Having been in the field five times in 2024 with its Surgical Mining™ technology, Novamera has an even bigger 2025 on the cards, Dustin Angelo, CEO of the company, told IM on the sidelines of Resourcing Tomorrow, in London, recently.
Speaking to Angelo the day before Kuya Silver announced a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Novamera to deploy the Surgical Mining process from surface at the company’s Bethania mine in Peru, Angelo said the “precursor” projects the company had been engaged on over the last 12 months were both proving out Novamera’s process as well as adding value for its customers.
“These were demonstrating our core, downhole imaging technology and adding value to the customer, because they were getting detailed information about their deposit in a discrete area,” he said. “We look at these as precursors to potential Surgical Mining projects with those customers as they use the imaging tool to efficiently upgrade their understanding of the shape, orientation and geometry of their orebody before developing a Surgical Mining project.”
All five of the projects – three of which were with juniors, one of which was with a mid-tier gold miner and the last of which was with a major miner – saw the company deploy its imaging tool on existing surface coring drill rigs.
This imaging tool – a proprietary technology – allows companies to image the orebody in high resolution. It is part of a Surgical Mining setup that, in the initial proof of concept, was made up of three steps. This includes drilling a hole with a standard NQ-sized diamond core rig and sending the imaging tool down through the core barrel on a wireline to image the orebody in high resolution and with close spacing; bringing in a large-diameter drill, coupled with the company’s course correction device and positioning control system, to extract to depth following the trajectory provided by the imaging tool and transporting the cuttings using reverse circulation air-lift assist; and backfilling the holes thereafter.
The process is billed as generating circa-95% less waste and less than half the greenhouse gas emissions of selective mining methods, according to Novamera. In addition, a closed-loop system is employed to minimise water discharge, and real-time backfilling reduces environmental impact and tailings storage needs.
A low capital expenditure solution requiring minimal mine development, Surgical Mining presents miners with a flexible, efficient and scalable mining method that can help get into ore quickly with small-scale deposits, it says. It has typically been applied to narrow-vein, near-surface deposits to this point but there is an underground market as well that could be developed in the long term.
MVP to Gen1
“That’s the beauty of the technology,” Angelo says of this all-important imaging tool. “The way we’ve developed it is that you don’t have to modify those rigs; we just show up and the tool snaps into place and off you go.”
This has been particularly useful given the number of projects the company has worked on since the initial proof of concept trial in 2021 – demonstrating the technology across the Americas and for the likes of Vale, OZ Minerals (now BHP) and others.
The imaging tool itself has been reworked over these years, with the company now having a “generation one” commercial unit ready to be deployed, according to Angelo.
“What we’ve been using in the field in 2024, and previously, is what we’ve called our minimum viable product,” he explained.
“There are some really important features on board ‘generation one’. Probably the biggest one is that we’ve created a mechanical system – basically a ‘packer’ – to help displace water in the hole. This is both more cost effective and efficient than the mud we were using beforehand, allowing us to up the pace of the work, as well as reduce the cost to the client.
“We’ve also done a lot of internal work with the guts of the tool, the hardware, and integrating that hardware with the software and AI/machine learning onto a single platform to improve the efficiency and accuracy of data interpretation.”
Sustainable mining practices
This work is very timely considering the year that lies ahead for the company.
The project at Kuya Silver could see the miner add over 100 t/d of production to its existing underground mining base at Bethania with the use of Novamera’s Surgical Mining process.
The Bethania resource area consists of a swarm of structurally-controlled silver-polymetallic veins, many of which extend to surface. Novamera’s mining solution is well suited to the geology at Bethania, drilling large diameter holes from surface targeting vein mineralisation, Kuya says. The resulting broken rock recovered consists of mineralised material like what would be mined using conventional underground mining methods.
“With minimal surface disruption and real-time reclamation, the Surgical Mining Project aligns with Kuya Silver’s commitment to sustainable mining practices,” Kuya says.
David Stein, Kuya Silver’s President and CEO, stated in the press release announcing the LOI: “Since being introduced to Novamera and its Surgical Mining process, we have been fascinated by the possibility to use this technology at Bethania, which seems perfectly suited for this kind of technique to increase production and extract resources near surface that might otherwise be sterilised by normal mining operations.”
On top of providing these services, Novamera has agreed to source the upfront capital required for the project, which is expected to be in the order of $4-4.5 million, to be repaid from project cash flows, after which Kuya Silver has agreed to pay Novamera a revenue share (capped at a $50/oz silver price).
“It’s a financing and mining solution together,” Angelo said of this agreement. “It goes beyond ‘turnkey’ – where we provide the drilling rigs, the imaging tool and source the contractors – to a ‘full turnkey’ solution when you add the financing, especially for junior mining companies.”
Angelo says the company has been working on this model for some time, realising junior miners are finding it hard to access the debt or equity markets to fund this type of work.
“This model gives the miners a chance to access early revenue and provides us a great chance to showcase our technology,” he said.
And Angelo is expecting this type of model to be particularly suitable for bulk sampling.
“Whereas your typical bulk sampling focuses on one area of a project and commits to removing a set tonnage, regardless of the actual distribution of ore, our guidance tool allows these companies to be that much more selective,” he explained.
Already on the cards for 2025 are two bulk samples in Newfoundland. The first is for Great Atlantic Resources at its Jaclyn Main Zone deposit and the second is looking to be with Sokoman Resources at the Footwall Splay Zone deposit.
“Technically, in Newfoundland, you can take 1,000 cubic meters for a bulk sample, which is roughly 2,500 t,” Angelo explained. “We’re allowing them to be as precise as they can possibly be with that 2,500 t, meaning they can get as much ore – and, therefore, cash flow – as possible.”
It’s easy to see this model taking off, showcasing a clear progression from Novamera in terms of how it can commercially deploy a technology that is suited for smaller, narrow-vein deposits typically owned by junior or mid-tier miners.
This progression was symbolically acknowledged earlier this month, with Angelo and the company taking away the Resourcing Tomorrow Technology Pitch Battle crown.
