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Mining, mineral exploration, and economic geology

Make core, rock, and mineral observations easy to compare.

Create repeatable records from core boxes and long intervals to polished hand samples, grains, and thin sections. CoreScan covers linear core; Macropod Petrographic covers transmitted and polarized slides; Macropod systems cover selected samples and fine mineral detail.

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Colorful polarized-light view of hornblende and plagioclase gneiss at five-times magnification

Choose your next step

Start with what you need to see—not the equipment.

Answer the practical questions that apply to your work. Then choose an imaging system, an imaging-service project, or a complete workflow that fits.

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Do you need to image rock, ice, core, hand samples, or thin sections?
CoreScan is designed for long linear drill core and core-box records. Macropod Petrographic is designed for thin sections and slides. Macropod PRO 3D and the Micro Kit cover hand samples, chips, flakes, mineral grains, ice samples, and selected details.
What scale of geological detail needs to be visible?
A core-box overview, a selected interval, a polished hand sample, and a mineral grain require different fields of view. The smallest feature that must be resolved determines the camera, lens, or current Mitutoyo objective.
How much core or how many samples must be documented?
Core length, box dimensions, sample volume, and required views determine rail length, axes, workstation capacity, and automation. A few priority samples need a different configuration from an ongoing core-imaging program.
Which lighting modes and outputs are required?
Reflected, ultraviolet, fluorescence, transmitted, and polarized light reveal different features. The intended report, archive, measurement, or 3D model determines the illumination, images, and metadata the system should produce.

Why Macroscopic Solutions

A scientific imaging workflow—not just a camera or microscope.

Since 2013, Macroscopic Solutions has helped research, public-sector, and technical teams turn difficult samples into useful visual records. We connect the system, optics, lighting, software, training, and service work around the result you need.

  • See the whole picture and the fine detail.Move from context to the features that matter without losing the relationship between them.
  • Make the useful view repeatable.Match the sample, scale, lighting, motion, and output to a documented imaging workflow.
  • Get practical help before and after purchase.Use application guidance, training, software support, and imaging services when equipment is not the immediate answer.

Explore the imaging detail

Pan and zoom through a real Macroscopic Solutions record.

Zoom into a Macropod MacroCore drill-core record.

Pan across a focus-stacked and scanned drill-core example to see how complete core coverage and fine surface detail can live in one navigable record.

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Zoom into RC chip trays for mining exploration.

Review complete chip trays and selected material detail in one navigable record—useful when geologists need consistent visual context across a large set of samples.

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Zoom into a petrographic thin section.

Inspect mineral texture and relationships in a navigable thin-section record. This is the scale at which transmitted and polarized-light petrographic imaging connects mineral observations to the broader geological sample.

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Prefer finished imagery to an equipment purchase?

Send core, slabs, grains, or sections for project imaging.

Send core, slabs, grains, or sections for pilot datasets, selected intervals, publication figures, or remote review. This can establish required resolution and output before an internal scanner purchase.

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Drill-core imaging Thin-section imaging Scientific 3D model production

Evidence in practice

See university and industry geoscience imaging in practice.

These documented examples show CoreScan operation, soil-imaging troubleshooting, and hands-on training with geological samples.

Researcher operating a Macropod Drill Core imaging system at the University of Mississippi
University installation

CoreScan in use at the University of Mississippi

The Ole Miss team uses a Macropod Drill Core system to digitize Quaternary geology samples.

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Video conversation with Dr. Daniel Hirmas about improving soil scans Watch video
Customer conversation

Dr. Daniel Hirmas on getting sharper soil scans

A practical discussion of exposure control, motion blur, and repeatable soil-imaging results.

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Aramco Services geoscience training with Macroscopic Solutions imaging equipment
Installation and training

Aramco Services geoscience imaging workflow

Macroscopic Solutions trained geoscientists in drill-core, petrographic, macro, micro, ultraviolet, and fluorescence capture.

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Research, purchasing, and implementation

Resources for your decision.

Published research

Review scientific papers and technical work that cite Macropod or Macroscopic Solutions imaging workflows.

Read published research Installations and collaborations

See documented museum, university, geoscience, environmental, and research examples.

See installations Vendor setup and institutional purchasing

Start university or company vendor onboarding, request purchasing documents, and coordinate quotations, freight, and receiving.

Start vendor setup Government procurement

Review the government-contracting page for acquisition details, capability information, and quote support.

Review government purchasing