The geoscience community are using XRFs
quite simply to save time and money,
getting that result in the field,
being able to make a decision.
Over the past few years
we’ve seen the uptake of
portable x ray fluorescence analyzers
in lab and downstream applications.
Companies have realized
that this technology is fast, reliable,
and very cost effective.
A mine geologist is making
multi-million dollar decisions everyday.
He needs the most accurate,
the most precise instrument that he can buy.
Portable XRF for geosciences.
Having worked in a mining environment
on a drill rig before,
dusty, dirty, oily, terrible conditions,
very hazardous for people and for equipment.
Having the Vanta being able to be dropped
from a four foot height and still survive
is a great feature.
The Delta was already
the most rugged analyzer on the market
and the Vanta just takes ruggedness
to a really new level.
Downtime can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars
or a week or two without an analyzer.
By making it more rugged
and preventing the number of times
that you are going to have a service event
either through the analyzer being dropped
and having to send it in,
or through a detector puncture,
or dust ingress or water ingress
really means that over time
you are going to reduce the overall cost of ownership
from eliminating
or minimizing those service events.
An analyzer that’s IP 64 65 rated,
that’s drop tested to U.S. military standards,
that has a shutter protector,
all these features I want to have
as a geo standing next to a rig.
What we’ve done with this analyzer
is really re-imagined how hand held XRF is designed.
So it’s not just an improvement
on an older model,
it’s a totally re-imagined design.
We did that with feedback from the customer,
especially in the mining industry.
We showed the Vanta at a conference recently
and the feedback from our customers
about the modernization of our user interface
with the Linux operating system,
the smart phone swipe features,
the accuracy of the instrument,
and the speed with which we were
getting results was amazing.
The feedback we are getting from customers
on wifi is excellent,
being able to download your data really fast
and then send it into your own database.
You can just easily connect to your wifi network
and quickly tap the screen to update the software.
You can have someone remotely log in
and help you assess what’s going on
with your analyzer.
So to move our instrument onto that platform
just makes it a lot more modern
and that should reduce the amount of training time
that is needed to train operators on this instrument.
Having the Vanta with it’s new Axon technology,
with faster testing times,
more precise and accurate measurements,
an operator will be able to get through more tests,
more times during the day,
leading to greater productivity and cost savings.
We’ve seen a lot of work in the laboratory of late,
and I think that’s somewhere that the Vanta
will really excel with the Axon technology.
The greater stability, precision,
accuracy that that’s going to give us
will largely eliminate any variability
between analyzers that are
coming out of our factory.
The fleet management aspect of the analyzer
is really interesting in that you can set up
all your analyzers to be exactly the same.
For customers to be able to say
this instrument is performing the same today
as it will in six months,
as it will in twelve months,
and their second instrument,
their third instrument, and their fourth instrument
perform in exactly the same way.
Now with the on-board GPS,
and the ability to pinpoint where you are
exactly in the mine,
we can now really sell to customers
the ability to map blast holes.
We’ve got customers in northern Finland
trying to operate in sub-zero temperatures
and we’ve got customers in the Pilbara in iron ore mines
operating up near our new limit, 50 degrees C.
So in these hot, nasty environments
the operator has the confidence
that the Vanta will be able to remain stable,
accurate and precise throughout the day.
As a geologist I need to know
when the stratigraphy changes.
I need to know if copper is going to go
above an anomalous concentration
so I can instruct the rig to keep going, to stop.
Our focus has been supplying an analyzer
to a mine geologist
who is making multi-million dollar decisions.
We need to get that person the most accurate,
the most precise analyzer so that
every single decision he makes he can rely on.
Because the Vanta is faster,
more reliable and more accurate,
these labs will now be able
to provide their customers and themselves
a greater return on investment.
I’ve worked in portable XRF
in the mining and mineral exploration field
for the last fifteen years.
The wish list is simple –
it’s ruggedness, it’s reliability,
it’s accuracy, precision,
and configurability flexibility
and I truly believe we have achieved this
at Olympus with the Vanta.