ATOMIC MINERALS DIRECTORATE FOR EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH

Wavelength Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometry (WDXRFS), a green facility for geochemical analysis of geological materials, is available at Hyderabad (Headquarters), Bengaluru (Southern Region), Jaipur (Western Region) and Nagpur (Central Region). This is a rapid, cost-effective, eco-friendly and non-destructive technique for bulk analysis of geological materials for major oxides and selected trace elements. The instrument variants are MagiX Pro PW 2440 (PANalytical) at Hyderabad, and ARL PERFORM'X 4200 (Thermo Fisher Scientific) at Bengaluru, Jaipur, and Nagpur. These analytical facilities, besides catering to the need of the Directorate for geochemical characterisation of rocks, heavy mineral concentrates, tin ores, soil samples etc., also extend analytical support to many national institutes and organizations. A wide variety of geological materials, such as rocks, minerals (feldspar, mica, zircon, ilmenite, monazite etc.), panned mineral concentrates/beneficiated products (columbite-tantalite, xenotime), soil samples etc. are analyzed for ~25 elements depending upon the nature of the sample. Analytical precision (%RSD) for major oxides and trace elements is within 1-5%, while accuracy (% error) for major oxides is within 1-5% and that for trace elements is within 5-10%. Important analytical domains include:

1. Analysis of major oxides (SiO₂,Al₂O₃, Fe₂O₃(t), MgO, CaO, Na₂O, K₂O, TiO₂, MnO, and P₂O₅) and trace elements (Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Ba, Ce, Pb, Th and U) in rocks (granite, basalt, rhyolite, gabbro, sandstone, shale, carbonatite, phosphorite, schist and gneiss etc.) and soil samples.
2. Nb₂O₅, Ta₂O₅, Y₂O₃, ZrO₂ and CeO₂ in poly-mineral concentrates and beneficiated products from recovery plants of columbite-tantalite and xenotime.
3. Nb and Ta in columbite-tantalite and related multiple oxides, and Sn, Nb and Ta in tin ore and slag.