Impact of heterogeneities and surface roughness on pXRF, pIR, XRD and Raman analyses: Challenges for on-line, real-time combined mineralogical and chemical analyses on drill cores and implication for “high speed” Ni-laterite exploration

On-line, real-time chemical and mineralogical analyses on drill cores are highly demanded by mining companies. However, they are a challenge because of drill core surface state and sample heterogeneities. We selected four rock samples: highly porous, siliceous breccia and serpentinized harzburgite coming from the base of a nickel laterite profile in New Caledonia which were sonic drilled, and fine grained, homogeneous sandstone and coarse grained granite which were diamond drilled and provided by Eijkelkamp Sonic Drill with unknown origin. The samples were analysed at five surface states (diamond or sonic drilled, cut as squares, polished at 6 and 0.25 μm, powdered <80 μm) by portable XRF spectroscopy (pXRF) in mining and soil modes and portable infrared spectroscopy (pIR, Visible and Near Infrared-Short Wave Infrared range (VNIR-SWIR)). A total of 52 pXRF and 200 pIR analyses were performed per sample at each surface state. This study shows that the surface state has minor influence on the results of the portable instruments. By comparing pIR and pXRF results with laboratory devices (Raman spectroscopy, XRD with Rietveld refinement, XRF spectroscopy and ICP-AES), we evidence the lower and less accurate information obtained from handheld instruments in terms of chemistry and mineralogy. The porosity and grain size effect on the measurement need to be taken into consideration for on-line drill core analyses. We show that the combination of complementary analytical techniques helps to overcome the drawbacks of the core texture and of the precision of portable instruments in order to define the regions of interest (ROI) for mining companies. We also demonstrate that a precise pXRF calibration is mandatory and that the concentration of light elements (Si, Mg), even if not accurate, shows sufficient contrast along the lateritic profile for ROI definition.