To optimise production for a Finland mineral company, fast analytical techniques were developed at the SLS to analyse 50000 historical samples from a mine.

When analytical company Stenman Minerals Ab approached SLS Techno Trans AG, they presented us with a completely novel problem: completing the a project of technique development, testing and measurements of more than 50000 samples within six months.

Working with Stenman Minerals, the team at the SLS quickly determined the optimal parameters to keep the time for measurements as short as possible, while keeping the quality of the mineral phase quantification relevant for the analysis.

The project required scaling up the number of samples that are automatically measured by two orders of magnitude, as well as improving the ability to analyse unground samples with crystallite size ranging from sub-micron to 100 microns in size.

Customised sample plates holding 500 samples at one time were moved in a complex pattern to ensure good particle statistics were recorded by a large area Pilatus 2D detector. There was an effective measuring time of less than 13 seconds per sample, including changing samples and plates.

The project was successfully completed within the six months time frame that had been set by the client.