Show new ore testing method saves cash for miners the small miner and detert desert prospector who formerly had to pay as much as a ton for analysis of ore samples now can 0 obtain the same service for as little as by use of spectroscopic equipment similar to that installed at the university of arizona although the ne newer er method c costs but a fraction of the former outlay the results are just as accurate never varying more than 5 per cent as to quantity content university engineers say that some elements hard to isolate by chemical processes could be identified easily by the use of spectroscope the basic principle of the spectroscope is that each chemical element when burned has a characteristic te color dependent on the frequency of the light emanated this light is concentrated on a prism of glass As the light strikes the pyramidal shaped glass it is bent and separated into its various colors each color representing a specific element by comparing the colors with a prepared chart th the nature of the ore content can b be learned this spectroscopic method requires only a few hours to complete whereas the older chemical system necessitated as long as several weeks to assay ore gold may be identified with a spectroscope only it if the ore runs about three ounces to a ton platinum metals such as fridi iridium um osmium palladium platinum rhodium and ruthenium must be run about two and a half ounces ounce before they can be recognized presence of numerous commoner and more economically important minerals can be determined easily by the spectroscopic method these metals include aluminum antimony beryllium bismuth cadmium chromium cobalt columbium copper iron lead magnesium manganese mercury molybdenum nickel tantalum tin titanium tungsten radium silver vanadium and zinc there are other elements however which cannot be identified readily by the some of these are argon bromine carbon chlorine fluorine helium hydrogen iodine krypton neon nitrogen oxygen radon selenium and xenon |