Our Services…
We offer our services for all phases of your project:
Evaluation
Literature research, data collection, as well as database design and management are just a few services J.M.W. Geo-Consulting can offer for your projects in economic geology, mineral exploration, and geochemistry.
We look at your project and decide which steps have to be taken and which analyses should be done. This first step also includes data mining and literature research.
Public available examples of our work can be found here
Do you like to know more about our sampling services?
Evaluation
Example of a literature study
A Literature review on the Geology and Mineral Industry of Sierra Leone: Geologic Country Report with Emphasis on Diamonds, Gold, and Titanium (July 2011).
Example of an availability study
World-wide Niobium and Tantalum Availability (July 2007).
Sampling
We are frequently involved in exploration campaigns for different commodities. The campaigns differ in financial volume as well as in the sizes of the used drill rigs – hand drilling for soil, small trucks for coring up to several 100 m, until work on medium rigs for retrieving cuttings and drill cores from up to 2000 m depth.
Tasks during projects with core retrieval…
Our analytical services ar listed below…
Sampling
Tasks during projects with core retrieval:
- drilling supervision (material and staff)
- technical depth control and geological depth assignment of core pieces
- core recovery record
- low-level core logging at well site
- high-level core evaluation and photographic documentation at core storage
- determination of sample intervals for chemical analysis and sorting tests
- development and adjustment of SOPs (standard operation procedures)
- data collection and management for the development of drill logs
Tasks during projects with cuttings retrieval…
Sampling
Tasks during projects with cuttings retrieval:
- sampling of cuttings
- depth assignment of cuttings (lag-time)
- manual preparation of cuttings for description, storage and shipping
- petrographic / microscopic description of cuttings
- photographic documentation of cuttings
- sample determination for chemical analysis
- supervision of junior staff
Tasks during detailed logging…
Sampling
Tasks during detailed logging:
- high-level core logging / evaluation
- photographic documentation
- determination of sample intervals for chemical analysis and sorting tests
- cutting of samples for tests
- data preparation and management for the mineral resource estimation
Analysis
We analyse the samples with our in-house equipment (polarising microscope, ore microsocope and pXRF) or let the measurements be done by one of our affiliated companies and research institutions, and evaluate the generated data afterwards.
Our standard analyses are:
- Petrographic and microscopic examination of rocks
- Microscopic examination of ores and metallurgical products
- X-ray diffraction analyses and calculation of the quantitative composition of geomaterials uing Rietveld refinement
- X-ray fluorescence to analyse chemical compositions
Analysis
Microscopic examination
Microscopic analyses are essential for many issues in the context of geomaterials like natural stones, concrete and slate. The mineral identification with a magnifying glass or a stereo microscope is still the first step of many mineralogical studies. The exact description of the mineral composition and the fabric plays an important role. In the laboratory, thinsections or polished samples analysed under a polarization microscope/ore microscope provide additional petrographic information. We perform petrographic analyses of geomaterials, such as rocks, ores, minerals, soils or loose rocks, mortars and concrete samples. We carry on petrographic investigations of
- thin sections
- polished sections
- hand specimen
- loose rock samples
When the microscopic examination of geomaterials is performed on thin sections, we identify:
- mineral composition
- fabric
- if necessary, degree of weathering
- quantitative mineralogical composition (modal analysis)
- on request also a complete petrographic examination according to EN 12407
Depending on the question, the determination of the fine-crystalline mineral fraction by the use of x-ray diffraction (XRD) may be useful.
Analysis
X-ray diffraction (XRD)
X-ray diffraction allows determining the structure of crystalline substances,even if they are very small and not clearly visible under a microscope. The x-ray powder diffraction (often short XRPD) is a special type of X-ray diffraction for structure analysis of polycrystalline samples. A diffractogram (or diffraction pattern) can be recorded with this procedure to identify the phases by comparing the peaks with an electronic databases. Using the Rietveld refinement, it is also possible to calculated the quantitative composition of the sample.
The instrumental measurements are currently carried out by external partners. Afterwards we do the evaluations of the diffraction patterns.
We advise X-ray diffraction analysis, when it is obvious that the sample is too fine to be analysed with the polarizing microscope. In this case, the X-ray diffraction is the faster method.
In some cases, the mineralogy is less important than the chemical composition of a sample. In this case, we can offer you to X-ray fluorescence analyses.
Analysis
X-ray fluorescence (XRF)
X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy is a modern standard procedure for the non-destructive element determination of samples of various types, such as soil, rocks, ceramics, glass, metal products, but also food, toys …
At J.M.W. Geo-Consulting we use Niton’s mobile XRF spectrometer XL3t GOLDD + for on-site or laboratory analysis. With this device, it is possible to perform in-situ and ex-situ investigations directly on site, in your company or in our laboratory. An advantage of the XRF is the possibility of simultaneous measurement of a whole suite of elements. It stretches from magnesium to uranium with levels of a few ppm up to the ten percent range. Depending on the different sample-dependent matrices, different calibration modes are used to achieve optimal results.
Presentation and advice
We summarize and present our generated data in form of reports, lectures or publications and give advice, if required.
Presentation can be as
- report
- presentation, workshop or lecture
- scientific publication
- geological map or drill logs