NEWS
Siroquant Training Course – Europe
September 2011
In September we held a very successful SQ training course in Darmstadt, Germany over three days in conjunction with Dr. Martin Ermrich. Participants from Germany, Poland, Lebanon, Switzerland and Great Britain were able to have the opportunity to learn hands-on techniques in modules ranging from Basic X-Ray Diffraction to Advance Siroquant and the new SiPhase. For full details of the training modules see: Our next European Training Course is scheduled for September 2012. Click here for full details.
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SIROQUANT QUOTED IN INTERNATIONALLY RELEASED ARTICLE: Characterisation of MSWI fly ash through mineralology and water extration
February 2011
Siroquant has been used as a reference in the recently released article by Athanasius Bayuseno (Ruhr-University of Bochum, Germany) and Wolfgang Schmahl (University of Munchen, Germany). Details at: Click here.
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MARK RAVEN AND PETER SELF WIN THE 5th (2010) REYNOLDS CUP
January 2011
Mark Raven and Peter Self from the Mineralogical and Geochemical Services group at the CSIRO Land and Water in Adelaide South Australia, using SIROQUANT, were recently named winners of the 5th Reynolds Cup, run by the international organisation Clay Minerals Society. Sixty three participants from 22 different countries competed using three samples. The Reynolds Cup is a blind round robin allowing participants an unrivalled opportunity to test their given methods in complete honesty in order to identify both strengths and weaknesses.
For full details go to: http://www.clays.org/SOCIETY%20AWARDS/5thRCresults.html
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SIROQUANT USED IN POLISH INDUSTRY REPORT
October 2010
Hanna Krzton has used Siroquant for the basis of a recently published paper entitled “Quantitative Phase Composition of Steelmaking Dust from Polish Steel Industry” according to Scientific.Net. To read more about this paper go to: http://www.scientific.net/SSP.163.31
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ANNOUNCING SUCCESSFUL GRADUATES AT LATEST SIROQUANT TRAINING COURSE
October 2010
Congratulations to Ian Kelly (Technician) with Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Sydney, Australia); Biony Jones (Technician) with GNS Science (Taupo, New Zealand) and Isabelle Chambefort (Geologist) with GNS Science (Taupo, New Zealand) who recently successfully completed the latest Siroquant Training Course held in Australia. This intensive, hands-on course covered all aspects of Siroquant software including the new SiPhase.
Pictured left to right: Ross Freeman (Siroquant), Ian Kelly, Briony Jones, Isabelle Chambefort and Tim Black (Siroquant)
The next Siroquant Training Course is planned for early 2011. Click here for full details.
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AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE LEADING THE WAY WITH
ON-SITE FORENSIC TESTING
July 2010
The Australian Federal Police are taking the lead in implementing innovative forensic science capabilities, becoming the first agency in Australia to take delivery of an instrument that can be used for on-site rock and mineral analysis.
The Terra has been teamed with the Australian-produced software “Siroquant” and the AFP is the first agency in the world to use this pioneering combination to give forensic scientists a mobile and reliable means for analysing crystalline compounds.
The XRD/XRF Terra analytical instrument is the first of its kind worldwide, and is expected to revolutionise fieldwork by providing mobility and timeliness – two features that are also of great relevance to forensic science. The Terra enables scientists to analyse the mineralogy of rocks (or in the case of forensic scientists, other crystalline materials) in the field, eliminating the need for transporting samples to a laboratory for testing.
Mr. Luis Thé, General Manager of Sietronics, is excited about the possibilities. “XRD is acknowledged to be one of the “gold standard” analytical tests for crystalline materials, which are encountered in drug, explosives, and hazardous substance investigations. Until the release of the highly portable Terra, XRD was effectively a lab-based and expensive technique” he said.While all law enforcement agencies are particularly interested in the rapid analysis of hazardous materials, this purchase by the AFP shows an ongoing commitment to supporting technology that has the potential to benefit Forensic partners in broader law enforcement applications.
