North Australian Laboratories (NAL) is an independently owned assay laboratory operating from Pine Creek, NT. NAL was founded in Pine Creek in 2001, and since then has maintained a constant presence in the town with the business growing steadily and currently employing 11 local people. As resource production and exploration grows in the region, NAL is ready to expand with the demand.
The business currently provides grade control, resource definition, mill process and exploration sample services to large and small operators throughout Northern Australia. NAL also houses a large capacity sample preparation and fire assay facility for gold mining purposes as well as sophisticated ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma – Optical Emission Spectrometry) analytical services.
As gold mining and exploration stalled due to the COVID crisis, NAL investigated opportunities for alternative assay services to complement its existing services. The business implemented classical chemistry and modern ICP instrumentation to provide manganese, iron ore and additional base metal sample analysis services. From this, NAL provided services for exploration drilling on Winchelsea Island QLD as well as iron ore assay services to Linecrest at the Frances Creek Mine in NT.
Relationships with smaller operators in the area have also sustained the business through COVID. NAL has provided gold and multi-element analysis to several operators including BACCHUS Resources, Core Lithium, PNX Ltd, and Vista Gold Australia.
NAL is headed up by Ray Wooldridge who has 30+ years’ experience and knowledge of the Pine Creek Geosyncline and the Tennant Creek Ironstones with 40+ years’ experience in mineral chemistry across Australia.
With its large laboratory in Pine Creek, now more than ever NAL is well positioned to service the gold and base metal mining industry across the Northern Territory.
Go to https://northaustralianlaboratories.com for more information.
