Nuclear methods now provide the basis for rapid identification of about two-thirds of the earth's naturally occurring chemical elements. The broad application of these techniques to exploration and production of minerals has been slow in developing. This unfortunate state of affairs may be due largely to a lack of awareness by the exploration geologist and production engineer of the burgeoning technologies in this segment of applied cleonics. The thrust of this book is to describe the current status of those applicable nuclear techniques which lend themselves to field use, in mobile laboratories or as portable devices. Some of the latter are designed as downhole probes for identifying and quantifying elemental compositions of rocks, discrete mineralogical deposits or delineating lithological features, all of which may lead to better definition of subsurface ore deposits.Other find use in control of mining operation, in beneficiation and recovery processes. Some of these techniques are now in field use, and the data presented are intended to provide a basis for assessing their advantages, as well as their disadvantages, in contrast with those of a more traditional nature. The subject matter derives from interdisciplinary lecture series, presented by the editor to graduate students and faculty at the Colorado School of Mines. Audiences comprised the disciplines of geology, geochemistry, geophysics and physics. The considerable growth in literature related to this specialized application area of nuclear science virtually mandated inviting contributions from among those productively active in their current fields. It is intended that the book will find use among those professional enganged in the search for and production of metalliferous minerals, as well as bulk deposits of coal, oil, natural gas, phosphate, etc.

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