Why mining matters was the theme of PHIC’s activity at this year’s Hedland Senior High School STEMFest.
The annual event celebrates all the local work in STEM-related industries.
PHIC received generous support this year from CSA Global, which not only provided an XRF analyser and abundant rock samples for analysis, but also geologist Justin Parker to answers all the questions from the curious students and parents.
Using the XRF analyser, students could determine the minerals in the rock samples, everyday items including a bathroom tap and even an iPad. They then completed a worksheet that explained the everyday use of the minerals they detected such as cameras, phones, and soap.
All completed worksheets were entered in a competition for a mining specific Lego set, with the winner being Baydon Todd.
CSA Global has been using field portable XRF (pXRF) technology successfully in the resource industry for more than 10 years in mineral exploration, grade control and environmental applications.
XRF is a well-established laboratory technique for elemental analysis used all over the world.
Recent advancements in this technology have allowed field portable XRF analysis at geochemical concentrations useful to the exploration geologist or environmental scientist.
For more on CSA Global, visit the website.
