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By The Daily Gleaner

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A new laboratory at the University of New Brunswick will allow researchers to help locate undiscovered deposits of precious metals and other ores in New Brunswick bedrock.

The New Brunswick Innovation Foundation announced an investment of $165,000 to help build a new, high-powered laser-ablation laboratory for Chris McFarlane and his colleagues.

"This new instrumentation will allow us to turn a painstaking process that took several days into to one that takes just a few minutes," McFarlane said.

He said there are significant gold and silver resources contained in the Bathurst ores that were previously overlooked, or shelved, due to the difficulty in measuring their abundance.

The laboratory will use a deep UV laser connected to a mass spectrometer to probe the chemistry of rocks and minerals at quantities as small as one part per billion.

The facility will be used to analyze and measure metals found in ore deposits all over the province and beyond, and will also support materials science research associated with a new solar cell manufacturing facility in Miramichi.

NBIF president and CEO Calvin Milbury said the facility has the potential to breathe new life into New Brunswick's mining industry. "The innovative processes that Dr. McFarlane is developing and his ability to attract industry partners could make a difference when it comes to uncovering new opportunities for the province's mining resources."

Other financial contributors to the new laboratory include five major industry partners and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.