Minviro‘s Laurens Tijsseling has co-authored an interesting open access paper in Minerals journal called Geometallurgical Characterisation with Portable FTIR: Application to Sediment-Hosted Cu-Co Ores

From the abstract
The primary source of Cobalt (Co) mine production is the sediment-hosted copper (Cu) deposits of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These deposits feature three ore zones, each with unique mineral compositions and oxidation states. Such variations directly influence the selection of processing methods for Cu and Co extraction, like leaching vs. flotation, and their performances. For efficient resource management and minimising environmental impacts, understanding the deposit's ore mineralogy and texture is vital. Classifying the resources based on their geometallurgical ore types, informed by their anticipated metallurgical behaviours, is a strategic approach to enhance resource management. Efficient and cost-effective in-mine techniques that provide insights into the distribution of mineral grades are imperative.

In this context, our team member Laurens Tijsseling contributed to exploring the potential of portable Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for analysing drill core sample mineralogy. Testing was conducted on samples from a DRC sediment-hosted Cu-Co deposit, with results being cross-referenced using automated mineralogy (QEMSCAN). The FTIR spectra, when combined with partial least squares regression (PLS-R) and competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), proved effective in predicting gangue and target mineral grades. The data obtained through FTIR aids in classifying the ore by mineralisation type and gangue mineralogy, thereby informing the best processing route and optimising overall process performance.

Read the full open access paper here