The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
The Saskatchewan Research Council (SRC) on Friday announced a new service designed to aid the province's mining industry. The Qemscan service will provide precise quantitative mineralogical analyses essential for proving resource deposits that lead to mine development. SRC will be the first Qemscan service provider in Saskatchewan and one of only a handful in Canada. The new service will be made available to potential clients immediately. Qemscan is a sophisticated electron microscope capable of advanced electron spectroscopy that enables scientists to determine the bulk mineralogy and liberation characteristics of various types of ore samples. SRC has invested $1.4 million in the new service, which will provide a link between mineral exploration and mineral processing that will help companies find deposits and evaluate their economic potential while still in the exploration or mineral processing stage. Justice Minister and Attorney General Gordon Wyant, on behalf of Economy Minister and Minister responsible for SRC Bill Boyd, announced the new service. Located at SRC's Saskatoon Innovation Place location, the service is expected to allow mining companies to increase productivity and competitiveness in an environmentally sustainable manner. 'Mining and mineral processing are key sectors of our economy, with Saskatchewan being one of the largest mineral producers of potash and uranium in the world,' Wyant said. 'By helping companies prove out resource deposits to eventually mine and process, SRC is part of a mining cycle that creates and maintains jobs in Saskatchewan, across Canada, and around the world.' The Qemscan service, commonly the first phase of any mineral processing program, will complement the current testing services of SRC's Advanced Microanalysis Centre and Mineral Processing Pilot Plant. 'SRC has a long track record of providing real-world solutions to the mining industry,' SRC President and CEO Dr. Laurier Schramm said. 'This new service, in addition to SRC's current capabilities in this sector, will enhance SRC's ability to serve mining industry clients as a 'one-stop-shop' to meet their analytical testing needs here in Saskatchewan.' SRC is one of Canada's leading providers of applied research, development and demonstration and technology commercialization. _ Compiled from a Government of Saskatchewan news release
