Analytical Techniques for Online Mineral Identification

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Volume Title

School of Electrical Engineering | Doctoral thesis (article-based) | Defence date: 2018-10-05

Authors

Khajehzadeh, Navid

Date

2018

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

93 + app. 59

Series

Aalto University publication series DOCTORAL DISSERTATIONS, 177/2018

Abstract

The exploration and mineral processing phases of mining need advanced measurement and analytical techniques to speed up the process of mineral identification. Rapid mineral identification is necessary for a better process control and efficient use of energy and raw materials.  Although the spectroscopic techniques performed in the laboratories provide accurate results, the process of measuring, data preparation and analysis is slow and far from the goal of rapid analysis. Geologists are enthusiastic about the abundance of the minerals as well as the mineral map of the surface of the drill core samples. Therefore, there is a need to develop new techniques enabling rapid mineral identification of the rock and ore drill core samples.  Ore beneficiation is yet another process where online mineral identification is required. The control of the flotation processes is strongly relying on the online analysis of elemental contents in the process feed, final product and tailings, as well as in the intermediate material flows inside the process. However, it is the minerals that affect how the ore behaves in the flotation process. Therefore, online analysis of minerals would enable more accurate process control in several flotation applications when compared to the online elemental analysis.  This thesis investigates whether the data of the currently available measurement techniques could be utilized to extract mineralogical information. The target is qualitative and quantitative mineral identification with the smallest amount of investment or modification of the instruments.  The main results of the thesis show that the spectral integration of the commonly used spectroscopic techniques such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF), Laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), reflectance spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy, enables the rapid identification of mineral contents. Advanced statistical techniques such as partial least squares (PLS) provide a means of determining the mineral contents from the available measured spectra.

Description

Supervising professor

Visala, Arto, Prof., Aalto University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Finland

Thesis advisor

Zenger, Kai, Dr., Aalto University, Department of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Finland

Keywords

mineral identification, x-ray fluorescence, laser-induced fluorescence, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, reflectance spectroscopy, data fusion, data modeling, partial least squares regression

Other note

Parts

  • [Publication 1]: Kauppinen, T., Khajehzadeh, N., Haavisto, O. Laser-induced fluorescence images and Raman spectroscopy studies on rapid scanning of rock drill core samples. International Journal of Mineral Processing, 2017,132, 26-33,
    DOI: 10.1016/j.minpro.2014.09.003 View at publisher
  • [Publication 2]: Khajehzadeh, N., Kauppinen, T., Häkkänen, H. Laser-induced fluorescence imaging: detection of fluorescent minerals and estimation of abundance. In International Mineral Processing Congress, Oct, 2014.
  • [Publication 3]: Khajehzadeh, N., Kauppinen, T. Fast mineral identification using elemental LIBS technique. In 4th IFAC Workshop on Mining, Mineral and Metal Processing MMM, 2015, Oct, 48, 17, 119-124,
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.10.089 View at publisher
  • [Publication 4]: Khajehzadeh, N., Haavisto, O., Koresaar, L. On-stream and quantitative mineral identification of tailing slurries using LIBS technique. Minerals Engineering, 2016, 98, 101-109,
    DOI: 10.1016/j.mineng.2016.08.002 View at publisher
  • [Publication 5]: Khajehzadeh, N., Haavisto, O., Koresaar, L. On-stream mineral identification of tailing slurries of an iron ore concentrator using data fusion of LIBS, reflectance spectroscopy and XRF measurement techniques. Minerals Engineering, 2017, 113, 83-94,
    DOI: 10.1016/j.mineng.2017.08.007 View at publisher

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