Analytical Tools to Constrain the Origin of Minerals

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Geochemistry and Geochronology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 15506

Special Issue Editor

Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe, Hannover, Germany
Interests: geochemistry; laser ablation ICP-MS; inorganic analytical chemistry; analytical fingerprint

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

As a result of an increasing awareness of the social and environmental conditions under which raw materials are extracted and processed, consumers and the general public show a growing interest in getting information on the origin of raw materials used to manufacture goods for daily life. This particularly applies to mineral commodities that are sourced from conflict-affected and high-risk areas. The OECD Due Dilligence Guidance for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains has been developed to address this issue and to help companies respect human rights and avoid contributing to conflict through their sourcing decisions (OECD, 2016). A basic requirement of this guidance concerning companies’ due diligence within responsible supply chains is the verification of the origin of minerals. This is usually realized by the implementation of traceability measures based on documentation and labeling of mineral shipments, which then serve as a proof of origin. However, those approaches can be easily manipulated and hence are highly suceptible to fraud attempts. Analytical methods applied on minerals could close this loophole, as they can serve as an additional and independent tool for the verification of mineral origin.

The scope of this Special Issue is the presentation of analytical methods and statistical data evaluation approaches to constrain the origin of all kinds of economically relevant minerals, including commodities such as gold or gemstones.

OECD (2016), OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas: Third Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris. http://0-dx-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.1787/9789264252479-en

