Assaying, Microscopy, Mineralogy & XRF/XRD

Assaying, Microscopy, Mineralogy & XRF/XRD

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XRF Assay of Metal Concentrates (11 replies)

Victor Bergman
8 years ago
Victor Bergman 8 years ago

Can an XRF analysis well high sulfide samples. High grade ore chips or flotation concentrate?

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

My experiences are that it is only efficient for low grade materials.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

We offer fully certified (NR Can) XRF services in Canada as well as professional engineering and geology services. We have performed handheld XRF (using Oxford Instruments' handheld) sample studies with Ni-Cu base metal concentrates, tailings, ore samples and intermediates at Vale's Sheridan Park facilities (proving accuracy) and some of our data is available at our website (http://www.optimineral.com). It would be our pleasure to utilize this technology alongside your ITH drilling and/or other applications to use this equipment to its maximum potential. Minimizing risk and fully quantifying exactly what it is you are throwing down the ore pass and sending to the mill (grade, hardness (throughput/mill bottleneck), deleterious minerals that disable optimal flotation, etc.). We are specialized in mining and mineral processing engineering with an excellent geology professional fleshing out the team.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

You can use it for low grade material as well as high grade material. For low grade material, you may use factory calibration, but for high grade material, factory calibration will read lower than real concentrations. So you will need to adjust calibration (which takes a few minutes and a few known samples).

Bob Mathias
8 years ago
Bob Mathias 8 years ago

My view is that It can be used for approximate values of both high & low grade materials both at mine & plant site. Final results can be tested at the laboratory.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

We are you going to use the XRF to slow down or speed up floatation.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

Actually, the XRF is a tool used to give estimates of ore composition. It is a non destructive test where it uses X-Rays (hence needing NRCan certification in Canada) to tell you what elements are in the sample you provided and rough percentages/concentration of those elements. This would do nothing for the flotation process in itself however, using the knowledge generated from it, can enable a more selective mining method that can help the mill's performance: EX Stabilize mill feed grade by knowing the grade of ore you're feeding it.

Of course we all know the expression "garbage in, garbage out" and this applies to this tool more than ever as it only penetrates and measures samples on the "skin". Another appropriate term is that it "scratches the surface". Having an appropriate sampling method is the most important aspect of using this tool in order to maintain integrity in your measurements.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

Here you can see how handheld XRF is used in Mining. There are two short videos on this page that will show how you can analyze rock and mineral samples in seconds, including analyzing a vein. The second video is of mining customers who share how their businesses have benefited from having lab-quality analysis in the field. http://www.niton.com/mining

Marshal Meru
8 years ago
Marshal Meru 8 years ago

XRF were used at the mill because of high grade and low grad we fed floatation faster or slower (we did not slow floatation) wrong words thanks for the correction.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

Here's the preliminary Handheld XRF results we had using concentrates, tailings and ore feed at Vale's Sheridan Park Lab. We analyzed over 20 samples and compared them to ICP. Specifically we looked at Cu, Ni, Fe and Co http://optimineral.com/xrf-preliminary-results/

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

My experience says that we can use this for both concentrates and ores for base metal analyses with reasonable accuracy. But it cannot replace Lab assays for final metallurgical calculations or estimates. However in noble metal analyses of ores, I found it far less accurate.

(unknown)
8 years ago
(unknown) 8 years ago

The portable XRF can very well handle mineral concentrate analysis very accurately such as columbite, tantalite, cassiterite, monazite, etc.

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