Identifying Scheelite with a Field Portable Spectrometer
The two main minerals associated with tungsten are wolframite and scheelite. Scheelite is a primary tungsten ore commonly found in contact-metamorphic deposits, high temperature hydrothermal veins, greisens and granitic pegmatites.
A geologist can identify scheelite in the field using a field portable oreXpress spectrometer, oreXplorer or ultra-high resolution oreXpert spectrometer running EZ-ID mineral identification software. Using EZ-ID with the USGS spectral library, or the optional SpecMIN™ and GeoSPEC libraries, the software quickly provides accurate matching of an unknown target with a known mineral spectra. The GeoSPEC library includes six known samples of scheelite for comparison and identification.
The oreXpress, oreXplorer and oreXpress are full range (350-2500nm) field spectrometers with rugged design and no moving optical parts for exceptional field reliability. Running off lithium-ion batteries they offer a full day of scanning in the field.
Benefits include:
- Quickly collect a lot of scans
- Cover more ground in less time for better mapping
- Collect more accurate data for a more complete picture of the area you are exploring
- Get results immediately instead of waiting for lab analysis
- Drill fewer holes with better results
- Speed-up core shack scanning and logging, accurately identify samples of interest, and save on assay costs
In addition to matching against a known library, EZ-ID with the Custom Library Builder module, allows you to quickly scan and build your own spectral library or add new samples to an existing library. You can add known samples as you scan or later along with metadata to accompany your spectrum.
One of six scheelite samples in the optional GeoSPEC library available with EZ-ID.
