SOLSA is a Horizon 2020 project founded in the framework of developing "New sustainable exploration technologies and geo-models".
The aim of the project is to develop new efficient and cost-effective technologies for mining, thus optimizing the search of raw materials of technological interests. SOLSA will be a fully automated expert system, combining drilling and real-time on-site analysis with a set of sensors performing x-ray fluorescence, x-ray diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and hyperspectral imaging. The results of each technique will contribute to the complete chemical and mineralogical characterization carried out by a dedicated software. No such an integrated expert system exists at present worldwide, and SOLSA is expected to revolutionize the geological exploration, pushing Europe into the foreground. Moreover, the expected reduction of exploration and analysis time will have a positive impact on the environment.
Industrially driven, the SOLSA multidisciplinary consortium includes nine partners from industry, university and research institutions. The consortium is led by ERAMET, a multinational mining company based in France. The project started in 2016 and will last for four years with a grant of about 10 M€. Within the SOLSA project, the University of Verona has been founded with about 1 M€ and is in charge of developing the integrated micro-Raman analysis and a dedicated geological database.
