TECHNICAL OPERATIONS AND CORE CAPABILITIES Sample Clauses

TECHNICAL OPERATIONS AND CORE CAPABILITIES. Mintek operates across the nexus of the RDI and mineral beneficiation value chains. This means that ▇▇▇▇▇▇’s operations and core capabilities have to cover all aspects of research, development and innovation across the full beneficiation value chain, from exploration, through extraction and processing, to refining and the production of metal-based products and processes. In line with ▇▇▇▇▇▇’s core mandate to ▇▇▇▇▇▇ the establishment and expansion of the mining industry, it is also critical that Mintek is adequately capacitated to implement its research and development outcomes to drive economic growth. Consequently, ▇▇▇▇▇▇ is capacitated with the core capabilities, both in terms of human capital, and facilities and equipment, that cover the full spectrum of both of these value chains. 5.1 Analytical testing services The Analytical Service Division is one of the technical divisions integrated in Mintek’s value chain to perform mineral composition (elemental analysis) of geological and metallurgical ores using advanced analytical techniques. The division has been operating continuously under ISO 17025 accreditation for more than 25 years. The division is in the fore front in advance analysis of precious and base metals using robust advanced methods such as fire assay, fusion, wet chemistry and acid digestion for sample preparation followed by analysis using advanced techniques such as inductive coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), inductive coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS), X-ray fluorescence and atomic absorption (AA). Other advance methods includes determination of sulphur, carbon and phosphorus by combustion methods. The division also manufactures and sells certified reference materials (well-known as South African Reference materials (SARM) which play an important role to the minerals industry at large as they are used for quality assurance and quality control, adding value to mining value chains. SARM are distributed globally for routine analysis and research purposes, many of the publications experimental work references material to SARM, making the division to be one of the global competitive within the space of producing certified reference materials. The division contributes to overall quality control of other industry products by participating in the proficiency testing schemes of mineral composition of various ores which are used as reference materials. Proficiency testing schemes are critical requirement for obtaining ...