Title: IMAT commissioning : use of cold neutrons to discriminate minerals with similar density

One of the major challenges of XCT is the lack of X-ray penetration in the dense mineral samples and the distinction of minerals with close atomic number Z. The lack of penetration results in beam hardening especially for minerals with densities higher than 3g/cm3. The utilisation of cold neutrons at IMAT with optimal neutron wavelengths (neutron energy dependant experiment) can be used to discriminate different iron ore oxides (hematite and magnetite) as well as 11 other minerals. This application is important because it will demonstrate minerals that require cold neutron source for optimal discrimination and those that require XCT application. Understanding this requirement will result in calibration and optimal application of the two techniques especially for geological samples that poses challenges when scanned only with XCT.