This guide’s aim is to give a comprehensive overview of the topic of qualitative and quantitative heavy mineral analysis. Therefore, the guide discusses all relevant topics, starting with explaining the relevant terms (e. g., heavy minerals, placer deposits). Afterwards, sample preparation techniques are introduced. Additionally, to conventional preparation with grinding and polishing machines, robust and resilient practical “low-tech” options are described. Lastly, the principles of qualitative (i. e., identification of minerals using a polarising microscope) and quantitative (i. e., yielding mass-% data of target minerals) analysis of heavy minerals are presented.
The focus of this guidebook is partly directed towards sampling and sample preparation in technical contexts using a low-tech approach, including instructions on how to produce polished mineral sections manually. This “cheap and easy” route to produce usable samples is complimented by straight-forward optical microscopy. Further, different reliable methods to determine the composition of heavy mineral concentrates with minimal analytical equipment and open-source software are demonstrated. This has a significant application potential for smaller sand and gravel producers who want to produce heavy mineral concentrates as a sustainable by-product but want to maintain a handle on the composition of their product on the market. This approach has also an application potential for emerging market situations in countries where highly expensive and technically as well as analytically very demanding equipment might not be available and where the purchase of such equipment would make the recovery of heavy mineral concentrates uneconomic.
On the other hand, the authors also touch on the most up-to-date analytical methods with automated mineralogy by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and QUEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy). This parallel approach is to give the reader a good first orientation and allow for an educated decision which route to take in the recovery and valuation of heavy minerals and heavy mineral concentrates.