Development of a virtual core tray for drill core analysis

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) tools are rapidly gaining a place in the mining industry, from safety training and equipment simulations to mine designing and planning. Therefore, more companies are financing research and development projects to explore innovations such as VR and AR. The surging use of VR in the mining industry inspired this thesis project, with the aim of expanding its application to core logging. The objective was to make data available for geologists to visualize, interpret, and analyze remotely.
This thesis describes, in detail, the complete workflow to build a virtual core tray that integrates analytical and visual data. Each core was modeled using two datasets: LIBS (Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) and RGB photogrammetry-based mesh. The study focuses on the Terrafame deposit’s archive drill core box to create a bridge between conventional core logging and VR. The workflow combines different tools and devices: LIBS data acquisition with Lumo Analytics LASOLIBS, data processing with Jupyter Lab, and mesh reconstruction in CloudCompare. The RGB models were acquired after high-resolution photogrammetry and model reconstruction using RealityScan. Both datasets, deriving from distinct sources and coordinate systems, were aligned, merged, and scaled with Blender to ensure spatial and visual accuracy. A total of 25 core models were combined in Unity to recreate the drill core box, forming the base of an interactive VR core logging scene designed for the Meta Quest 3 headset. Adapted C# scripts enable realistic interaction features such as rotating, scaling, zooming, and toggling between both meshes to visualize the mineral composition and study the surface texture.
The results show that integrating different datasets, from different sources, within a VR environment requires a detailed structured workflow with precise settings and parameter control. Users’ feedback from live demonstrations showed that this vision has strong potential as an efficient tool for geological data visualization and education. While conventional core logging remains dominant, this work focuses on how immersive technologies can complement current methodologies in the future.