Exploring Rare Earth Elements

Demand for Rare Earth Elements (REE) continues to increase as the globe migrates to renewable energy. Exploration for REE have significantly increased over the last 18 months to meet this increasing demand. In order to match this demand for REE exploration, Portable Spectral Services (PSS) has developed a REE Index for use on portable-XRF instruments, providing […]
Enhancing Geochemical Visualization in Exploration: Part 2

Part 1 One of the fastest ways for humans to store information in their long-term memory is to pair concepts with meaningful images. Visual learning has been found to have cognitive effects which stimulate imagination, therefore, enabling users to process the information faster. Neuroscientists from MIT (1) have found that the human brain can process […]
Enhancing Geochemical Visualization in Exploration: Part 1

Geochemical visualization of identified chemical trends is challenging during exploration when data is limited. While geochemical assay datasets are highly valuable, the use of visual tools can often simplify the ability to identify and track chemical and mineralogical trends and display the key characteristics of an exploration target to a wider audience. To quote American […]
Heavy Mineral Concentrates for mineral exploration

Download our HMC Brochure Australia is the home to the world’s largest heavy mineral deposits containing titanium, zircon, and rare earth elements as well as heavy mineral concentrates (HMC) extracted from surficial sediments in alluvial, fluvial, glacial and wind environments. Early-stage exploration and processing of heavy minerals utilises techniques such as gravity and magnetic separation […]
RAMAN Spectroscopy: Rapid identification of lithium bearing minerals

Field identification of mineral phases within LCT pegmatite systems has been made simple with the handheld Bruker BRAVO Raman with duo laser excitation (Figure 1). Figure 1. Bruker’s handheld BRAVO Raman What is Raman spectroscopy? Raman is a form of vibrational spectroscopy that generates a spectrum by directing a monochromatic light from a laser onto […]
Detecting Low Level Gold by BRUKER pXRF

Historically, detecting low levels of gold in the field with pXRF has been a challenging process with no truly accessible methodologies available. Portable ppb Pty Ltd’s DetectORE™ technology brings compatibility for the detection of low-level gold by pXRF analysis. DetectORE™ is a patented technology to detect gold at low level concertation’s (<20 ppb) using a portable XRF such as […]
Rare Earth Elements: The most critical and strategic elements on the planet

Introduction The dominance of China in the rare earths industry has forced the USA, Russia, European Union, Japan, Australia, and other counties to formulate policies and implement strategies to ensure security and sustainability of rare earth elements (REE) to reduce dependency on Chinese supplies. Notably, in 2020 the European Union’s report on critical raw materials […]
Light elements: Significant Improvement in analytical response using the M4 TORNADO PLUS

The M4 TORNADO PLUS is the newest, most advanced micro-XRF spectrometer manufactured by Bruker. One remarkable feature of this new spectrometer is the ability to extend measurements down to detect carbon (Z=6) which improves the response of all light elements including F, Na, Mg, Al, Si, P and S along with elements such as Ti. […]
Application of Spectral Instruments in Exploration, Discovery and Development of Mineral Deposits: A case history

The application of portable Raman spectroscopy (pRaman), portable XRF (pXRF), and micro-XRF (µXRF) proved invaluable during the exploration, delineation and development of the Sinclair Caesium Mine, Western Australia. This article provides an insight into the application of combined spectral technologies in the exploration for, and development of mineral deposits. An algorithm to estimate the lithium […]
Customising your Geochemistry

As we all know, no two deposits geochemistry are exactly alike. Each one comes with its own unique characteristics and challenges. Defining the geochemistry of a deposit is a critical step that often requires a significant amount of time and expense. In the past decade, the use of portable XRF (pXRF) instruments to provide rapid […]
Further Research: Mineral and geochemical characterisation of the regolith profile at the Mt Keith Nickel Deposit

Research and Development is an important part of the Portable Spectral Services ethos, and our Spectral Geologist, Dr Naomi Potter, has recently commenced a research project with Prof. Marco Fiorentini at the University of Western Australia. The project aims to improve the understanding of geochemical processes that occur in the regolith overlying nickel sulphide (NiS) […]
Micro XRF: Resolving the question of resolution

Micro-XRF technology provides unique access to a scale of contextual chemistry that has previously not been widely utilised in industry. The instrument provides chemical information mapped at a multi-micron scale for samples up to 20cm in length (Fig 1). This has its advantages as it bridges the gap between the restricted small scale of Scanning […]