Luminescence Applications in Ore Geology, Mining, and Industry

Luminescence include metric sorting.remote applications Remote prospecting, prospecting in ore ground-based geology, for ores mining, with exploration, a drone and or beneficiation helicopter- and radio borne luminescent sensing using laser excitation and time-delayed detection is becoming commonplace.Modern ground-based exploration increasingly utilises outlining of luminescing “fugitive calcite” veinlet halos, whose characteristics can rapidly and inexpensively give information on the overall size of a mineralised system and the principal structural controls on ore fluid migration pathways.Diamonds and scheelite have been found and recovered through X-ray luminescent radiometric sorting, while laser-induced luminescence has great potential, especially for sorting diamonds lacking X-ray luminescence, fluorite, spodumene, and rare earth element (REE)–bearing minerals.The luminescence concept is expanded here to include laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy; its fusion with X-ray techniques provides simultaneous information on both the mineralogical and chemical composition of a rock.