MAQSIMAL: Multimodal Airborne Quantum Sensor InstruMent for sustAinable expLoration

Project funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT) (ERA-MIN3 Concurso Transnacional Conjunto 2023), grant ERA-MIN3/0001/2023. Funded amount: EUR 101,368, as stated by the source. Runs 2024-06-08 to 2027-06-07. Keywords: multimodal quantic sensor, magnetic method, electromagnetic, polymetallic sulphides exploration, Natural sciences. Source: OpenAIRE Graph, from the funder's project data (collected by OpenAIRE on 2025-07-20); national funding data, not CORDIS. Abstract given by the source: To secure today a sustainable supply with critical (and strategic) raw materials (CRM and SRM), the project proposal Multimodal Airborne Quantum Sensor InstruMent for sustAinable expLoration (MAQSIMAL) envisions a unique and miniaturized demonstrator based on hybrid read out Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) which is able to simultaneously record multiple measurement modalities such as the magnetic field vector, the full tensor magnetic gradient, audio-frequency magnetics, and audio-magnetotelluric data at utmost precision, high bandwidth, and unprecedented dynamic range (>32 bit) using a modular data acquisition system on an advanced helicopter-towed platform. The demonstrator will be complemented with software tools for post-mission data processing and individual or joint inversions using all or a subset of modalities. Its performance will be evaluated over two representative targets for CRM/SRM resources in Sweden and Portugal. The data will be benchmarked against available geophysical/geological and drill-hole data and by ground-based electromagnetic measurements with the transient EM method using todays best SQUID receiver technology. An integrated 3D model of the resource will jointly be developed using all available information. In MAQSIMAL, the team will analyse the outcome of predecessor projects in the topic of mineral exploration, will undertake research addressing aspects for energy and climate change as well as social awareness and actions such as press releases, publications, and public days to evaluate the impact for shareholders. The consortium provides with the new technology a significant competitive advantage to the European mining community and geophysical service providers by improvements in resolution and greater penetration (> 500 m) and will equip the European natural resources industries with a novel tool for better defining more sustainable and carbon efficient mining techniques by advancing the knowledge to identify [shortened; the full text is on the OpenAIRE page]

Original source.

Source: OpenAIRE Graph: projects of national funders, OpenAIRE, from the project data of Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P. (FCT). Retrieved 2026-10-22. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph). Selected metadata, adapted presentation; the publisher's record is authoritative. No endorsement by the source is implied. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

AI-assisted summary: The MAQSIMAL project, funded by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., aims to develop a multimodal airborne quantum sensor for sustainable exploration of polymetallic sulphides. It runs from June 8, 2024, to June 7, 2027, with a funding amount of EUR 101,368. Suggested technology pillar: sensing. Generated by AI from the public source text; it may contain errors and the original source is authoritative.