QEMSCAN (Qualitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy) is a fully automated scanning electron microscope that works by rapidly scanning an electron beam over any non-organic sample and analysing resultant x-rays to identify mineral composition and quantify the minerals found in the sample.

 

Each analysis takes just 5 milliseconds and because it is automated it can operate 24 hours a day. Tasks that would have previously taken human researchers days to perform can now be completed in just an hour using QEMSCAN!

 

QEMSCAN was developed for the extractive industry to provide a detailed analysis of the percentage of each mineral in a sample and the accessibility of minerals for liberation.

 

This information can be used to determine how much resource is being lost in tailings, guide exploration, and assess ore body delineation. This can reduce the costs of exploration and plant design and lead to increases in mineral recovery.

 

The potential of QEMSCAN to profile soils has led to its use in police forensics. It is used where there is a need to link a suspect to a crime using soil evidence, which may be on the suspect or victim. It has been used in 10 murder investigations and it has already helped convict two suspects.

 

There are only 16 QEMSCANs in existence and Camborne School of Mines, part of the University of Exeter, has the only one to be found in a university anywhere in the world!

 

Links

BBC News - Hi-tech spotlight put on murder