The Mineral Exploration Cooperative Research Centre (MinEx CRC) has enjoyed a breakthrough 2025, with several key technologies advancing through the year.
The unique research collaboration, drawing on industry, government, and academic sources, has been focused on developing and testing a range of new drilling technologies and processes.
These include three different automated drilling platforms. The fluid automation, auto-drill reverse circulation, auto drill diamond programs have each progressed towards commercialisation, according to the group’s year in review for 2025.
Among the other technologies under development with MinEx CRC are coiled tubing drilling, in which a trial covering more than 26,000 metres demonstrated precise curved drilling in hard rock.
The organisation also deepened its understanding of downhole assay generation, with researchers completing a 220m field trial of its laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) tool. The LIBS technology has been further supported by a new patent application this year.
MinEx CRC has been involved with logging while drilling petrophysics, in which four frequency-domain electro-magnetic prototypes were built and tested over the year.
Under the seismic drilling research portfolio, the team were able to replicate three-component seismic applications through the use of fibre-optic distributed antenna system receivers. And researchers have also advanced the Loop suite of geological modelling tools, integrating different modules into a single user-friendly platform to enable efficient three-dimensional model construction.
Across all programs, research, and corporate activity, MinEx CRC spent a total of $11.9 million for its seventh year in operation. This was its lowest total expenditure since 2020.