First in the world!

Diminishing metal reserves and the environmental impact of mining require a more holistic and sustainable production of ore deposits. More detailed knowledge on how metals occur in the ores will inform the development of appropriate metal extraction programs thus ensuring that a larger part of the ore may be utilized.

In this study, for the first time ever, ore samples were mapped by synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence at the NanoMax beamline at the MAX IV synchrotron laboratory in Lund, Sweden (the worlds brightest synchrotron light source). Spot sizes of individual scans were as small as 50 nm. This far exceeds prior studies on ore minerals in terms of spatial resolution over comparable areas and provides new insights into the distribution of metal impurities in ore minerals.

This kind of extreme high-resolution analysis has perhaps a less obvious connection to every-day mining but aims towards the future. The research that was done 20, 30, 40 years ago and was considered basic research is the research that today is the foundation for the industrially applied research and analytical techniques. This study aims forward, way forward.

To be efficient at the synchrotron analysis and gain top results it is vital to know one’s samples very well beforehand. All preparatory analytical work was done at LUMIA.

Article

Read more in the following publication:

• Extreme-resolution synchrotron X-Ray fluorescence mapping of ore samples External link.