Automated Mineral Analyser - Automated mineralogical analysis to underpin earth sciences

尽管自动扫描电子显微镜（SEM）在材料研究和工业中都得到了应用，但扫描电子显微镜自动矿物学（自动矿物分析或AMA）的全部潜力仍未得到充分开发，因此未得到充分利用。很明显，这些仪器在将机器学习应用于固体材料分析方面具有巨大的创新潜力。AMA结合SEM的不同数据，提供矿物组成、微量元素分布、空间特征和相分布等信息。在一些关键的科学领域，这些信息可以推动创新。从碳基能源向可再生能源的转变，得到了对自然资源日益增长的需求的支持，自然资源为实现技术提供了金属。这给行业带来了巨大的挑战——在满足这一需求的同时，减少发现、评估和回收所需金属的影响和能源成本。更好地了解天然矿石、产品和废物中的金属形态是这一挑战的关键部分，而AMA通过快速表征原矿散装样品的能力，从而优化研磨、浮选、矿物浓缩和冶金过程（地质冶金），为实现这一目标做出了贡献。开发这类仪器也有巨大的潜力，可以提供数据，更好地指导勘探者找到可能发现的新矿床，这是NHM研究重点的一个关键领域。此外，AMA在应用于火山学、金属矿石指纹鉴定、调查考古遗址的炉渣、陶器和人工制品以及调查土壤和各种固体颗粒（例如法医科学）的研究方面具有巨大潜力。这项技术具有巨大的潜力，可以帮助研究太阳系的物质，如陨石和新太空任务收集的未来样本，以及火山爆发和森林/丛林火灾产生的空气沉降粒子——这是NHM正在开发的其他一些NERC研究领域。在NHM建立一个新的，最先进的AMA，为仪器和机器学习方法开发新的工作流程提供了机会，可以与其他技术集成，如光学矿物学，激光烧蚀电感耦合质谱（LA-ICPMS）分析，微xrd和CT扫描-一些先进技术也基于博物馆。NHM在开发具有必要专业知识的分析系统方面拥有良好的记录，并在支持的实验室中获得世界级的岩石，矿石和矿物收藏，以支持研究工作。与其他开放获取设施一起，该仪器将很容易被一系列用户使用，包括来自NHM已经获得积极资助的联盟研究人员（NERC - FAMOS, CoG3, Te@Se, VoiLA; Innovate UK Faraday Battery Challenge - Li4UK; EU H2020- SYNTHESYS+， CROCODILE, EURO-PLANET）。

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).