Digging for Gold in Antarctica

A team of Victoria and Massey University scientists has been recognised for their development of portable nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technology in Antarctica. Massey’s Robin Dykstra, Professor Paul Callaghan of the MacDiarmid Institute, Dr Craig Eccles of Magritek Ltd and Mark Hunter of Victoria University have developed portable laptop NMR machines capable of assessing the properties of materials such as sea ice. The machines work by placing a sample into a magnetic field, causing its atoms to resonate at a particular frequency. They are now being sold around the world, with applications from construction to the oil industry. Magritek Ltd,  a joint venture between Massey and Victoria formed in 2004, was responsible for commercialising the team’s research. Last month, the company was awarded the Emerging Gold Award for a company “shining beyond its size” at the Wellington Gold Business Awards.