Detection of contaminants in ore samples using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been applied for the determination of contaminants present in ore samples. The plasma was generated by focusing a pulsed Nd:YAG laser radiation at 1064 nm wavelength on the ore sample collected from one of the open-pit mines located in Saudi Arabia. The concentrations in this ore sample of different elements of environmental significance like Cu, Cr, Ca, Mg, Zn, Ti, Si, Fe and Al were determined by spectral analysis. Parametric dependence for improvement of LIBS sensitivity was carried out. The LIBS results were compared with the results obtained using other analytical techniques such as the inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Limits of detection (LOD) of our LIBS system were also calculated for the elements under investigation.