PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

X-ray vision to detect unseen gold

2013-08-21
(Press-News.org) Powerful x-rays can now be used to rapidly and accurately detect gold in ore samples, thanks to a new technique developed by CSIRO – a move that could save Australia's minerals industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year. CSIRO has conducted a pilot study that shows that gamma-activation analysis (GAA) offers a much faster, more accurate way to detect gold than traditional chemical analysis methods.

This will mean mining companies can measure what's coming in and out of their processing plants with greater accuracy, allowing them to monitor process performance and recover small traces of gold – worth millions of dollars – that would otherwise be discarded.

GAA works by scanning mineral samples – typically weighing around half a kilogram – using high-energy x-rays similar to those used to treat patients in hospitals. The x-rays activate any gold in the sample, and the activation is then picked up using a sensitive detector.

According to project leader Dr James Tickner, CSIRO's study showed that this method is two-to-three times more accurate than the standard industry technique 'fire assay', which requires samples to be heated up to 1200°C.

"The big challenge for this project was to push the sensitivity of GAA to detect gold at much lower levels – well below a threshold of one gram per tonne," he says. Dr Tickner explains that a gold processing plant may only recover between 65 and 85 per cent of gold present in mined rock. Given a typical plant produces around A$1 billion of gold each year, this means hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold is going to waste.

"Our experience suggests that better process monitoring can help reduce this loss by about a third," he says.

Last year, Australia produced over A$10 billion worth of gold. Even if GAA only led to a modest 5 per cent improvement in recovery, that would be worth half a billion dollars annually to the industry.

Dr Tickner says that the other major benefit of GAA is that it is easily automated, allowing for much quicker analysis of ore samples.

"Fire assay usually involves sending samples off to a central lab and waiting several days for the results. Using GAA we can do the analysis in a matter of minutes, allowing companies to respond much more quickly to the data they're collecting."

"A compact GAA facility could even be trucked out to remote sites for rapid, on-the-spot analysis."

Another great advantage of GAA is that it is more sustainable – unlike fire assay it doesn't require the use of heavy metals such as lead.

It is also very adaptable. "While most of the work we've done has been based on the gold industry, the technique can be modified for other valuable commodities such as silver, lead, zinc, tin, copper and the platinum group metals."

Now that the research team has proved the effectiveness of the technique, their next goal is to partner with local and international companies in order to get a full-scale analysis facility up and running in Australia. They hope to achieve this within the next two years.

### END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Plasma-treated nano filters help purify world water supply

2013-08-21
Access to safe drinking water is a step closer to being a reality for those in developing countries. A study paves the way for the next generation of portable water purification devices, which could provide relief to the 780 million people around the world who face every day without access to a clean water supply. An international team of researchers – led by Associate Professor Hui Ying Yang from Singapore University of Technology and Design – showed that water purification membranes enhanced by plasma-treated carbon nanotubes are ideal for removing contaminants and ...

Pulsars make a GPS for the cosmos

2013-08-21
CSIRO scientists have written software that could guide spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, show that the planet Nibiru doesn't exist … and prove that the Earth goes around the Sun. Dr George Hobbs (CSIRO) and his colleagues study pulsars — small spinning stars that deliver regular 'blips' or 'pulses' of radio waves and, sometimes, X-rays. Usually the astronomers are interested in measuring, very precisely, when the pulsar pulses arrive in the solar system. Slight deviations from the expected arrival times can give clues about the behaviour of a pulsar itself, or whether it ...

New intervention reduces risky sex among bisexual African-American men

2013-08-21
A culturally tailored HIV prevention program developed and tested by investigators at UCLA and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science has been shown to significantly reduce unprotected sex among bisexual black men. The innovative approach, called Men of African American Legacy Empowering Self, or MAALES, is described in an article in the peer-reviewed journal AIDS. The rate of HIV/AIDS among African-Americans is significantly higher than it is among any other ethnic or racial group. (According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-Americans ...

Schizophrenia symptoms linked to faulty 'switch' in brain

2013-08-21
Scientists at The University of Nottingham have shown that psychotic symptoms experienced by people with schizophrenia could be caused by a faulty 'switch' within the brain. In a study published today in the leading journal Neuron, they have demonstrated that the severity of symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations which are typical in patients with the psychiatric disorder is caused by a disconnection between two important regions in the brain — the insula and the lateral frontal cortex. The breakthrough, say the academics, could form the basis for better, more ...

Hue of barn swallow breast feathers can influence their health, says study by CU-Boulder, Cornell

2013-08-21
For female North American barn swallows, looking good pays healthy dividends. A new study conducted at the University of Colorado Boulder and involving Cornell University shows the outward appearance of female barn swallows, specifically the hue of their chestnut-colored breast feathers, has an influence on their physiological health. It has been known that in North American barn swallows, both males and females, those with darker ventral feathers have higher reproductive success than those with lighter colors, said Cornell Senior Research Associate Maren Vitousek, ...

Research breakthrough: Impaired autophagy associated with age-related macular degeneration

2013-08-21
A new study published in the prestigious PLoS One journal changes our understanding of the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The researchers found that degenerative changes and loss of vision are caused by impaired function of the lysosomal clean-up mechanism, or autophagy, in the fundus of the eye. The results open new avenues for the treatment of the dry form of AMD, which currently lacks an efficient treatment. The University of Eastern Finland played a leading role in the study, which also involved research groups from Italy, Germany and Hungary. AMD ...

Better insight into molecular interactions

2013-08-21
"Basically we are looking at how atoms and molecules interact in biochemical materials in solution", says Professor Dr. Emad Flear Aziz, leader of the Young Investigator Group for Functional Materials in Solution at the HZB and Professor at Freie Universität Berlin. Their now published work is based on a discovery by Aziz' team made three years before: They then analyzed samples with x-ray spectroscopy and observed the disappearance of photons at some specific photon energy. These results have been replicated by other teams worldwide. To explain this effect, Aziz and colleagues ...

Playing video games can boost brain power

2013-08-21
Certain types of video games can help to train the brain to become more agile and improve strategic thinking, according to scientists from Queen Mary University of London and University College London (UCL). The researchers recruited 72 volunteers and measured their 'cognitive flexibility' described as a person's ability to adapt and switch between tasks, and think about multiple ideas at a given time to solve problems. Two groups of volunteers were trained to play different versions of a real-time strategy game called StarCraft, a fast-paced game where players have ...

Epic ocean voyages of baby corals revealed

2013-08-21
The study, by researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Miami, will help predict how coral reef distributions may change in response to changing oceans. Coral are well known as the colourful plant-like structures which form coral reefs. However, each coral is actually a colony of anemone-like animals, which start out life as tiny, free-floating larvae about the size of a full-stop. Using a computer model, the researchers simulated how these young corals disperse in the world's oceans. Coral reefs, a vital cultural and economic resource for many of the world's ...

First scientific method to authenticate world's costliest coffee

2013-08-21
The world's most expensive coffee can cost $80 a cup, and scientists now are reporting development of the first way to verify authenticity of this crème de la crème, the beans of which come from the feces of a Southeast Asian animal called a palm civet. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Eiichiro Fukusaki and colleagues point out that Kopi Luwak (Indonesian for "civet coffee") is the world's costliest coffee, often fetching $150-$200 per pound. Palm civets eat coffee berries, digest the soft fruit surrounding the bean and excrete the ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

[Press-News.org] X-ray vision to detect unseen gold