Abstract
This article reports on the quantification of lithium and mineralogical mapping in crushed lithium ore by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) using two different calibration methods. Thirty crushed ore samples from a pegmatite lithium deposit were used in this study. Representative samples containing the abundant minerals were taken from these crushed ores and mixed with resin to make polished disks. These disks were first analyzed by TIMA (TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyzer) and then by a LIBS ECORE analyzer to determine the minerals. Afterwards, each of the thirty crushed ore samples (<10 mm) were poured into rectangular containers and analyzed by the ECORE analyzer, then mineral mapping was produced on the scanned surfaces using the mineral library established on the polished sections. For the first method the lithium concentrations were inferred from the empirical mineral chemistry formula, whereas the second one consisted of building a conventional calibration curve with the crushed material to predict the lithium concentration in unknown crushed materials.
Highlights
The mining industry is faced with the challenge of improving the success rate of discoveries while reducing costs at a time when future mineral reserves come, for example, from deeper, lower-grade deposits or from mining processes with more complex extraction and processing
Thirty crushed lithium ore samples were provided by AXT Pty collected from Pilbara minerals mine located in Australia
Each major mineral element’s emission lines were identified on the spectra, and of noticeable interest in pegmatite ores is the capacity for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to measure the light elements Li, Be, Na and Mg
Summary
The mining industry is faced with the challenge of improving the success rate of discoveries while reducing costs at a time when future mineral reserves come, for example, from deeper, lower-grade deposits or from mining processes with more complex extraction and processing. To meet these challenges and respond to society’s demands for critical and strategic metals, new methodologies and technologies are required [1]. In Australia, the development of the mining industry for the exploration, extraction and concentration of lithium from pegmatites deposits has made this country the world’s leading producer [2,3]
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