Project duration: 1 January 2018 – 31 March 2020
Objective
In order to minimize the risks mining bears as a field, it is important to have the best in-depth, well-defined understanding of the geological area when developing prospective sites. The science of prospecting for deposits large enough for commercial viability involves extensive fieldwork prior to any extraction operation. Mining exploration includes material sampling and analysis which is costly and time-consuming when performed with traditional laboratory-based methods.
Among all techniques used presently and in the past, the more powerful, accurate and complete to obtain geochemical data are the XRD and XRF. These two analytical techniques are complementary as one, the XRD, permits to identify and quantify the mineralogical phases (e.g. Kaolinite, Calcite, Talc) but not the chemical composition, where the other, the XRF, can identify the chemical elements (e.g. Ca, Si, Fe) but not in which form they are present.
The solution (technology)
We aim at building and testing a portable instrument combining X-ray diffraction and fluorescence. Diffraction provides the mineralogy and fluorescence the elemental composition.
A small, portable, instrument to perform accurate quantitative chemical and phase analyses can lead to several advantages in the raw materials sector outside the exploration and mining field:
• Raw materials quality controls
• Higher materials and energy saving
• Higher quality of final products
• Recycling of materials
• Air pollution controls
Partnership
- Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy (Lead partner)
- The French geological survey (BRGM), France
- Geosciences Conseil, France
- ERAMET Research, France
- Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
- Université Paris Sud (GEOPS), France
- Hub Innovazione Trentino S.c.a.r.l. (HIT), Italy
- Politecnico di Milano, Italy
- Thermo Fisher Scientific – INEL SAS, France