Coal face and stockpile ash analyser for the coal mining industry

A portable nucleonic instrument was developed for the determination of coal ash on the coal face or the surface of coal stockpiles. The instrument employs the backscattered gamma-gamma technique. There are two gamma-ray sources used in this instrument: a 1.1 MBq 133Ba source as the primary source of radiation and a 37 kBq 137Cs for gain stabilization. The instrument is commercially available.