ESTIMATION OF THE FINES CONTENT OF ATHABASCA OIL SANDS USING INSTRUMENTAL NEUTRON-ACTIVATION ANALYSIS

Knowledge of the ''fines'' or clay-rich mineral fraction is necessary for the efficient extraction of bitumen from bulk oil sands, and has e nvironmental implications in tailings disposal. Current methods for es timating the fines in oil sand are laborious and of questionable accur acy. We propose here their estimation directly in bulk oil sand by ins trumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) of the trace and major el ements determinable. Correlations between fines content and individual elements fall in the range of 0.80 to 0.81 for dysprosium, samarium, and europium, and 0.75 to 0.77 for sodium, potassium, aluminum, and ti tanium. These results follow the expected geochemical relationships be tween major and trace elements and the mineral fraction of the oil san ds. Principal component analysis (PCA) using a combination of elements gave correlations with fines content no better than those obtained fr om individual elements. However, the PCA approach can be considered mo re robust. Advantages of INAA over conventional methods to estimate th e fines content of unprocessed oil sand include minimal sample prepara tion (including elimination of the use of organic solvents), rapid tur naround time, and the potential for automation.