Chemical and Mineralogical Characterisation of Iron Ore Drillcore using µ-XRF [Elektronisk resurs]

• Traditionally, geochemical assays have been used in geometallurgical programs to determine grade and recovery of the ore. The efficiency of this approach is questionable, since assays i) provide bulk geochemistry without providing host mineralogy for the element(s) of interest, and ii) are performed on small samples. Thus, ore mineral grade might be lower than the assays imply, due to the inclusion of elements of interest in the gangue mineralogy. Also, the samples analysed might not be representative on a deposit size scale due to their small volume. In μ-XRF, areas analysed are on a dm scale, providing a larger, and therefore more representable, analysis than e.g. a scanning electron microscope (SEM), yet providing a resolution comparable to SEM analyses. Another advantage of the μ-XRF is the possibility to detect elements as light as sodium, while simultaneously detecting heavy elements, e.g. REEs.Here, cut drillcore samples were scanned by μ-XRF at varying resolutions. The μ-XRF data was utilised for i) comparison with chemical assays, ii) identification of sample mineralogy, iii) comparison with mineralogy from X-ray diffraction (XRD), and iv) analysis of ore texture. The results show that regardless of the resolution used, the μ-XRF analyses correlate well with the results from geochemical assays, whereas for textural features a finer resolution yielded a more detailed picture, as was expected. The drillcore mineralogy compares well with the phases identified by XRD. However, mineral identification from μ-XRF is based on elemental spectrums. Therefore, polymorphs cannot be successfully discriminated and an insight into the deposit mineralogy, is needed for a correct mineral classification in these cases. 

Ämnesord

Engineering and Technology  (hsv)

Environmental Engineering  (hsv)

Mineral and Mine Engineering  (hsv)

Teknik och teknologier  (hsv)

Naturresursteknik  (hsv)

Mineral- och gruvteknik  (hsv)

Mineral Processing  (ltu)

Mineralteknik  (ltu)

Centrumbildning - Centrum för avancerad gruvteknik och metallurgi (CAMM)  (ltu)

Centre - Centre for Advanced Mining & Metallurgy (CAMM)  (ltu)

Genre

government publication  (marcgt)

Indexterm och SAB-rubrik

micro-XRF

µ-XRF

Iron ore

Mineralogical characterisation

Characterisation

Mineralogy