Evaluation of Refractory Metal Concentrations in Nano-Particulate Pressed-Powder Pellets Using LA-ICP-MS
Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2022

Whole-rock geochemical analysis is a standard method to measure the chemical composition of ores. Analysis of refractory ore metals such as Ta and W typically requires fused bead and acid digestion followed by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Since these techniques are time-consuming and expensive, there is a demand for methods that can quantitatively measure low elemental concentration of refractory ore metals using a less expensive and simple approach. This paper evaluates preparation and analytical procedures developed to obtain whole-rock element concentrations of ore samples and mineral concentrates. It shows that the production of nano-particulate pressed-powder pellets followed by LA-ICP-MS analysis of W and Ta ores can be used to determine, within the error margin, the concentrations of the refractory metals W, Ta, Nb, and Sn compared to a reference values obtained by solution analysis. The results have implications for developing a commercially viable method for analysis of refractory elements to benefit mineral processing given the simplicity and resource-efficiency of the combined pressed pellet production and laser ablation analytical methodology.

tantalum

refractory metals

tungsten

bulk sample analysis

nano-particulate pressed-powder tablets

LA-ICP-MS

trace elements

critical metals

Författare

Lorena Guldris Leon

Chalmers, Industri- och materialvetenskap

Johanne Lebrun Thauront

Université de recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres

K. Johan Hogmalm

Göteborgs universitet

Erik Hulthén

Chalmers, Industri- och materialvetenskap, Produktutveckling

Johan Malmqvist

Chalmers, Industri- och materialvetenskap, Produktutveckling

Minerals

2075-163X (eISSN)

Vol. 12 7 869

Styrkeområden

Produktion

Ämneskategorier

Analytisk kemi

Kemiska processer

Miljövetenskap

DOI

10.3390/min12070869

Mer information

Senast uppdaterat

2022-09-26