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The mining and processing of raw materials and other natural resources is key to many aspects of our lives and only becomes more difficult as the deposits which are easiest to mine become depleted. The challenge is therefore for more cost effective, efficient mining producing materials of the highest quality.
A key part of the optimisation of the production of raw materials is the optimisation of mineral processing. This key process which takes the raw, mined material and concentrates it to a form where it is useful to customers. This is an energy intensive process with high costs associated. Therefore, it is essential that enough processing is done to produce the product that is required but no more than is necessary as this would not be cost effective. To further complicate things, the source material – the mined ore – is often changing owing to natural variability in the earth.
In order to ensure that the processing is performed optimally, constant monitoring of the inputs and outputs of the process are required. A key component of this is automated mineral liberation analysis which looks at the degree to which the different minerals in the sample are liberated – whether or not they are encapsulated by other minerals or if they are exposed enough for processes such as chemical leaching to be able to extract them.
Oxford Instruments’ INCAMineral is the ideal tool for automated mineralogy, providing high quality results at the highest level of throughput whilst maintaining the flexibility of your system.
Combining electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) techniques for geological sample characterisation, helps to unlock even more information on the likely formation and history of the sample.
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