Britain consumes a lot of metals in manufacturing processes from Aircraft to domestic appliances to construction. The precious metals and jewellery trade also make use of metals such as Platinum and Gold. Cobalt and rare earth metals, lithium, iridium and platinum group metals are increasingly used in automotive, aerospace and green energy sectors. A new Tungsten and Tin mineral mine with global customer base has recently started in Devon. Key uses for Tungsten and Tin are in cemented carbides, steel alloys, lighting, drill bits and jewellery.

Where a suitable ground sample of rock or soil is supplied Exeter Analytical can carry out HF digestion to tackle the silicon content. Metals bound up in the material can be dissolved and identified by use of a scan analysis. The Scan analysis looks for 69 elements in one sweep:- Ag, Al, As, Au, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cu, Dy, Er, Eu, Fe, Ga, Gd, Ge, Hf, Hg, Ho, In, Ir, K, La, Li, Lu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Nd, Ni, Os, P, Pb, Pd, Pr, Pt, Rb, Re, Rh, Ru, S, Sb, Sc,Se, Si, Sm, Sn, Sr, Ta, Tb, Te, Th, Ti, Tl, Tm, U, V, W, Y, Yb, Zn, Zr.

Following this “snap shot” test – individual elements can be looked at more accurately If required with more tailored standards.