Advanced laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) sensor for gold mining

There is a need in the mining industry for determining quickly and in the field the concentration of gold in mineral ore samples. Existent portable analyzers cannot determine the gold content at the ppm range. Hence, a portable LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) appears as a good candidate but developments are required to fulfill the needs of the gold mining industry. Developing a functional LIBS based analyzer involves several challenges to be addressed prior to its use in the field. To be of practical use, the analyzer has to probe a representative sampling of the surface of the mineral samples and has to tackle the matrix effect resulting from several mineralogical compositions of the samples. This paper presents the recent on-going work at the National Research Council Canada (NRC) and Laval University using LIBS for gold mining, from the determination of gold-bearing rock composition to direct detection of gold and system prototyping.Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye