Hello PGM “miner” here!

[PureMarble]

Hello I joined this forum to get to know a little bit or maybe a lot of this business, I invested with a friend who owns several mines. We have a gravity separation facility which works mainly with precious metals like gold and PGMs being Iridium one of the most present of them all.

We have tested 1 ton concentrate from 50 milled tons and have had up to 2.6kg of Iridium itself apart from lots of other metals. This were done on 150 mesh but were told 400 mesh will give us 4x more product. This tests have been done in well respected Mexican universities and private labs.

There is not much tech or knowledge of this type of metals in Mexico so I would like to know what do you think I should do next or who should I contact. I was looking at Sibanye, Anglo American, Umicore?

TIA

 

[Yggdrasil]

Hello I joined this forum to get to know a little bit or maybe a lot of this business, I invested with a friend who owns several mines. We have a gravity separation facility which works mainly with precious metals like gold and PGMs being Iridium one of the most present of them all.

We have tested 1 ton concentrate from 50 milled tons and have had up to 2.6kg of Iridium itself apart from lots of other metals. This were done on 150 mesh but were told 400 mesh will give us 4x more product. This tests have been done in well respected Mexican universities and private labs.

There is not much tech or knowledge of this type of metals in Mexico so I would like to know what do you think I should do next or who should I contact. I was looking at Sibanye, Anglo American, Umicore?

TIA

If you suspect PGMs a proper PGM assay will be needed.
This seem to be XRF and they are not reliable unless done in the proper geochem mode and correct libraries.

 

[PureMarble]

If you suspect PGMs a proper PGM assay will be needed.
This seem to be XRF and they are not reliable unless done in the proper geochem mode and correct libraries.

That’s what I’ve read all over online that’s why I’m a bit sceptical, do you recommend doing the PGM assay with some company specifically or send a small concentrate to one of the companies mentioned above? What would you do?

 

[Yggdrasil]

I have no idea of companies doing PGM assays, but there are members that do.
I guess they will chime in soon.

Welcome bye the way

 

[PureMarble]

Thank you my friend I appreciate it!

 

[orvi]

Best option is to access assay lab where they do real PGM assay of the ore. Option reliable at the level of "reliably qualitative" would be to smelt the concentrates down with some copper or bismuth collector metal + flux that will digest all the iron you have in the sample. You need small sample able to produce few g metallic button. Which can then by more reliably shot on precious metals mode. Precious metals mode on XRF measures well only solid metallic objects of higher densities. Aluminium as light element will fool the machine and it is common the reading show PGMs.
Say 50g cons with say few g copper shavings. Heat it very hot to properly liquify the matrix. 1200°C and above. Hold it for dozen of minutes togive the collector time to collect majority of PGMs into it.
Then shot the resulting copper button (sanded with sandpaper or angle grinder to show fresh metallic surface) with XRF on precious metals mode again. If NOW PGM show up, it is very likely they are present in your cons.

 

[PureMarble]

Best option is to access assay lab where they do real PGM assay of the ore. Option reliable at the level of "reliably qualitative" would be to smelt the concentrates down with some copper or bismuth collector metal + flux that will digest all the iron you have in the sample. You need small sample able to produce few g metallic button. Which can then by more reliably shot on precious metals mode. Precious metals mode on XRF measures well only solid metallic objects of higher densities. Aluminium as light element will fool the machine and it is common the reading show PGMs.
Say 50g cons with say few g copper shavings. Heat it very hot to properly liquify the matrix. 1200°C and above. Hold it for dozen of minutes togive the collector time to collect majority of PGMs into it.
Then shot the resulting copper button (sanded with sandpaper or angle grinder to show fresh metallic surface) with XRF on precious metals mode again. If NOW PGM show up, it is very likely they are present in your cons.

That was a very detailed explanation which will be of great help on future tests, thank you very much!

 

[SRM]

If it were me, I would offer to sell the concentrate to Sibanye's smelter in Columbus, Montana USA. My guess is they would contract a lab in Mexico to sample the con and send a split to them in Columbus. This would provide both of you with the information. If you are correct with regard to the PGM content, it would also establish a business relationship with a reputable North American smelter.

 

[orvi]

That was a very detailed explanation which will be of great help on future tests, thank you very much!

Remember, this does not replace traditional and well established PGM fire assay and it does not say you reliably the PGM content. But it is a good guide for you, and if you are equiped with equipment needed, you can know what the ore is about fairly quickly.
But it all depends on the XRF used. It need to be properly callibrated and capable of reading PGMs in alloys. Bismuth is much more convenient collector metal, espetially combination of bismuth and silver - if a nice proportion of silver is added instead of copper, you can dissolve PGMs in this alloy relatively reliably (in expected quantities) and readily cupel Bi away, leaving the Ag-PGM alloy molten at the end of cupellation. That is a great benefit, since I have experience that Bi can be troublesome element for XRF to read properly, which could lead to skewed results on these "strange" alloys, the XRF certainly wasn´t callibrated for

 

[PureMarble]

If it were me, I would offer to sell the concentrate to Sibanye's smelter in Columbus, Montana USA. My guess is they would contract a lab in Mexico to sample the con and send a split to them in Columbus. This would provide both of you with the information. If you are correct with regard to the PGM content, it would also establish a business relationship with a reputable North American smelter.

I would love to work directly with them but can’t seem to find any contact information on anyone there except the facility (which isn’t of much help).