Does anyone do cheap spectrographic mineral analysis?

[JasonG]

I remember seeing an ad sometime back where a guy would shoot a rock with his XRF and give you a report for $20 and email it to you quickly, but I can't find it now.

Some minerals just escape ID and I was hoping to find a place that is quick and inexpensive for when I'm following leads in the field and need to know exactly what the atomic components of a particular rock or mineral are. Or does anyone here have an XRF and want to provide such a service?

 

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[kcm]

Keep in mind that they do a survey of the "surface" only - which leaves what's inside to the imagination. ...Or at least that's my understanding of how they work.

Is there a University nearby that might be able to help you out? If it's only one sample, then they might do it for free. ...Then again, you might also be on the hook for that new wing they've been wanting to add to the campus.

 

[JasonG]

Yeah, surface is all I need. I just cut or grind off anything I don't care about and I can eliminate impurities or contamination easily enough by process of elimination (like, if I'm looking at potential corundum then obviously any components from organics that show up are spurious, etc). Mostly I just need to know if there is one or two specific atomic components present or not. IE do we have magnesium present or not? Ok, then if so then it has to be X or Y.

Only have a 2 year college nearby and they don't have spectrometers of any sort unfortunately...