QEM*SEM: Quantitative Evaluation of Materials*by Scanning Electron Microscopy

The recovery of minerals from ores is an important industry and much depends on the correct assessment of the valuable minerals in the ore and on the efficiency of the processing. A new technique called QEMSEM (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy) has been developed by researchers at CSIRO’s Division of Mineral Chemistry. QEMSEM is the first fully automated mineral characterisation system capable of giving accurate, highly detailed information. It produces multi-colored ‘mineral maps’ from either sections of drill core or from crushed particles. These maps can be interpreted to tell how much of a mineral is present, the grain sizes, and how minerals in the sample are associated with each other. Although developed for the mining industry, QEM*SEM can be used to characterise any kind of metalic or inorganic particles, yielding precise, detailed information in a readily accessible form.