Journal Article

PhotonAssay™ — Techniques and Workflows to Establish Fitness For Purpose

Most PhotonAssay™ vs fire assay comparison studies aren’t designed to reach a rigorous conclusion. Rene Sterk and co-authors lay out exactly how to do it properly.

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What this note covers

  • Why most PhotonAssay™ vs fire assay comparative studies fail to reach objective conclusions — and what a properly designed study looks like

  • Sample selection and preparation workflow for rigorous CPA–FA comparison, including duplicate collection for precision benchmarking

  • Statistical methods for assessing accuracy and precision, including the log-ratio t-test, Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test, and Cohen’s d effect size

  • How to define and apply data quality objectives (DQOs) to determine materiality — not just statistical significance

  • Variogram-based precision assessment and an accuracy framework using routine CRM and umpire FA results as reference benchmarks

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