Automated Mineral Analyser - Automated mineralogical analysis to underpin earth sciences

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Despite the uptake of automated scanning electron microscopes (SEM) in both material research and industry, the full potential of SEM automated mineralogy (automated mineral analysis or AMA) is still under-developed, and thus under-utilised. It is clear that these instruments have great potential to deliver innovation applying machine learning to the analysis of solid materials. AMA combines different data from the SEM to provide information on mineral composition, trace element distribution, spatial characteristics and phase distribution. There are a number of key science areas identified where such information could drive innovation.The transition from carbon-based energy to renewables is underpinned by a growing demand for natural resources that provide the metals for the enabling technologies. This presents an enormous challenge to industry - to meet this need while at the same time reducing the impacts and energy costs of finding, evaluating and recovering the required metals. Better understanding of metal deportment in the natural ores, products and wastes is a key part of that challenge and AMA contributes to that through the ability to rapidly characterise bulk samples of primary ores, leading to optimisation of grinding, flotation, mineral concentration and metallurgical processes (geometallurgy). There is also huge potential to develop such instruments to provide data to better guide explorers to where new ore deposits may be found, and this is one key area of research focus at the NHM. In addition, AMA has great potential for research studies applied to volcanology, metal ore fingerprinting, investigation of slags, pottery and artefacts from archaeological sites and the investigation of soil, and solid particles of all kinds, for instance in forensic science. The technology has great potential to help in investigations of solar system material like meteorites and future samples collected by new space missions, and airborne fallout particles from volcanic eruptions and forest/bush fires - some of the other NERC research areas currently being developed at the NHM. Basing a new, state-of-the-art AMA at the NHM opens up the opportunity to develop new workstreams for the instrument and machine-learning approaches to integrate with other technologies such as optical mineralogy, laser ablation inductively coupled mass-spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) analysis, micro-XRD and CT scanning - some of the advanced technologies also based at the museum. The NHM has a proven track record in developing analytical systems with the necessary expertise in a supported laboratory with access to world class collections of rocks, ores and minerals that underpin the research efforts. Alongside the other open access facilities, the instrument will be easily accessible to a range of users, including researchers in consortia from already active grants held at the NHM (NERC - FAMOS, CoG3, Te@Se, VoiLA; Innovate UK Faraday Battery Challenge - Li4UK; EU H2020- SYNTHESYS+, CROCODILE, EURO-PLANET).