Metal Content in Minerals
is Determined by Assaying
The next step is to send the sample bags to the accredited laboratory if you want good results and to an unaccredited laboratory (owned by the brother-in-law) if you want GOOD results. Referring to what was written in the section on sampling, unless the sample is called “sample 1”, the lab will always get the name wrong and cause no end of hassle later on. But I digress. The laboratory will require you to fill out a long form telling them everything about the world as you know it and then they will ask tough questions like, “Do you want the 30 gram or 50 gram fire assay for gold? Do you want the agua regia, 3 acid or 5000 acid digestion for the ICP analysis?” It is never enough to say, “I just want to know how much gold is in this bit of rock”. If you don’t give an answer to their fairly technical enquiry - and most people can’t give an answer - this gives the lab people their opportunity to make snotty comments that make you feel less than human. I guess they have this need in their lives. You very quickly learn how to turn the tables, however. When they ask, you simply yell at them and say, “The 30 gram test you idiot!” What does it matter if this is the wrong test - it can always be re-assayed later on if required.
When you receive the results of the laboratory analysis you then plot the results on a map (Did you read the previous chapter on mapping? Then go do it now.) to see if there are any hot spots. Remember - red is for high values. If you are a computer-type there are lots of good software programs for plotting the results and everything looks much more official when it is plotted from a computer. Usually it is full of errors but most of life is about how things look rather than their accuracy.
Sample maps, properly prepared, are very important in finding ore bodies but you have to ask the tough questions about how the samples were collected, prepared, assayed and displayed. There is always room for a self-selecting group of people to make a lot of money at this point and you don’t want it to be your reputation that is destroyed while they get rich. The stock exchanges have stringent rules to make sure that sample assay results accurately reflect reality but money is the great motivator of innovation - it’s the secret to the success of capitalism. Be sure to have a proper Quality Control procedure in place to ensure your results are accurate.
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