Applied Mineralogy - CanmetMINING

Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Ontario
What the facility does

Mineralogical research focusing on beneficiation, physical concentration, and metallurgical processes to optimize metal recovery and evaluate environmental impact

Areas of expertise

CanmetMINING has extensive expertise in the field of applied mineralogy encompassing the detailed characterization of solid materials across all stages of metal recovery (e.g. ore, concentrate, residue, precipitates, waste). Special emphasis is given on providing a better understanding of the mechanisms governing specific processes through the design of controlled experiments combined with integrated characterization approaches.

Research services

CanmetMINING provides unique expertise and a wide range of research and specialized services for its clients. The Business Office can arrange any of several forms of partnership to suit the particular needs of the client and to support Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) and Government of Canada priorities. Amongst the most frequently used are cooperative and cost-recovery business agreements. In addition to conducting basic and applied research, demonstrations and testing, we provide guidelines on intellectual property, licensing and marketing strategies to facilitate the transfer of technology.

Sectors of application
  • Clean technology
  • Energy
  • Environmental technologies and related services
  • Mining, minerals and metals

Equipment

Function

TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyzer (TIMA)

Automated mineralogy instrument for obtaining mineral quantities, mineral liberation, mineral associations and automated search of heavy minerals

Rigaku D/Max Rapid II Micro X-ray Diffractometer

Determination of crystalline structures at a spatial resolution down to 30 μm

Horiba XGT-7200 Micro X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) analytical microscope

X-ray fluorescence and transmission analysis of solid and liquid materials at spatial resolution down to 50 μm

JEOL JXA-8230 Electron Probe X-ray MicroAnalyzer (EPMA)

Discrete chemical analyses and elemental mapping at a spatial resolution down to the micrometer scale with detection limits ranging from 100s to 10s of ppm

PECS II Broad Argon Beam Polishing and Coating system

Preparation of high-quality damage-free surfaces of specimens through ion milling/polishing and material deposition at the subnanometer scale

SELFRAG High-voltage pulse power fragmentation system

Selective fragmentation of material using high-voltage (100-200 kV) pulses at frequencies of 1 to 5 Hz