07 June 2012

Oxford Instruments launches new product for Mineral Liberation Analysis

Oxford Instruments NanoAnalysis, a world leader in microanalysis software and systems, has announced the launch of INCAMineral, a product for automated Mineral Liberation Analysis on a multipurpose SEM. The Oxford Instruments solution provides accurate classification of minerals at speeds comparable to dedicated systems – but with the flexibility to perform other investigations as required.
 
Mineral Liberation Analysis  is used by the mining community to optimise the recovery of base metals, platinum group metals (PGM) and iron in ores during the recovery process. The ore is crushed and then the particles are statistically analysed in an electron microscope to characterise the ore, provide vital data on metal recovery and enable process yield analysis.
 
The majority of industrial users of mineral liberation analysis systems use dedicated scanning electron microscopes (SEM) to perform the task. INCAMineral uses a multipurpose SEM. This solution will therefore also appeal to those in R&D and academia who require more flexibility. It provides accurate classification of minerals at speeds comparable to dedicated systems, but leaving the user free to perform other investigations as required. INCAMineraI provides information on individual grains as well as statistical information over the whole sample: mineral abundance, mineral associations, liberation and locking, grain size distributions as well as cumulative liberation yield graphs. The system can retrofit to most SEMs.
 
Oxford Instruments NanoAnalysis Managing Director, Dr. Ian Barkshire, stated, “As a business, Oxford Instruments aims to use innovation to turn smart science into world class products that delight our customers. We provide solutions that solve microanalysis problems that range from the routine to the difficult. INCAMineral is a classic example of achieving just that: it enables customers to further exploit their investment in SEM tools.”