Monday 24 February 2014

Thank you

Thank you to everyone who attended last week's second Industrial Solutions Breakfast at Plymouth University. Prior to our keynote speakers taking the floor, there was the pleasant buzz of introductions and conversation throughout our conference suite in the Rolle Building; the mark of a useful event.

James Strongman of PetroLab described the growth of this small Cornish business over the last 10 years, culminating in the development of a new service, using electron microscopy. He demonstrated how having access to the EMC at Plymouth University, using a KTP, has enabled his company to investigate this potential new service and make it a development reality.

Keith Taylor of Oxford Instruments gave the delegates an insight into the state-of-the-art equipment currently in use, and available for use by small companies in the south-west, at Plymouth University.

Following our two speakers, the delegates were given a tour of the EMC, to see in practice how electron microscopy can solve some of the issues facing those in the geology, mining and recycling industries. The two delegates who brought samples for analysis were also able to discuss their particular requirements in detail.

The next Industrial Solutions breakfast is scheduled for Thursday 3 April - more details to follow...,



Thursday 6 February 2014

Speaker details for Tuesday 18 February 2014 - have you booked your place yet?

We are pleased to give you our two keynote speakers' biographies for the next Industrial Solutions Breakfast on Tuesday 18 February at 08.00; we do hope that you can join us to find out just how useful electron microscopy has been to PetroLab's new business development, and to find out how the PEMC could support your company to grow:

James Strongman, PetroLab Ltd
James is a Director and the Principal Mineralogist at Petrolab Ltd. He has been with the company since 2001, starting as a junior petrographer under the supervison of Petrolab's founder, Dr Alan Bromley and subsequently purchasing the company in 2006.

During his 13 years with the company, he has gained a wide spectrum of experience in the analysis of materials ranging from concrete and man-made stone replacements to precious and rare earth metals found in electronic scrap. His specialist field is, however, metalliferous ores, and he has developed a broad knowledge for the importance and application of mineralogy to mineral processing problems.

Petrolab has in recent years been looking for an opportunity to enter into the field of Automated Mineralogy. With the collaboration and support of both Plymouth University and Oxford Instruments over the last year, Petrolab has been able to launch its Automated Mineralogy services to the mining and mineral processing industries, a move the company see as vital to its business development.


Keith Taylor, Oxford Instruments
Keith is a Sales Engineer with Oxford Instruments NanoAnalysis, a role which he has been doing for 6 years, during which time he has gained microscopy experience working on customer applications with many types of samples including geological materials, metals, ceramics and glass.  His background by training is electronics, having worked in manufacturing and sales for high-tech industries including aerospace, medical and mechanical engineering.

Oxford Instruments launched one of the first commercially available dedicated microanalysis packages for minerals identification and characterisation in 1991. Since then, sustained development of detector technology and software algorithms have significantly increased the analysis speed and capabilities of their systems.

With the launch of INCAMineral in 2012 and AZtec LAM (Large Area Mapping) in 2013 the company now provides the most comprehensive and advanced toolset for the analysis of geological materials in the scanning electron microscope – all of which can be accessed by industry at the Electron Microscopy Centre in Plymouth University (and for free for eligible companies).

To register for this free event, funded by ERDF, please go to:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EMC_workshop_18thFeb