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With the variety of different core saw blades its important to understand the difference between each core saw blade in terms of cutting hardness and the blade water ways. The hardness of the rock being cut will determine what blade hardness is needed, the matrix of the blade (shown below) is a mixture of tiny industrial diamonds (positioned using ARIX diamond distribution) and variety of metal powders that make up the matrix and together determines the hardness and the cutting ability of the blade i.e. the more diamonds in the matrix the higher freer cutting the core blade becomes. Core saw blade water ways are specific to the type of core cutting machine, core saw blades with narrow water ways are better suited to be used with automatic type core saws with variable speed drives etc. whereas the wider water ways are better suited for manual feed type core saws. The easiest way to understand this is to consider the rotation speed of the blade along with the force being applied from the core onto the blade while being processed. Image 3: Difference in water ways.

UCP Africa’s Storage Pods are a highly efficient, practical and multipurpose archival core storage system, that can be used to. Transport the core trays to and from the drill site (on a trailer or the back of a bakkie/pickup truck),  Maneuver the core trays around the core shed (using pallet stackers or forklifts) and serve as a permanent archival core storage system. To ensure that the UCP Storage Pods ascribe to international safety regulations and ensure that the Pods and core trays can withstand the most rigorous treatment in the field and in the core shed, UCP Africa conducted a number of tests on the storage pods with the below outcomes. Core Tray compression test – the core trays were tested to destruction to ensure that the UCP core trays can withstand the load bearing in a stacked e nvironment. Results: Indicate that the UCP tray can withhold a weight equivalent of 53 to 86 trays, depending on the core tray, up to 10x that expected in a Pod. Flexure/stiffness test – to determine the amount of flexure the load bearing beam in a Pod can endure before permanent deformation takes place and ensure that two stacked Pods can be safely picked up using a forklift or pallet truck and determine the safety limits. Results:  Shows that even under a load of 1200kg there is little determinable deformation of the bottom beam.  Pod compression test – to ensure that the bottom Unit in a 4 x Pod stack can support the loa ded Pods above and determine the safety margin. A Pod was tested to destruction in a 45-ton press. Results:  Shows that the Pod fails at a load of 23 718 kg, 10x that expected in a pod stack.  Vibratio n test - to ensure that the UCP Pods can be used to safely and securely transport the core trays in the field an d at the core shack, under the most strenuous conditions.  A fully laden Pod was vigorously shaken in an oscillator for an hour to simulate transporting the Pod over rough terrain.  Results: After an hour on the simulator the Pod and core trays were still in good condition with no visible deformation. Two Pod tilt/bump stability test - to determine if two stacked Pods will remain secure when t ilted with a forklift or accidently bumped. Results: the stack was tilted using an overhead crane to a maximum of 6° and remained stable. Tilt test – to see if the 4 x Pod stack remain stable on a slightly uneven floor or bumped by a forkli ft. Results: the entire 4 Pod stack was tilted using a forklift to a maximum of 4.5° and remained stable. Other benefits of UCP Africa’s storage pods: Improving core shed capacity by more than 200% , the pods can be stacked 4 high with each pod being able to hold 26 BQ core trays (177m of core stored) or 20 NQ core trays (87m of core stored) or 16 HQ core trays (62m of core stored) or 12 PQ core trays (35m of core stored). Reducing potential health and safety risks by an order of magnitude. Providing a risk-free alternative to core storage. Quick and easy way to access old boreholes from the core shed/core yard. ISO tested and approved.

UCP Africa’s unique innovative workstation-based logging software (non-cloud based) allows the geoscientist to digitally log a borehole using high resolution, undistorted images. The mobility of the program and being touch-enabled allows the user to log from the comfort of their office or as the core is coming out of the drill string therefore still empowering the geoscientist. The geoscientist can log lithological, structural and geotechnical features to an accuracy of 1.5° and with a precision of < 3°. These features can either be created in the software program if there is a green fields exploration project or can be selected from a feature list that is created from a dictionary and database import thus allowing standardization of data. Once a borehole has been fully logged, the data can undergo QA/QC using the 3 projections in the program as well as analysing the excel export. The excel export allows the logging geoscientist and their colleagues to view all recorded features and the geotechnical information per set interval (RQD is automatically calculated by ScanIT-Logging). ScanIT-Logging has a flagging feature for a geoscientist to flag important logged features to go back and view at the core shed or drill site, especially if a joint must be opened to check strength, roughness etc. The three projections used in ScanIT logging are as follows: Composite projection (“strip log”) which enables the geologist to view the logging against the image of the core Orthographic projection that renders a full 3D image of features captured. The projection can also be rotated in multiple directions and outlines the interaction of multiple planes Stereonet projection which has an equal angle, polar and planar displays Valuable benefits of ScanIT-Logging for the geoscientist are many: Unique ability to log digitally on images Time saving when logging as there is automatic depth referencing (UCP Africa’s core depth markers have OCR numbers that will be read by ScanIT), depth referencing ruler is updated when forced breaks are removed or entered, enabled gap detection automatic display of core recovery and display of loses or gains between runs. Customization of settings to user preference. Allows a defined audit trail and standardisation of data Reduction of human error. Allows logging next to the drill site, to ensure no backlog and orientation is not lost.  Calculation of beta angle along with dip and dip direction. QA/QC of logged data.

