Determination of iron in high-grade iron ore and of lead in lead concentrate by Compton scattering of 60-keV .gamma.-rays from americium-241

Abstract

Determination of the concentration of an element in a matrix of elements of considerably lower atomic number is often required in the mineral industry. The analyses must frequently be undertaken in the harsh environment of an industrial plant or in the field. Under such conditions, the analysis equipment should be simple to operate and sample preparation minimal. Radioisotope techniques based on X-ray fluorescence, X-ray preferential absorption, and Xray backscatter have all been used in such applications (1), but the particular technique to use should be chosen to fit the analysis problem and the conditions in the field or plant.Measurement of the intensity of X-rays Compton-scattered from "infinitely" thick samples is recognized as an

Bulk analyzer for grade determination of iron ore fines by backscatter of cobalt-60 gamma radiation

“…Backscattered y radiation reaching a scintillation detector from a medium is a function both of the composition of the scattering medium and its bulk density. Numerous attempts to measure ore grade and ash content of coals by means of the so-called selective gamma-gamma method have been reported in which only the low energy scattered radiation carrying information on chemical composition is monitored (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). To improve on this technique and overcome the inevitable effect of changing density, Blymentsev and Migunov (7) proposed the measurement of a parameter P (hereafter referred to as Pz) which gave a linear relationship when plotted against the grade of an iron ore. Pz is defined by the ratio Intensity of scattered y rays in n _ the high energy region of the spectrum zi z P z-- (1) Intensity of scattered y rays in the low energy region of the spectrum The spectral energy regions defined in the above ratio are separated by an energy threshold Ep.…”