Calibration of Portable XRF Spectrometer in Sn-W Ore-Bearing Granites: Application in the Cínovec Deposit (Erzgebirge/Krušné Hory Mts., Czech Republic)

This study evaluates the suitability of portable X-Ray fluorescence spectrometry (PXRF) in the environment of granites and greisens with Sn-W and secondary mineralization of other important elements (Rb,Y, La, Ce, Nb, Ta and Tl). International certificated reference materials (CRM), historical data from the sixties based on the borehole CS-1, current analyses in accredited laboratory and data measured by a portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer (PXRF) with factory settings were evaluated in this study. Powder CRMs and samples from borehole CS-1 were analysed by PXRF. The results of PXRF analysis were then tested for reliability, credibility, accuracy and precision. The accuracy was calculated as a relative percent difference (RPD), regression equations and correlation coefficients. A detailed statistical evaluation of the results proves, that PXRF can be a very useful method for a primary determination of main, secondary and trace elements. Comparison of the conventional methods and the PXRF shows a good correlation of different analytical methods and a good possibility of using the PXRF method for a future selection of samples for subsequent more demanding and expensive conventional and special analyses. A calibration of the PXRF spectrometer to the lithological environment of Sn-W ore-bearing granites and greisens was made by the statistical comparison of the methods.