Simulation Study of Quantitative X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of Ore Slurry Using Partial Least-Squares Regression

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) in combination with partial least-squares regression (PLS) was employed to analyze the ore slurry grade. Using the Monte Carlo simulation code PENELOPE, X-ray fluorescence spectra of ore samples were obtained. Good accuracy was achieved when this method was used to analyze elements with concentrations of several percent or above. It was demonstrated that the more the number of X-ray fluorescence spectra used to calibrate, the better the obtained accuracy. In this method detector resolution was found to have little or no effect on the results of quantitative analysis. The effect of the concentration of water was investigated as well, and it was found to have little influence on the results.