Hi Adam, the procedure is quite simple and effective: you can simply use a heated needle to heat the surface of your mineral. This will soften the surrounding epoxy, making it pliable and allowing you to remove the grain with the same needle or tweezers. This is a common procedure in our laboratory; we use it almost constantly when preparing olivine samples with melt inclusions. In our case we use Weller WX 1 Soldering Station with Pico tips. We have been using this method for over 20 years and initially it was simply a needle heated on a gas burner. Best regards Valentina ------------------ Dr. Valentina Batanova ISTerre Université Grenoble Alpes CS 40700 ISTerre MicroAnalytical Platform (IMAP) https://www.isterre.fr/french/services-plateformes/plateforme-microanalytique-isterre-imap/ 38058 GRENOBLE Cedex 9 FRANCE Geographical address / delivery OSUG-C (Maison des Géosciences) 1381, rue de la Piscine 38610 GIÈRES FRANCE > On Sep 23, 2025, at 8:56 pm, msa-talk-request@minlists.org wrote: > > Send MSA-talk mailing list submissions to > msa-talk@minlists.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or > body 'help' to > msa-talk-request@minlists.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > msa-talk-owner@minlists.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of MSA-talk digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. removing minerals mounted in epoxy (Adam Simon) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Tue, 23 Sep 2025 08:45:51 -0400 > From: Adam Simon <simonac@umich.edu> > Subject: [MSA-talk] removing minerals mounted in epoxy > To: Adam Simon <simonac@umich.edu> > Message-ID: > <CAP=YYCbYnrm0g_2b0ThM-K2zwnhwzdF-DCcUXsa_9Kdy5UE9OQ@mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: multipart/related; > boundary="0000000000009d9c4c063f775106" > > Dear Colleagues, > > > I have mineral grains mounted in standard 1-inch epoxy mounts that were > analyzed by EPMA and LA-ICP-MS. A representative BSE image is pasted below. > > > I'm searching for a way to remove the mineral grains from the epoxy so we > can dissolve them and measure isotope compositions using solution MC-ICP-MS. > > > I appreciate you emailing me if you have done this and have advice. > > > [image: ROM 47 placer gold grains.png] > > > > > Best regards, > > Adam > > ____________________________________________________________ > > Adam C. Simon > > Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Mineral Resources > > Earth & Environmental Sciences > > University of Michigan >