UCP Africa’s ScanIT Photo’s Application  forms an integral part of UCP Africa’s innovation journey to empower the Geoscientist by streamlining processes while simultaneously fostering inexpensive technical rigor. The App facilitates the scanning of a core tray utilizing a lightweight extruded camera cradle and an iPhone APP that simply entails the sliding of the iPhone housed in the cradle over the core tray to produce a high resolution, undistorted image of your core tray.    The aluminum cradle is very versatile and fully adjustable to accommodate all core tray types and weighs just 4.1 kg’s. The cradle can thus easily be moved from tray to tray and negates the need to move heavy trays around, contributing significantly to a safe working environment. UCP Africa camera cradle. The ScanIT Photo’s App is an Apple-based application that is free to download from the Apple iStore. The Application via the iPhone is used for high resolution image capturing, storing and naming, so you can essentially store your whole core shed in your pocket by project name and borehole ID thus saving the geoscientist valuable time from manually numbering and naming each tray. Multiple images can also be taken either as a wet, dry or a duplicate image. Example of a core tray image that was labelled by ScanIT Photos app CP Africas iPhone app: ScanIT Photos There is also no need for cumbersome hardware to transfer the two files generated by the ScanIT Photos app (one file containing the core tray images and a .scanIT file used for ScanIT’s digital logging tool) as, these can seamlessly be transferred from the iPhone App via Wifi onto any device. The files generated by ScanIT Photo app. The Benefits of the ScanIT application The ScanIT photo’s application provides the geoscientist with the following valuable benefits: Safety:  no need to move heavy trays around to the image station Versatility:  Cradle can be adapted to all core trays Consistency:  all images are uniformly generated with high integrity Productivity:  significant time saving in taking images and simple to use. Images can also be taken in remote locations and sent across the world for real-time decision making.  Efficiency:  have your “core shed in your pocket” with all your images residing in one device.  The ScanIT Photo’s Application has a very significant upscale benefit in that it seamlessly integrates and underpins UCP Africa’s ScanIT Digital Logging Tool which will be the spotlight of the next article. Watch this space!!!

UCP Africa Core trays design are modern, innovative, ergonomical and has superior HSE compliance. The product is the culmination of years of intense research addressing legacy constraints and to be sustainable well into the future. The core trays are constructed of high grade Zinc-Alume with UV stabilized plastic ends. We also have clients throughout Africa, Europe and South America. Key Safety Aspects   The core trays are designed to optimize safe handling with class leading multiple handling points and ergonomic sides for safe and controlled handling Stacking positions of the core trays ensure that the fingers of the person are away from the weight bearing locations No sharp edges, ensuring safe interaction with the trays Maximum weight has been limited by design with overall weight of any tray being below 50kg (a PQ core tray holding granitic core will weight approximately 47.11kg in total) Key Benefits to the End-User:  Ease of geological logging with increased core access and visibility (48% core visibility) Inconsequential contamination Quick onsite assembly which allows for decreased transport, storage and assembly costs (no welding    or pop rivets required,) UV stabilized plastic ends with sufficient writing space (a force of over 1 ton is required to remove plastic end once secured to the zin-alume body) Excellent water drainage Stackability and inter-stackability of the different size core trays Additional Primary Benefits:   Avoid bottlenecks in core splitting and core logging operations Avoid high cost of transport and storage of core trays in waiting Increased ability to manually handle the core tray Provide a product which is both safe and cost effective Colour-coded plastic ends for ease of reference in storage  All while producing a product which:  Protects and correctly stores valuable core samples Performs all existing required functions of a core tray Integrated up-scale benefits: Storage pods: fully customised storage pods with a high degree of mobility and storage optimistaion  ScanIT  digital logging tool and Image capture: an innovative solution incorporating high-resolution imaging of UCP Africa core trays and the subsequent fully digital logging of the borehole Conclusion Embrace the pinnacle of design and functionality with UCP Core Trays, where superior HSE compliance meets unparalleled durability. Having the option of use, design and performance has never been easier.  UCP creates innovative products for the innovative clients.