Brad Boyer of InXitu, likens the introduction of the Terra to the introduction of the digital mobile phone. ‘When the mobile phone was introduced it really changed everything, people could take them with them, and it changed the way people approached using telephones and communicating with each other.’
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SIROQUANT USED IN RESEARCH PAPER PUBLISHED IN THE AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF SOIL RESEARCH
February 2010
The Australian Journal of Soil Research recently published an article entitled “Inheritance and formation of smectite in a texture contrast soil in the Pilliga State Forests, New South Wales.” The article noted the help of Siroquant in completing this project. Want to read more? Go to: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Inheritance+and+formation+of+smectite+in+a+texture+contrast+soil+in…-a0222313810
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SIROQUANT QUOTED IN THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF COAL GEOLOGY
January 2010
The International Journal of Coal Geology recently published a paper by Dr Bandopadhyay of the Central Institue of Mining and Fuel Research entitled “Determination of quartz content for Indian coals using an FTIR technique”. This article noted the use of Siroquant software to complete the project. For more details go to: http://www.sciencedirect.com
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SIROQUANT NOTED IN THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY’S JOURNAL ‘ENERGY AND FUELS’
2009
Siroquant was acknowledged in the recently published article entitled “Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals in Lignites and Intraseam Sediments from the Achlada Basin, Northern Greece” written by a team led by Dr. Koukouzas. For more details of this article, go to: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ef8010993
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SWEDISH NUCLEAR FUEL AND WASTE MANAGEMENT COMPANY USES SIROQUANT
March 2010
The Swedish company SKB recently completed a study entitled “Characterisation of Bentonites from Kutch, India and Milos Greece – some candidate tunnel back-fill materials? by Siv Olsson and Ola Karnland. The study, using Siroquant software, gives mineralogical characterisation of some selected bentonites. Bentonite clays are being evaluated for their suitability as tunnel back-fill materials in repositories for radioactive waste. To read more about this paper go to: http://skb.se
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KORES CHOSE SIROQUANT
March 2010
Soo-Kyung Jeon and Yang Geun-young from Korea Resources Centre recently completed the March 2010 Siroquant Training Course in Australia.
KORES (Korea Resources Centre) is a leading supplier of stable energy and industrial mineral resources in Korea with a goal to be in the global top 20 mining companies.
KORES chose Siroquant software because of it’s reputation for accuracy, a requirement in this highly competitive market.
The next Training Course is scheduled for June 2010.
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INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPED SCIENTIFIC SOFTWARE – SIROQUANT
December 2009
The Soil Science Society of America has recently recognized the accuracy and ease of the Australian scientific software ‘Siroquant’.
In an article published in the Soil Science Society of America Journal for November-December 2009, Dr M.E. Alves tested the accuracy of the XRD-Rietveld approach for quantitative mineralogical analyses of weathered soils found in tropical regions, (oxisol) using Siroquant. He saw this as a successful alternative to expensive and time-consuming combinations of several analytical techniques used in the quantitative determination of clay minerals and poorly diffracting phases common in oxisols.
Dr. Alves, visiting scholar at the University of Delaware in the USA, was supported by the State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation of Brazil. Dr Alves acknowledged the assistance of Dr John Stirling of the Geological Survey of Canada and Dr David French of CSIRO Energy Technology Australia in his research.
Dr Alves stated “I will be happy if our paper helps promote Siroquant because in my opinion it is the best software for QPA of disordered materials.”
Siroquant was co-developed by Australian-based business Sietronics and CSIRO and is now fully owned and maintained by Sietronics.
Mr. Luis Thé, Managing Director of Sietronics, said he was delighted with the findings of the research of such a prominent international scientific association. “We’re very pleased to see Siroquant recognized in such a competitive market. We have always believed the ease and accuracy of Siroquant, along with its very competitive price, is what has made this software used in over 45 countries in the world.”
Full details of this paper can be viewed at: http://soil.scijournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/73/6/2191