a gentleman stopped by to see if our microscope could resolve the entire Hebrew Bible that was printed on a metal plate that measured <1 cm × <1 cm on his bracelet. It turns out that the text was printed on the metal piece with each character measuring about 3 microns in height! We sent the customer off with some images to share with his colleagues. Other than that, walking around the Core Shack and observing the rocks and core was very interesting. |  A microscope image of a customer’s Hebrew Bible printed on a piece of metal. |
Q: What were most visitors to the booth asking you about Olympus microscopes?
A: The most common question from customers was “How much does this microscope cost?” Other than that, folks were very curious about what the displayed samples were and their geological context and utility. The individual microscope components were generally not of much interest at a conference such as this, but the displayed images were very popular.
Q: Do you hope to be back next year?
A: Yes, I think that this show offers many opportunities for Olympus. The show is
Contract Brendon to learn more about our geological microscopes.
Congratulations to the Winners of Our Binocular Giveaway!
|  |
Mining and Geochemistry Products Featured at PDAC
 Vanta portable XRF for immediate, on-site elemental measurements |  TERRA® portable XRD for in-field mineralogy |
BX53 microscope for high-quality images on geological samples
We look forward to seeing you at next year’s PDAC event. Make sure to subscribe to the blog to get notified of our latest posts.
Related Content
The Power of pXRF for Cost-Effective Decisions for Mineral Exploration Programs
Identifying Rock Types and Mineralization with XRF at the Mount Pleasant Mine
Portable XRF Geological Logging with Vanta Analyzers
Get In Touch
