SEMINAR: CMCA Seminar Series: "Applications of Powder Diffraction in the West Australian Minerals Industry" - Dr Robert Hart

W.A. has an economy that is highly dependent on mining and minerals processing. The state, which covers the western third of the Australian continent, has a population of only 2.3 million people (10% of Australia’s total), but is responsible for 46% of Australia’s total exports and 58% of mineral and energy exports. In 2012, there were 975 operating mines and 169 processing plants with more than 50 minerals mined in commercial quantities [1]. Over the last five years, demand from China, Korea and South East Asia has resulted in an state economy with an average annual growth of 4.4% and 15% business investment growth [2]. These mining operations may have many problems. Many of the ores may be unpredictably more difficult or costly to process or handle. As natural samples they can be complicated, they have multiple phases, with variations in particle size, substitution, order and morphology or contain trace phases that often have effects greater than their proportion in the materials would suggest. Until recently, many of these materials would have been examined only on the basis of their chemistry, usually by XRF or ICP-OES. The evolution of better and more flexible diffractometers, especially faster detectors and more robust analysis programs, has greatly reduced the instrument time and analyst time required and subsequently the cost of obtaining good XRD data. Mining and mineral processing companies that would have previously only analysed tens of samples by XRD, if any, can now analyse hundreds or even thousands of samples. Several past and potential future problems will be discussed where lab-based diffraction or synchrotron diffraction are a significant contributor to understanding the problem and providing solutions [1] Government of Western Australia, Dept of Mines and Petroleum. (2012) Western Australian Mineral and Petroleum Statistics Digest, 2011-2012. [2] Government of Western Australia, Dept of State Development. (2013) Western Australia – Economic Profile, January 2013