Assaying, Microscopy, Mineralogy & XRF/XRD

Assaying, Microscopy, Mineralogy & XRF/XRD

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Fire assay high grade samples (4 replies)

k
koki
8 months ago
koki 8 months ago

When i do fire assay on high grade gold sample they often come out from the muffle malleable and when hammering the prills they get broken what can i do

second question fire assay come low compared to hand held XRF on high grade gold samples

J
Jorge
8 months ago
Jorge 8 months ago
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1 like by David

Some possible reasons are indicated below,

-  If the temperature was too high, it is expected some broken prills. It is important to evaluate the effect of the temperature. Sometimes, it is necessary to perform some tests at different temperatures to determine the appropriate point.

- The presence of fragile silver is other possible source of the problem. In this case, it is important to separate the silver with a high proportion of nitric acid

Respect to the gold content reported by a portable XRF, the presence of free gold may be a problem because they were located on a certain zone. Othe possible reason is the loss of gold during fire assay. The lack of homogenization is important to evaluate.

k
koki
8 months ago
koki 8 months ago
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what is a fragile silver, can you please elaborate on that

J
Jorge
8 months ago
Jorge 8 months ago
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I meant brittle silver. The mineral specimen contents sulpur and antimony. It is distinguished from silver glance by being brittle; whereas silver glance is soft and sectile, and chips can be cut off without crumbling.

k
koki
7 months ago
koki 7 months ago
Like

Thank you Jorge

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