| Abstract: | This paper reports on two developments of interest to extractive metallurgists: how the knowledge of the vapors over tellurium minerals can be used to develop better processing methods and how graphite furnace atomic absorption, used at moderate temperatures, can be used to characterize the vapors over ore minerals. Elemental tellurium, Ag2Te, and AuTe2 were studied from 250°C through 1050°C. The vapors over these solids were analyzed in-situ by placing the solids directly into the graphite furnace of an atomic absorption spectrophotometer and adjusting the temperature accordingly. Atomic Ag, Au, and Te and molecular Te were analyzed in the vapor above the solids. Using absorbance versus temperature data, Clausius-Clapeyron plots were made to determine how the solids were changing. |
