In field Combined analysis, chemistry and mineralogy with LuxREM
TerrAnalytiX has developed the LuxREM transportable instrument to perform XRF XRD combined analyses to characterize the chemistry and mineralogy of your materials directly on site in real time.
… And so that you have at your disposal: time, data, quality of information, ability to decide and Money !
Combined analysis chemistry and mineralogy, what does it means?
A great complementarity to characterize matter:
As X-ray diffraction is able to determine the mineralogy, the chemical composition is only deduced from a possible chemistry and does not take into account possible substitutions.
As X-ray fluorescence is able to determine the chemistry (from Mg), the mineralogy is unknown
The combination of both technique, thanks to LuxREM Rietveld software, allows to give a better qualification of the material composition.
Service provided by TerrAnalytiX and the VanLab
On site combined analysis, chemistry and mineralogy:
TerrAnalytix proposes to assist your expertise on site with the VanLab. Your team specialists will provide samples to be prepared and analyzed directly on site:
- Sample preparation : drying, grinding and labelling the final powder
- Combined chemistry and mineralogy measurement
- Automatic data treatment : for each sample, the list of minerals and quantity are refined. Other structural parameters can be refined.
- Final reporting is provided : in-field reporting conditions, list of samples and analysis results
A pre-study is necessary to prepare appropriate databases and perform automation. A template has to be fulfilled (link to template).
Please ask for a quote for an in-field expertise with a unique analytical system
Laboratory combined analysis, chemistry and mineralogy:
TerrAnalytix proposes to perform combined analysis chemistry-mineralogy on our facility on a set of samples. Your team specialists will provide samples to be prepared or already powderized:
- Sample preparation : drying, grinding and labelling the final powder (Optional)
- Combined chemistry and mineralogy measurement
- Automatic data treatment : for each sample, the list of minerals and quantity are refined. Other structural parameters can be refined.
- Final reporting is provided : in-field reporting conditions, list of samples and analysis results
A pre-study is necessary to prepare appropriate databases and perform automation. A template has to be fulfilled (link to template).
Please ask for a quote for a laboratory expertise with a unique analytical system.
Application cases :
- Expertize in an old mining site – Abbaretz in France
- Mineralized sand analysis from Senegal coast
- Rehabilitation of a former industrial site – Marseille, France
Expertize in an old mining site – Abbaretz in France
This old tin mine was closed in the 50th. As in many old mining site, what remains is a lake on the edge of a mining slag heap made up of crushed materials from the primary rock. The vegetation has difficulty imposing itself and the landscape seems to come from another planet. There is no longer any human activity on this site; However, chemical, mechanical, and biological processes do not stop. Bad weather, temperature variations and winds contribute to the slow transformation of this site. Arsenic is a common toxic element in materials. It can be mobilized during the mining phase, metallurgical operations, or during the post-mine history through the evolution of mining tailings left on site exposed to atmospheric agents. Understanding the phenomena of arsenic mobilization is therefore important in view of environmental and health problems. The stability/solubility of arsenic-containing solid waste depends on the crystallinity and nature of the arsenic-containing phases, hence the importance of characterizing both the chemistry and the mineralogy of the mine tailings. The drainages around the mine tailings present anomalies:
- High acidity
- Presence of arsenic and other metals
The objective is to improve site management by:
- Characterizing the mineralogy
- Follow targeted chemical species and understanding their mobility..
A mining slag heap is made up of a succession of deposits organised according to the mine’s activity. These anthropogenic deposits are generally quiet heterogeneous. A complexity of layering is presenting the mineral transformation. The mineralogical transformation is caused by meteoritic agents. The oxidation of sulphides leads to the acidification of runoff, releasing cationic species such as iron and arsenic. Some are transported by runoff, and some contribute to the formation of secondary mineralization.
•Some results on grab samples:
- Sampling, preparation and measurement of 9 samples in 3h (30 min / sample)
- Identification and quantification of chemical elements and their bearing phases
Mineralized sand from Grande Côte, Senegal
At the north of Dakar, sand is exploited to extract titanium and zirconia. In operation since 2014, the reserve of this deposit is at least 20 years. It is a concession of the Eramet group. This is the 4th reserve of Titaniferous raw material and zircon. In the field of the Solsa Demup project, we have performed a compairison study with Eramet and BRGM on mineral and chemical quantification.
Comparison between LUXREM and Laboratory equipments
- Chemistry : LuxREM XRF vs WD-XRF
- Mineralogy : LuxREM XRD vs QemScan
Good accuracy for the LuxREM technique which is faster and transportable:
- Simultaneous chemistry and mineralogy from a same sample
- Good concordance with reference values
- Possibility to work on non-milled samples
- Fast acquisition & analysis (~30 min)
- “Action/Reaction” approach on site allowing either:
- To make a decision on site
- To deepen the study by increasing the number of samples to be analyzed
- To reorient the study
Rehabilitation of a former industrial site – Marseille, France
Example on a former industrial area (railway activity) which is to be converted into a park (about20 ha, North Marseille – france).
1. Need to identify polluted areas (trace metallics, sulphates, etc.)
2.Reclamation approach through the creation of a “small soil cycle” → excavated sterile soil which, once extracted from the environment, is re-used locally, in particular to carry out urban landscaping
During the field test, a total of 107 samples in 29 working hours were processed. The average acquisition time was about 16 min. per sample.
In order to show the reliability of the results obtained with the LuxREM solution, samples collected during the FrichEco field campaign were analyzed in the laboratory with conventional equipment to characterize:
- chemistry (XRF for major elements and ICP-AES for trace elements) on 5 samples;
- mineralogy (XRD with the Rietveld refinement method) mineralogy on 7 samples
Comparison of preparation, acquisition and processing times for a sample
| Type of analysis | Laboratory | LuxREM |
| Mineralogy (XRD) Chemical (XRF) | •Preparation : 1h •Data acquisition : 2h •Post processing by operator : 1h •Preparation : from 1 to 2 days •Data acquisition : ~5 – 15 min •Automatized data treatment | •Preparation : 10 min •Acquisition : 10 min •Automatized data treatment : 10 min |
| other | •Need sample shipment : several days | •Analysis on site |