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CETEM has been involved
in the preparation and certification of reference materials
from mineral samples for about twenty years. From 1985 to
1988, samples of coal and gold ore have been prepared and
their chemical composition characterized by interlaboratory
measurement studies with the participation of twenty-one
research institutes, universities and mineral industries
laboratories. These studies were used as a means of working
with these laboratories to identify and resolve measurements
problems. The reference materials produced were for exclusive
use of the participating laboratories.
Since early 90's, the use of reference materials to ensure
the reliability of test results has become a need for the
mining and industry companies in Brazil. Readily available
certified reference materials cannot adequately serve the
purpose of being used routinely in quality control programmes
as "blind" unknown check samples, because they are few in
number and too different from the source sample matrix and
therefore, easily recognized by the analysts. By 1996, CETEM
had provided gold and copper ores, concentrates and tailings
custom reference materials in which the client's raw material
was processed at CETEM and the chemical composition determined
by a group of commercial laboratories.
In 2005, with the support of the Ministry of Science and
Technology and the Brazilian Network on Chemical Measurements,
CETEM built up a specific laboratory designed for material
preparation.
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