16 – 19 March 2026
Automated mineralogy is an emerging field and has a wide range of applications in research and applied material and geosciences. It is based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image analysis coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). This analysis method includes analytical systems such as the Mineral Liberation Analyzer (MLA), the QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy) and others. The mineralogy as well as textural characteristics (e.g. grain-size distributions) of samples can be quantitatively assessed. The automatization enables a high sample throughout and the generation of ‘big data’ that allow for statistically robust interpretation.
From March 16 to 19 2026 Laura Stutenbecker (Univ. Münster), Sabine Gilbricht (TU Bergakademie Freiberg), Bradley Guy, Joachim Krause (Helmholtz-Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology), and Kai Bachmann (ERZLABOR Advanced Solutions GmbH) will lead the short course “SEM-based automated mineralogy” at the Institute for Mineralogy of the TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany. The course will teach the basic principles of automated mineralogy and some hands-on exercises will highlight its applications in metamorphic, magmatic and sedimentary petrology as well as ore geology. The course will be held in English and is open to all interested students at the PhD or M.Sc. Level. If you are interested, please visit tinyurl.com/rdt28eem for more information.
Location: Institute of Mineralogy, TU-Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany
Costs: 50 € per Person
Target audience: M.Sc. and PhD students, others upon request
Format: Classroom lectures, exercises, lab visit
Contents: Principles of SEM/EDS techniques, introduction to SEM-based automated mineralogy, available instrumentation and software, lab visits, data processing, examples from ore geology, magmatic, metamorphic and sedimentary petrology.
The application form should be completed and
sent via email by the 16th of January, 2026 to:
lstutenb@uni-muenster.de
Prof Dr. Laura Stutenbecker
Universität Münster
Institut für Geologie und Paläontologie
Corrensstr. 24
48149 Münster
Tel: +49 251 83-33935
