1,720,966 research outputs found
Improving trace metal characterisation of ore deposits through multi-modal, multi-scale, and multi-dimensional micro-analysis
No full textThe variety and amount of metals consumed by human society is ever increasing. Meeting the demand requires exploration for new ore deposits, efficient production of active mines, and improved efficiency in metal recycling. A key element in mining-related enterprises is the improvement of ore characterisation. The study of the geology and mineralogy of ore deposits allows us to infer the processes behind ore genesis. This knowledge guides important exploration and processing decisions. Over the last few decades, technological advancements have enabled ore characterisation at increasing levels of detail. This has brought the trace metal mineralogy of ore deposits into focus. In many cases, trace metals occur as extremely fine-grained minerals or as lattice-bound impurities in the more common minerals in ore deposits. Hence, their study requires the use of micro-analytical techniques. Trace metals and their minerals can carry crucial information on the conditions of ore formation. They can be of economic value, harmful to the environment, or of strategic economic and geopolitical interest (e.g. Critical Raw Materials). Trace metal characterisation is therefore highly relevant to research, industry, and society. In this project, micro-analysis was performed on the Liikavaara Östra Cu-(W-Au) deposit in northern Sweden to research the trace metal mineralogy of Au, Ag, Bi, Mo, Re, and W. The main goal of the project was the development, optimisation, and integration of various micro-analytical techniques for ore characterisation. The project was subdivided into four studies (scientific contributions): (1) Drill core logging, whole-rock geochemistry, and light microscopy were applied to identify lithology, alteration, and mineralisation of the deposit. An intrusion in the footwall, potentially related to ore genesis, was dated with LA-ICP-MS. Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry was used to gain insight into the trace metal mineralogy of the deposit. This study provided an overview of the geology and mineralogy of the deposit and served as a basis for sample selection and data interpretation of subsequent studies. (2) A polished thin section of the ore containing trace metal minerals was scanned by automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN) at Boliden AB to assess the potential of trace metal mineral quantification in a production-focused environment. To delineate instrument limitations from operator input the same sample was also scanned at Camborne School of Mines, UK. Detection of trace metal minerals was generally difficult due to their fine-grained nature. Yet, quantification could be improved by optimisation of the mineral classification library. (3) Four polished epoxy-mounted drill core pieces of ore were analysed by automated mineralogy (Mineralogic) and x-ray computed tomography (XCT). In two samples, a smaller region of interest was drilled and re-analysed at higher resolution. Results from automated mineralogy were used to segment and interpret the XCT data. Vice versa, XCT data provided 3D spatial context for the 2D scans. (4) Three polished thin section pieces with grains of molybdenite, pyrite, and native Bi, all with Au-inclusions, were analysed by synchrotron radiation x-ray fluorescence mapping at the NanoMAX beamline of the MAX IV synchrotron facility in Lund, Sweden. Element fluorescence maps down to 50 nm pixel size revealed the distribution of micro- and nano-inclusions and lattice-bound impurities in the mineral grains. The studies demonstrated benefits and challenges of the various micro-analytical techniques, and how and what they may contribute to ore characterisation. Results allowed linking and integrating the techniques into a smart analytical flow to optimise the characterisation of trace metal minerals in ore deposits. This is useful for both ore geology research and the mining industry.
Improving trace metal characterisation of ore deposits – a crucial step towards sustainable mining
No full textSustainable mining, including the utilisation of an ore body to its full potential, is becoming increasingly important for human society as the demand for metals increases. In order to maximise the recovery of useful metals, detailed characterisation of the ore prior to processing is vital. Characterisation should include major and minor ore minerals, gangue minerals, and also trace metals. Trace metals despite their low abundance are often particularly important, either due to their high economic value and criticality for society, or their negative impact on the quality of the main commodity recovered and/or the environment. To properly characterise trace metals in an ore deposit the use of micro-analytical techniques is necessary. Nowadays, a plethora of techniques exist, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In the mining industry, automated scanning electron microscopy systems are widely used. These systems allow for rapid mineralogical characterisation and quantification of a sample and are commonly used to quantify the mineralogy of the ore feed and subsequent products. Operators of these systems benefit from prior knowledge of the mineralogy of a sample/deposit to fine-tune their processing software to deliver data of highest quality. In this study, a method to improve trace metal characterisation in ore deposits with automated scanning electron microscopy systems is presented. It is implemented as a case study on the Liikavaara Cu-(W-Au) deposit in northern Sweden. The deposit is enriched in several trace metals including Au, Ag, Bi and Sn, and is planned for production in 2023. The mine will produce Cu as the main product and Au and Ag as by-products, and the processing of the ore will be performed in the nearby Aitik plant. For this study, a detailed geological and mineralogical investigation of the deposit was performed prior to analysis with the automated scanning electron microscopy system. A good understanding of the mineralogy is necessary to be able to select a representative sample for the subsequent automated analysis and to guarantee optimal data quality produced by the automated system, and to judge the performance of the automated system, to improve the method of analysis. Manuscript 1 deals with the geological description and genetic aspects of the Liikavaara ore deposit. Results indicate that Liikavaara is an intrusion-related vein-style deposit. Mineralisation is hosted by quartz-tourmaline and calcite veins in a metadiabase that is partly metamorphosed to biotite schist. A 1.87 Ga granodiorite intrudes the footwall. Aplite dikes, genetically related to the intrusion, crosscut the metadiabase host rock. Mineralised veins are concentrated in and around these dikes. Manuscript 2 deals with method development of automated mineralogical analysis. A sample from a mineralised quartz-tourmaline vein at Liikavaara was analysed in great detail with the QEMSCAN® system. Apart from ore minerals in major and minor abundance the sample also contains ore minerals in trace quantities, e.g. Au and Ag minerals. The sample was analysed using two different analytical settings, at two different laboratories, one typical of a production-focused industrial approach and one quality-focused scientific approach. A first analysis using the industrial approach was unable to detect any Au and Ag minerals in the sample. By modification of the QEMSCAN® mineral reference library, through iterative use of the data from both the industrial- and the scientific approach, detection and quantification of Au and Ag minerals was successful. This method can be implemented as an add-on for routine industrial analysis by automated scanning electron microscopy systems to gain information on trace metal occurrence and distribution. This information can then be used for targeted sample selection for further in-depth analysis of the trace metal content and occurrence in the deposit
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Author-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.
No full textAuthor-wise bibliometric analysis based on entropy.</p
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