Automated Mineralogy Course

Automated mineralogy is an emerging field and has a wide range of applications in research and applied material and geosciences. It is based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image analysis coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). This analysis method includes analytical systems such as the Mineral Liberation Analyzer (MLA), the QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy) and others. The mineralogy as well as textural characteristics (e.g. grain-size distributions) of samples can be quantitatively assessed. The automatization enables a high sample throughout and the generation of ‘big data’ that allow for statistically robust interpretation.

The short course "SEM-based automated mineralogy" is an annual course organized by the University of Münster, the TU-Bergakademie Freiberg, and the Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology.

Date: 25-27 February 2025
Location: Institute of Mineralogy, TU-Bergakademie Freiberg, Brennhausgasse 14, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
Costs: 50€ pro Person
Lecturers: Laura Stutenbecker (Uni Münster), Sabine Gilbricht (TU-Bergakademie Freiberg) and Joachim Krause (Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology)
Target audience: MSc and PhD students, others upon request
Course language: English
Format: Classroom lectures, exercises, lab visit
Contents: Principles of SEM/EDS techniques, introduction to SEM-based automated mineralogy, available instrumentation and software, lab visits, data processing, examples from ore geology, magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary petrology
Registration: Please download and fill out the following registration form