Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) was developed as a commercial analytical technique in the early 1980’s and has since been applied to the determination of trace, minor and major elements in almost every analytical field. Strengths of the technique include:

• Wide elemental coverage - virtually all elements can be measured by ICP-MS, including alkali and alkaline earth elements, transition and other metals, metalloids, rare earth elements, most of the halogens and some of the non-metals

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) is undoubtedly the fastest‐growing trace element technique available today. Since its commercialization in 1983, approximately 5000 systems have been installed worldwide, carrying out many varied and diverse applications. The most common ones, which represent approximately 80% of the ICP‐MS analyses being carried out today, include environmental, geological, semiconductor, biomedical, and nuclear application fields.

Milestones mark great events: walking on the moon, analyzing rocks on Mars, flying a self-propelled, heavier-than-air machine, using a Bunsen burner for flame atomic spectrometry, and perhaps employing an atmospheric pressure plasma mass spectrometry as an ion source for solution mass spectrometry. Yes, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) ranks among the milestone inventions of spectrochemical analysis during the 20th century.

The transfer of small quantities of materials has become an important yet underutilized type of evidence at many crime scenes including hit-and-run accidents and other violent crimes. Although the utility of trace elemental analyses and comparisons for glass and paint fragments by sophisticated methods such as laser ablation inductively coupled plasma (LA-ICP-MS) has been shown to offer a high degree of discrimination between different sources of these materials, the high expense and sophistication of this technique has limited the adoption of this technology by the typical forensic laboratory, although there are now approximately 5 forensic laboratories in the U.S. with LA-ICP-MS capabilities.

Uralian-Alaskan-type mafic to ultramafic complexes form a narrow, 900 km long, N-Strending chain in the northern and central parts of the Ural orogenic belt. Characteristic features like their concentric lithologic zonation, the absence of orthopyroxene in the ultramafic rocks and platinum group element (PGE) mineralization, which is the source for economic PGE placer deposits, discriminate Uralian-Alaskan-type complexes from other mafic-ultramafic intrusions.

Uses (and abuses) of ore deposit models in mineral exploration
Kimberlites and lamproites: primary sources of diamond
A model for bonanza gold deposit
Sediment-hosted stratiform copper deposits
Skarns and skarn deposits
Bauxite
Porphyry copper deposits
Genetic considerations relating to some uranium ore deposits
Genetic considerations relating to some uranium ore deposits. Part 2. Models for uranium ores in sandstones and in carbonaceous pellets
Sedimentary-type stratiform ore deposits: some models and a new classification
A model for granophile mineral deposits
Mississippi valley-type lead-zinc deposits
Magmatic segregation deposits of chromite
Volcanogenic massive sulphidae deposits. Part 1. A descriptive model
Disseminated gold deposits
A Canadian cordilleran model for epithermal gold-silver deposits
Archean lode gold deposits
The platinum group element deposits: classification and genesis
Unconformity-type uranium deposits
Volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits. Part 2. Genetic models
Plate tectonics and mineral deposits: a view from two perspectives
Remote sensing in mineral exploration – case histories

Soda ash is the trade name for sodium carbonate, a chemical refined from the mineral trona or sodium-carbonate-bearing brines (both referred to as "natural soda ash") or manufactured from one of several chemical processes (referred to as "synthetic soda ash"). Soda ash, which is one of the most important of all chemical products and is a starting material in producing many other chemicals, is produced in the largest amounts compared with other soda products.

The borates are among the most interesting of the world's industrial minerals, having been known and used since the earliest recorded history, first for precious metal working and later in ceramics. They are an unusually large grouping of minerals, but the number of commercially important borates is limited, and their chemistry and crystal structure are both unusual and complex. There are only a few large deposits, with many smaller formations, and the number of noncommercial occurrences in other rocks or brines is very large.

This book will address three primary metals and their associated metals. The primary metals are Platinum Group of Elements or Metals (PGE or PGM), nickel, and chromium. The associated metals include copper, gold, silver, and cobalt. The platinum group consists of six metals and occurs naturally in close association with one another as well as with nickel, chromium, copper, and cobalt. The group of metals represents a unique geological process having a common source of metal supply and a genetic model. The PGM is among the least abundant group of elements of the Earth’s element family.

The extraordinary growth of the computer and semiconductor industries and the increasing consumption of indium in these technologies in recent years have placed major constraints on current and future reserves of this metal. In the past, geoscientists have noticed the occurrence of indium in a large variety of ore deposits and detailed geochemical and mineralogical work is available for a few examples. However, despite the current technological interest, there is no comprehensive textbook that deals with all aspects of indium mineralization and economics.