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FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATIC METHODS OF MINERALOGICAL MEASUREMENT

Ziel

TO PROVID, RAPIDLY AND ACCURATELY, THE MINERALOGICAL DATA NEEDED DURING THE STUDY OF MINERAL DEPOSITS AND FOR THE DESIGN AND CONTROL OF MINERAL PROCESSING OPERATIONS.

A NEW AUTOMATIC SYSTEM FOR COLLECTING MINERALOGICAL DATA WAS DESIGNED, BUILT AND TESTED DURING THE FIRST RAW MATERIALS RESEARCH PROGRAMME. THIS SYSTEM IS BASED ON A COMPUTER-CONTROLLED, ELECTRON PROBE X-RAY MICROANALYSER WHICH IS USED AS A LINEAR IMAGE ANALYSER.

THIS X-RAY BASED LINEAR ANALYSER HAS ALREADY BEEN SHOWN TO BE CAPABLE OF AUTOMATICALLY AND RAPIDLY IDENTIFYING MANY MINERALS AND OF DETERMINING THEIR PROPORTIONS WITHIN A SPECIMEN. IT CAN ALSO ESTABLISH THE DISTRIBUTION OF A SPECIFIED ELEMENT WITHIN THE VARIOUS MINERAL PHASES; IT CAN CARRY OUT GRAIN SIZE ANALYSES;AND IT CAN DETERMINE PARTICLE SHAPES.

THE EXISTING SYSTEM IS, HOWEVER, COMPARATIVELY UNSOPHISTICATED AND ISSTILL AT THE PROTOTYPE STAGE. ITS SPPED, FLEXIBILITY, RELIABILITY AND RANGE OF MEASUREMENTS MUST BE IMPROVED.

DURING THE SECOND RESEARCH PROJECT COMPUTER PROGRAMME WILL BE WRITTEN TO ENABLE THE OPERATOR TO SPEED-UP AND IMPROVE THE SETTING-UP OF THE EQUIPMENT PROGRAMMES THAT WILL INITIALLY "REMENBER" MACHINE SETTINGS BUT WHICH WILL EVENTUALLY "ESTABLISH" THE OPTIMUM WORKING CONDITIONS. OTHER PROGRAMMES WILL ALLOW A NUMBER OF SPECIMENS TO BE ANALYSED IN SEQUENCE - IF NECESSARY, WITH A CHANGE OF MACHINE SETTING TO SUIT EACH SPECIMEN.

SOFT-WARE DEVELOPMENTS THAT WILL SPEED UP THE COLLECTION OF DATA INCLUDE THE PROVISION OF A "DYNAMIC" TRAVERSE SYSTEM - A SYSTEM IN WHICH POINTS ON THE SPECIMEN WHICH ARE OF NO INTEREST ARE IGNORED WHILST ADDITIONAL TIME IS SPENT ON IMPORTANT FEATURES. A SEARCH PROCEDURE FOR LOCATING AND MEASURING RARE MINERALS IS ALSO NEEDED.

IN THE EXISTING SYSTEM THERE ARE FOUR, SIMULTANEOUS AND INDEPENDT X-RAY SIGNALS. IT IS INTENDED INITIALLY, THAT ADDITIONAL SIGNALS (SUCH AS THE BACKSCATTERED ELECTRON CURRENT) BE INCORPORATED INTO THE MINERAL DISCRIMINATION ALGORITHM. IN THE LONGER-TERM, ADDITIONAL, FIXED-ANGLE, X-RAY SPECTROMETERS WILL BE FITTED AND THESE WILL GREATLY EXPAND THE RANGE AND INCREASE THE SPEED OF THE ANALYTICAL SYSTEM.

IN THIS WAY A SYSTEM WILL BE PRODUCED THAT WILL COLLECT, RAPIDLY AND AUTOMATICALLY, A SIGNIFICANT PROPORTION OF THE MINERALOGICAL INFORMATION NEEDED IN ORDER TO PREDICT THE BEHAVIOUR OF MINERAL PARTICLES AND TO ANALYSE THE PERFORMANCE OF A PLANT OR OF A COMPLETE MINERAL TREATMENT PROCESS.

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Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine
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