With the launch of ZEISS Solutions Lab, the ZEISS Natural Resources team reaffirms its commitment to supporting their customers in their drive for digitisation, improved efficiency, and progression in their Mining 4.0 activities.

ZEISS, a supplier of analytical solutions to the mining industry, has a long history of providing automation of analysis systems; from the early QEM.SEM and QEMSCAN instruments, through to the more recent establishment of the ZEISS Mineralogic Automated Petrological Analyser, ZEISS has provided automation to improve efficiency and better the understanding of beneficiation processes.

Now, bearing in mind the range of application challenges and the criticality of a timely solution, ZEISS has introduced ZEISS Solutions Lab, an innovative service that provides access to rapid software applications development for your microscopy needs, or correlation of your suite of microscopes. Mining 4.0, the drive to automate the mining industry and implement the internet of things, however, is not just about automating systems and getting machines to speak to each other; it is also about the digitisation of information and about the people that obtain the data and interact with it.

Digitisation in mining has been an item on the agenda for many years. Over the past twelve months, world events have meant that holding centralised information, accessible at a moment's notice, from a remote location, has proved essential. Digitisation is about meeting the challenges of Mining 4.0 and interconnected machinery, but it is also about the ability to share data and study data collectively.

With applications such as ZEN Connect allowing the correlation of data from several microscopes to build a holistic, contextual interpretation of the data, and the ZEN Data Store serving as a centralised location for all your data, ZEISS has taken decisive steps to ensure that it meets the demands of an evolving world but more importantly, that their customers can continue to work unimpeded, regardless of their geographical location.

Global modernisation is driving the increasing demand for infrastructure metals, Al, Fe, Cu, etc, and high-tech metals, Co, Ta, Nb, etc. To meet the need, miners are turning their attention to lower grade, more complex ores that represent greater operational cost and demand a modern outlook and the application of technical innovation to meet feasibility criteria. To develop such deposits successfully requires knowledge of the ore body, its structure, geomorphology, and description of the distinct ore types present, their textural characteristics, mineralogy, and chemistry. The mineralogical controls on processing for each ore type must be determined, as well as any minerals that may cause environmental issues further down the line.

Key to the study are microscopy techniques developed for the evaluation of mineral samples. Such analytical techniques are performed in 2D and 3D and provide information on, for example, mineralogy, chemical composition of the sample and its components, texture, particle and grain morphology, mineral liberation and associations.

Through its range of solutions for Mining, the ZEISS Natural Resources team provides techniques to acquire essential, actionable data to address the challenges across the entire mining value chain, from exploration, through production, to reworking of tailings, and urban mining. Where a direct solution does not currently exist, ZEISS Solutions Lab offers the route to rapid development.

With the broadest portfolio of analytical solutions for the mining industry and a strong reputation as a technology leader, ZEISS is the ideal partner to help you meet current and future challenges.