Advanced identification and discrimination of Indium-bearing minerals by automated mineralogy


Advanced identification and discrimination of Indium-bearing minerals by automated mineralogy

Bachmann, K.; Frenzel, M.; Gutzmer, J.

Studies of the mineralogical deportment of indium generally focus on the measurement of trace concentrations in major ore minerals. The importance of actual In-minerals such as indite, roquesite and sakuraiite is not usually assessed. This is due to their low abundance and optical similarity to other, more common, sulphide minerals (e.g. sphalerite) rendering the reliable assessment of their concentration by traditional methods (point-counting) difficult at best. Their low abundance also means that reference materials for many of the relevant minerals are not readily available.
This contribution presents a general method developed to overcome these problems with SEM-based automated mineralogy. Using five carefully selected ore samples from the Neves-Corvo deposit it is shown that this approach not only allows for the reliable identification of trace indium minerals (roquesite) present within the ores, but it also enables the quantification of their respective concentrations and thus their contribution to the overall indium budget. Furthermore, additional information on other geologically and/or technologically relevant parameters like mineral association, grain shape and grain size are readily available.

Keywords: MLA; Neves Corvo; Indium; roquesite; automated mineralogy

  • Poster
    13th SGA Biennal Meeting, 24.-27.08.2015, Nancy, France

Permalink: https://www.hzdr.de/publications/Publ-21720
Publ.-Id: 21720