Hoov,

I work in the steel fabrication industry and to identify an unknown type of metal material we would use a handheld PMI unit for positive identification. All it took was to hold the unit on the material for 5 seconds and it would then give you a readout in % of what the material consisted of. This unit is very accurate and is accepted by code.

Now my question to you is, these units are now being used in the mining industry and on your Esker trip, did you notice if these units were being used on the core samples?

http://atlas-inspection.com/blog/rental/rent-niton-hand-held-xrf-%E2%80%93-pmi-gun/