Small But Mighty: Unlocking Narrow Vein Deposits to Fill the Metal Supply Gap 

We’re 14 billion tonnes of metal short of the future we seek.

Indeed, 14 billion tonnes is the estimated shortfall in the metals¹ required to make just one generation of the new technologies — batteries, smart infrastructure, and the like — that the world requires to transition to a net-zero energy future. The global mining industry is on the front lines to bridge this gap, but operators are caught between rising costs, fewer discoveries, more stringent environmental regulations, and increasing social pressures. Conventional mining depends on large deposits, where operators can leverage economies of scale to ensure that the mines remain economically viable. But this focus on large deposits skips over an estimated $6 trillion in smaller-scale deposits, often located on the periphery of existing mines. Operators often know that these “narrow vein” deposits are there, but their size and shape render them economically ill-suited to conventional extraction methods. So, they remain where they are, locked in the ground.

Novamera is changing that. The Canadian company has developed a novel suite of technologies that can precisely map and economically navigate and extract the ore in these complex deposits. Leveraging the power of high-density real-time data, as well as cutting edge hardware and software, Novamera enables an operator to extract these previously locked assets with minimal waste and minimal environmental impact. Once extraction is finished, the boreholes are backfilled, effectively erasing any sign that mining had even taken place at that spot.

The key to Novamera’s groundbreaking technology is a proprietary Guidance Tool that produces real-time 3D lithological scans that map the precise topology of an ore deposit. Thanks to powerful simulation tools from Ansys and support from the Ansys Startup Program, though, Novamera didn’t have to break much literal ground to develop this powerful tool.

Sensitive but Tough

Novamera’s Guidance Tool is designed to integrate with an industry-standard NQ-sized core drill — the same kind of drill that geologists use to extract and analyze samples of the rock layers that lie below the surface. The Guidance Tool contains a sensitive imaging system that uses electromagnetic waves to map the ore body within a radius of 3 meters around the narrow borehole. 

As the physical design of the tool evolved, it was important to run and re-run antenna simulations to ensure that the materials used in the tool did not negatively affect the system's performance. Dr. Naseri was frequently able to draw on existing Ansys material libraries when new components were designed for the Guidance Tool, but at other times she discovered that certain materials were not in the library. Nevertheless, she remained unperturbed.

“One of the great things about HFSS is that you can create a wide range of materials to explore,” she says. “If the materials I want to include in the model are not in the existing material libraries, I'll gather information from the existing literature and from electrical and physical tests, and I’ll add those details as properties in HFSS. Ansys gives you the ability to define new materials with very complex mechanical, electrical, and electromagnetic properties. Then you can save that and use it for any simulations you need.”

With all the component materials she might need readily available, Dr. Naseri could simulate the antenna performance to see if a newly added component changed the tool’s performance. If it did, she could make refinements to the antenna design and then re-run the simulation. Most of her simulations ran for several hours on a workstation dedicated to supporting her efforts, but that time always seemed time well spent.

“We once had a physical prototype with a new component for the tool, but a change had been made in manufacturing and we wanted to know whether that change would affect the tool’s performance. We took the prototype to a testbed in the field to find out — and it took three people a full week in the field to discover that, yes, the change in the component reduced the performance of the tool. In the next round, when we had access to Ansys HFSS, it took us only hours to evaluate the impact of the material change.”

Contributing to a Net Zero Carbon Future

Novamera executives are excited about the opportunities that this new Guidance Tool presents. Mine producers have long been frustrated by their inability to unlock what have truly been considered “stranded” assets. Novamera’s surgical mining technologies may provide them with a way to quickly and sustainably add to production and meet growing demand for deposits that can’t be mined using conventional methods. “Mining companies need to find new solutions,” notes Quick. “They want the materials extracted, but they are quite aware of the rising costs — both economic and environmental. Our Guidance Tool and surgical mining technologies are just the tools to effectively address both these goals.”

Learn more about the Ansys Startup Program.

References

1. Transition Metals Includes: Copper, Nickel, Lithium, Cobalt, Vanadium, Graphite required for just one generation of technology to phase out fossil fuels. Source: Simon P. Michaux, Associate Research Professor of Geometallurgy Unit Minerals Processing and Materials Research, Geological Survey of Finland, August 18, 2022 – Seminar: What Would It Take To Replace The Existing Fossil Fuel System?