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Orexplore & Minalyze win Swedish Mining Innovation Award

The award, which is presented by the national strategic innovation program Swedish Mining Innovation, draws attention to innovations related to mining and metal extraction, and was presented at the industry organisation, Svemin’s autumn meeting during the day. The jury consisted of chairman Jenny Greberg, program director of Swedish Mining Innovation, Lennart Evrell, board member SCA, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, ICA and Epiroc, Maria Sunér Flemming, CEO of Swemin and Margareta Groth, unit manager Industrial Development, Vinnova.

As many processes in mining have advanced in recent years, traditional methods for mapping mineral deposits have not changed much, and are often slow and inefficient. In addition, the process is complicated by the fact that the examinations are often done in inaccessible places. Orexplore and Minalyze have both developed innovations that in different ways contribute with solutions to the same challenge.

“New methods for mapping minerals can in the future change the entire life cycle of the mine, but above all ensure the access to raw materials that the world needs.”

Jenny Greberg, program director for Swedish Mining Innovation and chairman of the jury, wants to emphasise the value of being able to map in detail what is under the ground and get the information quickly, which is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle in an efficient process.

“New methods for mapping minerals can in the future change the entire life cycle of the mine, but above all ensure the access to raw materials that the world needs,” says Jenny. During the jury work, these two innovations stood out for their height of innovation, commercial value and global potential. The fact that two Swedish companies contribute with solutions that dramatically improve such an important process is proof that Swedish mining innovation is world-class.

Lennart Evrell, board member of SCA, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, ICA and Epiroc is part of the jury. “This was really not an easy task for the jury, it was almost impossible to rank the two,” says Lennart. “It was clear to us early on that they both have innovations that in various ways improve and shorten the process from exploration to producing mines. The further into the jury work we got, the clearer it became that both were worthy of attention.”

“Orexplore’s revolutionary X-ray technology provides in a short time detailed insight into the interior of the drill core in 3D, such as knowledge of structures, density, mineralogy and levels, all in one and the same scan.”

Motivation of the jury:

Orexplore’s revolutionary X-ray technology provides in a short time detailed insight into the interior of the drill core in 3D, such as knowledge of structures, density, mineralogy and levels, all in the same scan. Orexplore’s solution is currently used by mines in Europe and Australia. The innovation has great development potential even for substances with low detection levels such as gold, which is the focus for a large part of the global exploration.

“Being named a winner is an incredible honour. We are at the absolute forefront of technology and I am extremely proud of what our talented employees have achieved!”

“Being named a winner is an incredibly honour. We are at the absolute forefront of technology and I am extremely proud of what our talented employees have achieved! I also feel grateful for the support we have received from Innovation Sweden, especially Vinnova – Sweden’s innovation agency, which has made a strong contribution to our development. That Swedish Mining Innovation highlights and rewards innovations in the field of digital mineral analysis feels extra important as it points out that continued digitisation and automation of mapping of discoveries is the future and contributes to more sustainable and efficient mining,” says Kevin Rebenius, CEO of Orexplore.

Read More → Swedish Mining Innovation Award 2020