XRF Analyzer Rental

Let’s talk about copper ore. In copper ore, just knowing the copper number isn’t enough. You want to know: is it oxide or a sulfite? Because those are both processed completely differently. And it’s one of those cases where XRD is able to handle any kind of metal. Whereas some of the other competing technologies or complementary technologies such as infrared, they can handle sulfites because sulfites are dark and the infrared is absorbed by it. So if I know if it’s an oxide or a sulfite, I know which stream to process it in. Another example would be when you start getting to flood plants. These are gravity separations of the ore, you want the dense stuff to fall to the bottom and the light stuff to stay on the top. The problem is, you don’t only have the ore – you have other things in there such as talc that will float and carry the sulfites which you want to drop.

The biggest benefit is you get from an XRD Gun is very clean data, very fast and anybody can prep the data. Normal X-ray diffraction requires a semi-pressed pellet. So you grind it up, you put it in a micronizer to get good data and then you kind of tap it down to make a pellet, but if you tap it down too hard it changes the quantification. If you don’t have a completely smooth surface it changes things. There’s a lot of art and skill required normally to make X-ray diffraction samples. Big advantage we have is the hardest part of ours is trying to figure out what you want to measure. Once you figure out what you want to measure, you take less than a gram of sample, grind it to less than 150 microns which for the industry is a relatively coarse grind, and just fire away. There’s no way to do it wrong.

How long of a XRF test time does this take? It depends on what you’re trying to measure. If you want simple things like hematite/magnetite ratios in ore, in iron ore, you would be talking about 2-3 minutes, it stabilizes. If you’re trying to pick up a couple of percent of talc in a nickel ore for example, you would be talking about 15 minutes.

The nice thing about our equipment is that it’s small and runs at low power. This means you can set it up anywhere and you can set it up quickly. The low power means you don’t need any special electrical connections and you don’t need anything special to cool the system. Most X-ray diffraction systems that give decent data require water cooling. We run at 10 watts, give the same data as about 1 kilowatt system and we’re all fan cooled.

MINERAL EXPLORATION

• Due diligence during property acquisition and deal making
• Qualitative chemistry of rock, chips, soil, and sediments at the early regional reconnaissance and mapping stages
• Quantitative data during first pass regional soil, sediment, till, and trenching stages
• Immediate identification of mineralized trends/anomalies, definition of drill targets, extension of soil sample lines
• Adaptation of sampling and mapping programs in real time to maximize exploration budgets
• Pre-screening of samples to maximize efficiency of off-site laboratory testing
• Increasing sample density in the most prospective areas
• Analysis of air core. RAB, RC and diamond core samples during drilling phase as samples come out of the ground
• Onsite quantification of REEs including La, Ce, Pr, and Nd, and pathfinders such as Y, Th, and Nb

MINING & METALLURGICAL PROCESSING

• Instantaneous screening of blast hole samples in open pits allows for more efficient movement of ore/waste material by reducing the reliance on the mine laboratory
• Field analysis of stockpiles assists rapid blending and feeding to the mill
• Real time analysis of feeds, concentrates, and tails allows immediate dosing adjustments to be made in the processing plant
• Underground grade control can be improved in certain settings by establishing sampling and analysis methodologies. Olympus XRF’s aid the decision making process at the underground face in many underground mines around the world on a daily basis
• Sample and matrix specific calibrations are usually required for mine-site applications. The DELTA is designed to be very easy to set up and use with multiple calibration models to ensure optimal performance – even for challenging light element (Mg, AJ, Si) analysis