tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37371348.post317264936631359310..comments2023-11-05T03:45:19.337-05:00Comments on Apparent Dip: Mineral Separations Part 2Thermochronichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08606230819461771700noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37371348.post-79831127276554148972008-08-13T14:30:00.000-04:002008-08-13T14:30:00.000-04:00wow, this is great stuff! I'm so glad to have...wow, this is great stuff! I'm so glad to have found these posts, even if its 9 months after publishing. <BR/><BR/>After crushing, I like to use the water/shaker table to concentrate the heavies and remove the dust. In my experience, there is no time saved by skipping this step. <BR/><BR/>After that I use LST heavy liquid - the viscosity is low compared to other tungstates, for me it's never been any problem. This usually pulls out ~1/2 of the sample (qtz, fldspars, musco, etc.). <BR/><BR/>After that it's Frantzing. However, I would love to hear some tips on these supposedly pure piles of individual minerals you get. In my experience, the precision of mineral separation at this step isn't that great. Zircon & apatite are fairly easy to get, but not from each other, or from dreadful pyrite. I've just hand-picked at this stage; a few times I attempted to dissolve the pyrite in nitric acid. But if you want something more mid-range from the magnet (e.g., sphene, rutile, monazite) it can be a major pain. I'm currently going after rutile, and getting it separated from garnet & biotite is rough (i.e., so far no success).CWCarriganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13127234312904842810noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37371348.post-85935452609367638402008-02-08T00:10:00.000-05:002008-02-08T00:10:00.000-05:00The reasons we use bromoform or TBE is very simple...The reasons we use bromoform or TBE is very simple, COST and ease of use/production. We do something like 50,000 separations (100g samples) ea year on mineral sands samples. There is know way we could afford to use LST ($800/L) instead of TBE. ($45/L) With all labs you will find that once setup properly (extraction hoods, protective golves etc) doing production work is simple. LST is so expensive and slow to recover and recycle that we would go out of business in no time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37371348.post-34118707729859089552007-11-17T20:39:00.000-05:002007-11-17T20:39:00.000-05:00OK, grammar/ usage nitpicker here..."beg the quest...OK, grammar/ usage nitpicker here...<BR/><BR/>"beg the question" does not mean "bring up the question," which is I think what you mean to say about bromoforms. <BR/><BR/>To beg the question would be to ask something like: "What are tbe best reasons to use bromoforms instead of tungstates?" This presumes that such reasons exist, when they may or may not exist.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37371348.post-50185504463255402822007-11-15T00:53:00.000-05:002007-11-15T00:53:00.000-05:00holy crap, man...this is a great resource!holy crap, man...this is a great resource!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com