Geological Survey of Slovenia is a partner in the project titled "In situ ore grading system using LIBS in harsh environments" (INSITE, https://www.inesctec.pt/en/projects/insite#technical_sheet), co-funded by EIT RawMaterials. In this project an international team of experts, coordinated by the INESC TEC from Porto, Portugal, is developing a novel real-time ore grading system, based on Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS), which can detect elemental composition of the solid material or the material in slurry in millisecond time. Therefore several hundred analysis per seconds can be done, thus allowing implementation of efficient real-time ore grading system. The apparatus is expected to be less than 1m3 of volume, its expected weight is estimated to around 100 kg, and power consumption in a kW range.

Geological Survey of Slovenia, as a leader of field testing within INSITE project, is thus seeking for a reliable partner, who can provide a suitable test site for this equipment. The requirements and criteria for the selection are:

• active mine site area, or area of production of other mineral commodities or by-products,
• material shall have a variable elemental composition of base metals in a span between several mg/kg and up to percent range,
• suitable mounting site for such equipment, in order that the instrument can continuously measure its elemental composition (i.e. over conveyor belt or similar),
• since this project is about the development of the equipment for active mines, we prefer the selection of active mine sites (extraction or recycling).

If we select your site as an INSITE test site, you will get 15.000 € of compensation per year to cover your costs in the years 2020, 2021 and 2022 (45.000 € in total), and you will allow the INSITE team to test the equipment when ready (most probably in the year 2022). The foreseen schedule of activities are:

2020: prepare a report, describing your mine site area, health & safety rules, equipment which can be provided to the testing team (workshop, storage room, electricity, water etc.), requirements for workers health and safety, including list of required personal protection equipment, fire hazards, and any other constraints which can be foreseen in the moment (i.e. working time limits, limits to power consumption etc.);

2021: provide a variety of samples of materials of different grades, from pure ores up to different waste rocks, which will be used for LIBS calibration in the lab, as well as performing any preparation work for the tests if necessary (i.e. construction of mounting frame, preparation of workers health and safety protocols, fire prevention measures or similar);

2022: performing a field test on your site by the INSITE team (approx. 2 weeks).

If your company is interested to participate in this project, and you think that your site is relevant for the INSITE project, please send us a statement of interest, a short description of your company and your products, list of target elements, description of potential site to mount test equipment, an information about major constraints foreseen (i.e. allowed working time for the team, fire hazard, environmental protection restrictions etc.) and other important information in case if relevant for the tests. We expect your reply until 30.9.2020, and you will be informed about the final selection within 1 working day. A contract between your company and Geological Survey of Slovenia will be agreed and signed, and we expect to finish the first report until 15.12.2020. Working language is English.

For any questions do not hesitate to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and +386 1 2809-737.