Method for determining the ore content of drill cuttings
The object of this invention is a method for determining ore contents of drill cuttings by irradiating and by detecting fluorescence radiation and scattering radiation. According to the method, drill cuttings being essentially immediately retrieved from the drill hole is arranged as a layer, the upper surface of which is at least partly free from water, a statistically sufficiently representative defined area of the layer is irradiated and the fluorescence of the irradiation is measured for element-characteristic intensities and for Compton-scattering or coherent scattering intensities. The element-characteristic intensities are corrected using coefficients empirically defined from Compton-scattering and/or coherent scattering in order to compensate for the damping due to the coverage effect of water.
1. A method for determining the ore content of drill cuttings, comprising:
irradiating the drill cuttings with X-ray radiation and detecting fluorescence radiation and scattering radiation from the drill cuttings, the drill cuttings having been essentially immediately recovered from a drill hole and arranged as a layer, an upper surface of which is partly free from water, a solid phase of the layer partly transgressing an upper surface of a water phase of the layer,
defining and irradiating a statistically sufficiently representative area of the layer, and
measuring the fluorescence of the irradiation for element-characteristic intensities occurring in the ore, and for Compton-scattering and/or coherent scattering intensities,
wherein the element-characteristic intensities are corrected using coefficients empirically derived from Compton-scattering and/or coherent scattering in order to compensate for damping due to a coverage effect of water.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the drill cuttings are subjected to dewatering prior the determination.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein dewatering is carried out by solids settling.
4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the settled solids are introduced at a measurement point in a mixed and unclassified state.
5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein an essentially mixed and homogenized layer of drill cuttings is set into an advancing motion during the implementing of the determination, in order to ensure the measurement being statistically representative.