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Minerals
Special Issues
Automated and Quantitative Analysis of Minerals
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Automated and Quantitative Analysis of Minerals

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 March 2023) | Viewed by 2357

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Mehdi Parian

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Minerals and Metallurgical Engineering, Department of Civil, Environmental and Natural Resources Engineering, Luleå University of Technology, SE-971 87 Luleå, Sweden
Interests: liberation; ore characterization; comminution; process mineralogy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Andrew Menzies

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Bruker Nano Analytics GmbH, 12489 Berlin, Germany
Interests: geochemistry; stable isotopes; petrology; isotope geochemistry; lithosphere; garnet; mantle; hydrothermal; experimental petrology
Prof. Dr. Alan R. Butcher

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Circular Economy Solutions Unit, Circular Raw Materials Hub, Geological Survey of Finland, F1-02151 Espoo, Finland
Interests: geoanalytical techniques; battery minerals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Information about chemical assays is often insufficient for mineralogical studies for ore processing. Minerals define not only the value of the deposit but also the extraction and concentration methods. Quantitative analysis of minerals (modal mineralogy) has proved to be useful for the sound assessment of deposits and for finding bottlenecks in mineral processing operations. Quantitative mineralogical methods range from the simple balancing of chemical assays and conversion into modal mineralogy, quantitative powder X-ray diffraction, 2D section analysis and even 3D analysis of volume.

To obtain modal mineralogy as well as information on particles and texture, automated mineralogical methods have been extensively employed in exploration, process analysis, mineral processing, critical element analysis, quality control, environment, and metallurgy. These techniques allow the analysis of specimens in a systematic way that is normally tedious and even impossible manually. Currently, the application of automated mineralogy extends beyond SEM-based systems, and it is even used for 2D and 3D X-ray imaging, visible, and other light sources. The technique is particularly useful for the characterization and quantification of geological samples. This includes compositional analyses such as chemical and mineral quantification, the shape and size of grains/particles, as well as textures. Predominantly for particulate material, mineral liberation, locking, and associations are the areas of interest.

This Special Issue aims to contribute to the disclosure of developments, advances, and applications of automated mineralogy in exploration, process mineralogy and geometallurgy.

Dr. Mehdi Parian
Dr. Andrew Menzies
Prof. Dr. Alan Butcher
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • automatic image analyzer
  • electron beam image
  • X-ray beam image
  • optical image
  • sample preparation
  • mineral map
  • mineral association
  • mineral liberation
  • modal mineralogy

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

16 pages, 5301 KiB  
Article
Automated and Quantitative Mineralogy Applied to Chromite Ore Characterization and Beneficiation
by Mark I. Pownceby, David A. McCallum and Warren J. Bruckard
Minerals 2023, 13(3), 440; https://doi.org/10.3390/min13030440 - 20 Mar 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1760
Abstract
A characterization study of chromite ore from South Africa was conducted using bulk assays, X-ray diffraction, optical, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), automated electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and quantitative evaluation of mineral by scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN) mineralogical techniques, and quantitative EPMA. The aim [...] Read more.
A characterization study of chromite ore from South Africa was conducted using bulk assays, X-ray diffraction, optical, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), automated electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) and quantitative evaluation of mineral by scanning electron microscopy (QEMSCAN) mineralogical techniques, and quantitative EPMA. The aim was to identify all major gangue impurities, the degree of chromite liberation, and possible beneficiation options. The bulk material assayed 40.5% Cr2O3 with the major impurities being Al2O3 (13.2%), MgO (12.1%), and SiO2 (7.5%). Quantitative mineral phase analysis showed that the sample mineralogy was dominated by a chrome-rich spinel phase with an average chemical composition (in wt.%) of: Cr2O3—47.8; FeO—26.0; Al2O3—15.4; and MgO—11.0. Contaminant phases included siliceous minerals enstatite, anorthite-rich plagioclase (bytownite), Cr-rich diopside (containing 1–2 wt.% Cr2O3), and phlogopite mica. QEMSCAN analysis of sized fractions indicated that (a) most silicate gangue species were in the +850 μm fractions, (b) the chrome-rich spinel in all fractions was >80% liberated, and (c) the most common mineral association for chromite was with enstatite. Based on the results, upgrading test work demonstrated that stage crushing followed by wet gravity concentration produced a chemical–metallurgical-grade ‘chromite’ product containing >46% Cr2O3 and <1% SiO2. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Automated and Quantitative Analysis of Minerals)
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