Background

Poly-metallic sulfide deposits are often major sources of copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver ore. Some of these deposits also contain many various metals such as co- or by-products and impurities. Laboratories in mining sites are often required to analyze large number of samples per day. Therefore, in order to determine multiple elements in ores, simple and fast analysis technique with high accuracy and precision is demanded.

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis is a well-known technique to accurately and quickly determine elements in samples. Pressed powder method in X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is the best solution in terms of simplicity of analysis for powder sample. Since plenty of X-ray lines due to its various metal elements can be detected in poly-metallic sulfide, high spectral resolution optics is essential for high quality analysis. Furthermore, appropriate corrections for complex matrix effects owing to its elemental and compositional variations are required in XRF analysis. Conventional correction technique for metals in ores is a method using Compton scattering as internal standard but the results were often not satisfactory for meeting the requirement of the mining industry. Rigaku has developed an improved Compton scattering method by integration of theoretical alpha correction for significantly improved analytical results. This note demonstrates rapid and accurate determination of multiple elements in poly-metallic sulfide ores.