New $2m JCU microscope a boon for mineral discovery

A 'supercharged' electron microscope worth almost $2 million is set to save time and money for James Cook University's mining sector partners. Officially launched this week at JCU’s Advanced Analytical Centre (AAC) in Townsville, the microscope will allow JCU to continue its work helping the industry identify valuable mineral deposits and rare earth elements. AAC director Dr Kevin Blake said the new instrument represented a quantum leap in technology over the 20-year-old microscope it replaced. “Everything about it supercharged from the previous instrument,” he said. “It means you’ve got very sensitive X-rays detection and much higher resolution imaging potentially down to a nanometre scale, which is millionths of a millimetre. “We’ve effectively doubled the count rate of X-rays that we can do compared to the previous machine, which means we can work either twice as fast or get down to even lower levels of detection.” Dr Blake said the cutting-edge microscope took six weeks to calibrate and set up, and would be maintained by his team at the AAC. JCU Economic Geology Research Unit Director Dr Ioan Sanislav said the instrument would save both time and money for mining industry partners involved in critical minerals exploration. “Everything we could do before, we can do now at the next level,” he said. “This microscope offers a new capability in that we can map larger areas quicker in a sample and at higher resolution. “We can identify the distribution of these elements much better inside a mineral or a rock. Another aspect is if we want to analyse the chemistry of these critical minerals, it’s again much faster. “It also opens up the possibility to see things that we couldn’t see previously, giving metallurgical and chemical engineers the ability to design and prepare the most efficient mineral extraction processes.” Dr Sanislav said post-graduate students would also benefit from the capabilities the microscope offered by developing their own research skills and exploring new areas of investigation. The arrival of the microscope follows JCU joining the Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer program in 2022. The program is a partnership with Curtin University and The University of Queensland, as well as 33 companies and commercial partners across Australia involved in the technology metals, critical minerals and metals value chains. The microscope will be one of only two in Queensland, with the other being based at the University of Queensland (UQ). JCU Dean of Research Professor Andrew Krockenberger assisted in securing the microscope, which was made possible thanks to a successful joint $3.5 million grant application with UQ to the Australian Research Council’s Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) scheme. Prof Krockenberger said the microscope could also assist with research in engineering, material sciences and medical-related fields. “You can’t support academic capability without the calibre of this type of instrument, and this new technology will support the next generation of researchers at JCU,” he said. Image at top of page: JCU Advanced Analytical Centre Director Dr Kevin Blake with the new $1.8 million Electron Probe Microanalyser.

New $2m JCU microscope a boon for mineral discovery

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