MATERIALS HANDLING
the Bergby project was acquired by United Lithium and its subsidiary Bergby Lithium AB. A joint project: ULiBSS,
between Uppsala University, Orexplore and with Magnus Leijd and Anders Zetterqvist from Bergby Lithium, was formed in 2023 and could quickly determine the lithium contents in the drill cores drilled in June, the same year, using the Orexplore scanning technique. According to Karin Högdahl,
A 3D image planar mineralised structures hosting Cu and Fe sulphides that attained tilting and deformation. (contents to the right, peaking at about 1% Cu)
to more confidently plan exploration drilling to target the continuations of these strongly folded zones which is of great benefit to a project like this.”
LITHIUM One source for lithium is brine, another is hard rock; the main lithium ore minerals in the latter being spodumene and petalite. Let us look closer at one such mineralisation in Bergby, north of Gävle in Sweden. After the discovery during a university field course in 2007 – a find of a spodumene-bearing pegmatite boulder, and in 2020
associate professor at Uppsala University, the GeoCore X10 analyser has a great potential to be used in lithium exploration, not least by the information gained of the spodumene petalite ratio in the ore, but also the non-destructive
detection of additional mineral phases hosting other critical metals besides lithium, such as tantalum and beryllium.
COPPER None of the electronics such as computers, generators, batteries, motors that we take for granted would be possible without copper. Electrical cabling uses copper for the transport of electricity due to its low resistance and comparative softness. The copper production is large worldwide – it is fairly straight forward to recycle
FIGURE 2: Scan of cobalt mineralisation using Orexplore’s Geocore X10 analyser
copper from scrap – but to meet the demands of the transition to a society where more of the energy is in the form of electricity, copper still needs to be mined from ore in the ground. The term ‘ore’, by the way, is
a purely economic term – if the metal mineralisation in the ground is economically viable to mine it is called ore, otherwise not. And with the scarcity induced by the increased need and usage leading to higher world market prices, suddenly what was old, barren and closed down mine is turned into long lived thriving project with mineral reserves worth mining, with interesting perspective for resource expansions. This is what is happening in Kiruna
in Sweden, where Copperstone Viscaria AB is reopening the old Viscaria mine. Marcello Imaña, chief geologist, says that understanding structural features and textures of mineralisation in drillcore is key for guiding near mine exploration and metal recovery strategies. Looking into the core provides scalable 3D information that helps connect subtle surface points to depict mineral plunging and trends.
CONCLUSION When putting together the pieces above, an emerging regional supply chain of critical raw material needed for the storage and transport of electrical energy seems not only plausible, but in fact on its way. ●
Mikael Bergqvist is CTO at Orexplore.
www.orexplore.com
FIGURE 1: Piece of core from a key zone of high-grade cobalt mineralisation
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