Micro- RF: A New Automated Mineralogical Analysis Paradigm

摘要

Standard "best" practice in the minerals analysis industry involves the use of (what have come to be known as) Auto-SEM-EDS machines, which are scanning electron microscope platforms fitted with energy dispersive (EDS) X-ray detectors and managed through proprietary software that allows for the creation of rules to identify minerals and assess their degrees of liberation and mineral association. Whilst the following instruments are counted amongst them (QEMSCAN, MLA, TIMA, Mineralogic~R), each operates under specific paradigms of stage-detector-chamber geometries since EDS detectors intrude at angles into the SEM chamber and affect the stage height/working distance of analysis depending on whether BSE imaging is to be emphasized (epitomized by MLA) or whether X-ray collection is to be emphasized (epitomized by QEMSCAN). Micro-XRF is an emerging technology that would negate the problems of deciding on stage-detector-chamber geometries since the X-ray detector essentially performs the functions of both "imaging" and chemical EDS analysis (the analytical distance is the same as the "imaging" distance).