An accelerator facility within a mineral research establishment

The importance of the minerals industry in Australia is evident from its share of about 40% of the country's export earnings. Its economic success is due in no small measure to the industry's ability to keep abreast with technological innovations and scientific developments, often through collaborations with federal Governments research laboratories such as the CSIRO. In this context, the CSIRO Division of Mineral Physics recently commissioned a Laboratory, known as HIAF — the Heavy Ion Analytical Facility — based on a General Ionex 3 MV Tandetron. a tandem electrostatic accelerator. The Laboratory was designed to facilitate the development of the applications of a host of ion-beam techniques to problems in the geosciences, extending or complementing established methods. Flow-on to the minerals industry is anticipated, with varying degrees of immediacy dependent on the particular technique. The first stage operational at the commissioning provides RBS (Rutherford backscattering spectrometry), PIXE (particle induced X-ray emission) and NRA (nuclear reaction analysis) measurements, and includes the development of a beam microprobe. An ultra-sensitive accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system is planned for the second stage, to permit studies of chronology based on radio cosmogenic isotopes and ultra-traces in mineral samples.