A feasible approach to measure metal concentrations in drill hole waters on site for mineral exploration.

The new technologies used in the green transition towards carbon-free societies typically demand extensive use of metals. This leads to a heavily growing need for exploration and extraction of ore deposits. Exploration can be facilitated by measuring metal concentrations in ground and surface waters carrying trace concentrations of metals leached from nearby deposits. Currently, measuring metal concentrations in water is slow and expensive and it cannot be done on-site, which hinders the discovery of new ore deposits. To address this challenge, we have developed a method to collect and concentrate the dissolved metals in a solid filter and measure the metal concentrations directly from the filter with a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The permeable filter is made of mesoporous silicon modified with bisphosphonates. Two types of adsorbing materials for the filters were prepared based on scalable production methods: i) regenerative etching of metallurgical grade silicon powder, and ii) magnesiothermic reduction of silica from barley husks. Empirical calibrations were prepared in a concentration range of 10-200 μg/L for Mn, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, and Pb using water samples prepared by spiking well water with standard metal solutions. Both filter types were tested for their ability to adsorb metals from the real water samples taken from drill holes. The developed system was able to detect metal concentrations down to 12 μg/L (ppb) showing its potential for on-site measurements of dissolved metals in water samples, which could be feasible in the discovery of new mineral deposits. This innovation enables smart sampling during exploration and provides real-time information on metal concentrations in water.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Arezoo Rahmani reports financial support was provided by K H Renlund Foundation. Tommi Tiihonen reports financial support was provided by Maj and Tor Nessling Foundation. Joakim Riikonen reports a relationship with 3AWater Oy that includes: board membership, employment, and equity or stocks. Vesa-Pekka Lehto reports a relationship with 3AWater Oy that includes: board membership and equity or stocks. Tommi Tiihonen reports a relationship with 3AWater Oy that includes: employment and equity or stocks. Joakim Riikonen has patent issued to PCT/Fl2018/050950. Joakim Riikonen has patent issued to PCT/EP2020/069789. Vesa-Pekka Lehto has patent issued to PCT/EP2020/069789. Tommi Tiihonen has patent issued to PCT/EP2020/069789. Vesa-Pekka Lehto has patent issued to PCT/Fl2018/050950. Tommi Tiihonen has patent issued to PCT/Fl2018/050950. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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