Collège Boréal’s Prospecting and Mining Exploration program in Sudbury got a lift this week when the Sudbury-based CoreLift company donated a prototype automated core logging table to the school.
Core samples are pieces of cylindrical rock extracted from exploration diamond drills. A handful of core samples can easily weigh a couple of kilograms. A full box of the rocky samples can weigh 50 kilograms or more. That's a challenge if one is lifting and examining rock samples all day, when each piece of rock must be examined and cataloged.
Maag said the company also sells a device for lifting core boxes from the shipping pallet to the table. Another attachment for the table is a device that holds a camera for photographing individual rock samples. Maag added there was a long list of Northern Ontario mining equipment suppliers who provided many of the individual pieces of equipment that make up a completed working table. Maag added that he was especially thankful to the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation in Sudbury which provided support.