Dr. Hans-Eike Gäbler
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • minerals
  • determination of origin
  • analytical fingerprint
  • analytical methods
  • data evaluation
  • method validation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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15 pages, 1795 KiB  
Article
Chemometric Modeling of Trace Element Data for Origin Determination of Demantoid Garnets
by Stefan G. Bindereif, Felix Rüll, Stephan Schwarzinger and Clemens Schwarzinger
Minerals 2020, 10(12), 1046; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min10121046 - 24 Nov 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2947
Abstract
The determination of country of origin poses a common problem in the appraisal of gemstones and is in many cases still based on the observation of inclusions and growth features of a gem, whereas chemical analysis is only done by major labs. We [...] Read more.
The determination of country of origin poses a common problem in the appraisal of gemstones and is in many cases still based on the observation of inclusions and growth features of a gem, whereas chemical analysis is only done by major labs. We have used Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry to analyze the trace element profiles of demantoid garnets from six different countries and identified a set of six elements, which are magnesium, aluminum, titanium, vanadium, chromium, and manganese, that are necessary to assign the mining regions with a good certainty. By using the logarithms of the trace element concentrations and subjecting them to chemometric modeling, we were able to separate the demantoids originating from Russia, Pakistan, Namibia, Iran, and Madagascar very well, leaving only Italy with some uncertainty. Results are presented for an “all origins” model as well as pair-wise comparison of two locations at a time, which lead to even better results. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Tools to Constrain the Origin of Minerals)
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15 pages, 2022 KiB  
Article
Data Evaluation for Cassiterite and Coltan Fingerprinting
by Hans-Eike Gäbler, Wilhelm Schink and Timo Gawronski
Minerals 2020, 10(10), 926; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min10100926 - 19 Oct 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3080
Abstract
Within due diligence concepts for raw material supply chains, the traceability of a shipment is a major aspect that has to be taken into account. Cassiterite and coltan are two so-called conflict minerals for which traceability systems have been established. To provide additional [...] Read more.
Within due diligence concepts for raw material supply chains, the traceability of a shipment is a major aspect that has to be taken into account. Cassiterite and coltan are two so-called conflict minerals for which traceability systems have been established. To provide additional credibility to document-based traceability systems the German Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources (BGR) has developed the analytical fingerprint (AFP) for the minerals coltan, cassiterite, and wolframite. AFP is based on the analysis of a sample from a shipment with a declared origin and evaluates whether the declared origin is plausible or not. This is done by comparison to reference samples previously taken at the declared mine site. In addition to the generation of the analytical data, the data evaluation step, with the aim to state whether the declared origin is plausible or not, is of special importance. Two data evaluation approaches named “Kolmogorov–Smirnov distance (KS-D) approach” and “areas ratio approach” are applied to coltan and cassiterite and result in very low rates of false negative results, which is desired for AFP. The areas ratio approach based on hypothesis testing and a more sophisticated evaluation of the multivariate data structure has some advantages in terms of producing lower rates of false positive results compared to the KS-D approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Tools to Constrain the Origin of Minerals)
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12 pages, 2695 KiB  
Article
Diamonds Certify Themselves: Multivariate Statistical Provenance Analysis
by Catherine E. McManus, Nancy J. McMillan, James Dowe and Julie Bell
Minerals 2020, 10(10), 916; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min10100916 - 16 Oct 2020
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3100
Abstract
The country or mine of origin is an important economic and societal issue inherent in the diamond industry. Consumers increasingly want to know the provenance of their diamonds to ensure their purchase does not support inhumane working conditions. Governments around the world reduce [...] Read more.
The country or mine of origin is an important economic and societal issue inherent in the diamond industry. Consumers increasingly want to know the provenance of their diamonds to ensure their purchase does not support inhumane working conditions. Governments around the world reduce the flow of conflict diamonds via paper certificates through the Kimberley Process, a United Nations mandate. However, certificates can be subject to fraud and do not provide a failsafe solution to stopping the flow of illicit diamonds. A solution tied to the diamonds themselves that can withstand the cutting and manufacturing process is required. Here, we show that multivariate analysis of LIBS (laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy) diamond spectra predicts the mine of origin at greater than 95% accuracy, distinguishes between natural and synthetic stones, and distinguishes between synthetic stones manufactured in different laboratories by different methods. Two types of spectral features, elemental emission peaks and emission clusters from C-N and C-C molecules, are significant in the analysis, indicating that the provenance signal is contained in the carbon structure itself rather than in inclusions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Tools to Constrain the Origin of Minerals)
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16 pages, 2471 KiB  
Article
Simultaneous Quantification of Forsterite Content and Minor–Trace Elements in Olivine by LA–ICP–MS and Geological Applications in Emeishan Large Igneous Province
by Shitou Wu, Yadong Wu, Yueheng Yang, Hao Wang, Chao Huang, Liewen Xie and Jinhui Yang
Minerals 2020, 10(7), 634; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min10070634 - 17 Jul 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2761
Abstract
Olivine forsterite contents [Fo = 100 × Mg/(Mg + Fe) in mol%] and minor–trace element concentrations can aid our understanding of the Earth’s mantle. Traditionally, these data are obtained by electron probe microanalysis for Fo contents and minor elements, and then by laser [...] Read more.
Olivine forsterite contents [Fo = 100 × Mg/(Mg + Fe) in mol%] and minor–trace element concentrations can aid our understanding of the Earth’s mantle. Traditionally, these data are obtained by electron probe microanalysis for Fo contents and minor elements, and then by laser ablation–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (LA–ICP–MS) for trace elements. In this study, we demonstrate that LA–ICP–MS, with a simplified 100% quantification approach, allows the calculation of Fo contents simultaneously with minor–trace elements. The approach proceeds as follows: (1) calculation of Fo contents from measured Fe/Mg ratios; (2) according to the olivine stoichiometric formula [(Mg, Fe)2SiO4] and known Fo contents, contents of Mg, Fe and Si can be computed, which are used as internal standards for minor–trace element quantification. The Fo content of the MongOLSh 11-2 olivine reference material is 89.55 ± 0.15 (2 s; N = 120), which agrees with the recommended values of 89.53 ± 0.05 (2 s). For minor–trace elements, the results matched well with the recommended values, apart from P and Zn data. This technique was applied to olivine phenocrysts in the Lijiang picrites from the Emeishan large igneous province. The olivine compositions suggest that the Lijiang picrites have a peridotitic mantle source. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Tools to Constrain the Origin of Minerals)
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Review

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16 pages, 315 KiB  
Review
Analytical Proof of Origin for Raw Materials
by Frank Melcher, Valentina Dietrich and Hans-Eike Gäbler
Minerals 2021, 11(5), 461; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/min11050461 - 27 Apr 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3022
Abstract
Growing public interest in getting information on the origin of raw materials used to manufacture goods for daily life has triggered the development of concepts to increase the transparency of raw material supply chains. Analytical proofs of origin (APOs) for raw materials may [...] Read more.
Growing public interest in getting information on the origin of raw materials used to manufacture goods for daily life has triggered the development of concepts to increase the transparency of raw material supply chains. Analytical proofs of origin (APOs) for raw materials may support those transparency concepts by giving evidence about the origin of a specific raw material shipment. For a variety of raw materials like gemstones, TTT (tantalum, tin, tungsten) minerals, and others, APOs have been developed. The identification of features that distinguish different origins, databases of those features from reliable reference samples, and a data evaluation strategy adopted to the envisaged application scenario are the key aspects of APO methods. Here, an overview is given on APO methods developed for different raw materials and application cases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analytical Tools to Constrain the Origin of Minerals)
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