Mineral separation is housed in a comprehensive laboratory immediately adjacent and with direct access to the IGL Control Lab (ERB-5116). This lab houses three six-foot, Phoenix valve-controlled exhausted fume hoods housing:
- bromoform and methylene iodide based heavy liquids separations;
- rotary evaporation for heavy liquid/acetone reclamation;
- formic acid dissolution for biogenic phosphate separation
Other equipment for mineral separations and grain mount preparation include a Frantz Isodynamic Magnetic Barrier separator, a Buehler Isomet slow-speed wafering saw, a stereo-zoom optical microscopy workstation, and a specially-designed high-power ultrasonication and two-stage vortical washing device for the separation of heavy minerals from clay-rich samples.
