Solving mining challenges with the new Revontium™ XRF instrument
The energy transition is driving demand for the critical elements that will help decarbonize our world. As demand grows for essential elements such as nickel, copper, aluminum, and Rare Earth Elements (REE), the mining industry is under pressure to increase supply.
But there’s a problem: as conventional ore deposits have become depleted, new mines in more remote locations are needed to meet demand. Not only are these locations more difficult to access, but the ore deposits themselves are often of a lower grade. To increase production, maintain efficiency, and meet demand, the analysis performed on these lower-grade ores must be more sensitive and capable of being performed in remote areas.
Mining itself is not exempt from the demands of the energy transition either, as sustainability legislation requires the industry to adapt processes, reduce emissions, and conserve energy – all of which rely on further elemental analysis.
Clearly, these mounting challenges call for greater flexibility and robustness in our analytical processes. Samples need to stay representative. Diverse operators need to know what they’re doing. Sometimes you need to analyze at speed, and sometimes you need more detailed results.
To deliver this robust analytical flexibility to the mining industry, Malvern Panalytical has introduced the world’s first compact X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument – Revontium™.
The compact brilliance of Revontium
The mining industry will greatly benefit from Revontium. Its size is only 0.4m2 and yet it offers powerful analysis of up to six million photons detected per second. This innovative instrument therefore offers compact brilliance to solve the logistical challenges that often come with analyzing mining outputs.
By combining the precision of powerful XRF instruments with the portability of more compact instruments, Revontium can be placed much closer to the process. It still provides the sensitivity required for high-quality sample analysis, even with low-grade ore samples.
Intuitive design for a dispersed workforce
With its advanced design features, Revontium is designed to meet the unique demands of mining in more remote environments. It offers a host of software features to support this. Its large touch screen, which can work with LIMS, is easy to learn and easy to use for all types of operators. Its intuitive interface allows anyone to perform analysis with as little as half an hour of training, removing the barrier to manual operation by on-site personnel at mining facilities.
Revontium’s hardware is designed to operate under normal atmospheric conditions. Unlike typical WDXRF instruments, it does not require a chiller, compressed air, or consumables. That means fewer resources needed in the facility, as well as savings on cost, training, and logistical complexity. Overall, operators are freed up to analyze materials at-line wherever they are.
Innovative and robust
When we began developing Revontium, we consulted with key mining customers on the features that they would find genuinely useful. As a result, Revontium is one of the most robust XRF instruments on the market. It achieves more detailed analysis with more detectors but consumes just 250 watts per hour. Many other benchtop XRF systems have only one detector, while Revontium has four.
As a result, Revontium’s greatest strength is flexibility. You can use the three extra detectors for more detailed analysis, detecting trace elements below the typical detection limits for XRF, or performing typical analysis in less time. The choice is yours!
The high-quality design of our tubes and other components completes the package. We manufacture the X-ray tubes to our own design at our factory in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. These tubes are optimized for the measurements typically found in the mining industry, with less calibration required to detect trace elements compared to floor-standing, general-purpose spectrometers. Features such as air cooling and the Chi-blue tube coating protect against spills and interference from dusty environments.
Revontium is designed for the mining industry, from the ground up. Its unique combination of robustness, ease of operation, and flexibility gives it the tools and features to solve some of mining’s greatest challenges.
If you’re facing more remote operations, lower-grade deposits, or higher training burdens in your mineral elemental analysis process, then Revontium XRF could be the solution for you. Check out the brochure today or contact our team to find out more!