CURTIN University’s WA School of Mines has further deepened its ties with the state’s mining industry, establishing a new company to help local miners better understand their mineral resources and plan future mining operations.
The new company, HiSeis Pty Ltd, utilises seismic imaging technology developed by the university’s department of exploration geophysics, to enable miners to make more accurate and detailed three-dimensional maps of their underground resources.
Seismic imaging previously has primarily been limited to the oil and gas industry, where it is the central tool for mapping deep oil and gas reservoirs. The method has until now been considered unsuitable for hard rock environments.
The founding shareholders of HiSeis include WASM’s head of exploration Geophysics, Anton Kepic, and Milovan Urosevic, who have been key players in developing the technology for use in hard rock environments.
Dr Kepic said the use of seismic imaging would give miners a much deeper understanding of their orebodies.
He said the imaging service had already generated almost $1 million annually for Curtin in recent years. Customers included some of the industry’s biggest names, such as Barrick Gold, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Gold Fields.
The company has appointed experienced resource executives Charlie Morgan and Peter Williams to serve as directors
