Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for determining the mineral content of a sample, said method comprising:directing an electron beam toward multiple point of unknown composition;detecting x-rays emitted as a result of the electron beam impacting the sample to acquire an a-ray spectrum, and forming a data point;classifying the data point from a sample by comparison to a set of known data points as a classified data point, wherein said classified data point is classified as a similar data point if the characteristics of the classified data point are similar to the characteristics of a known data point and alternatively the classified data point is classified as a dis-similar data point if the characteristics of the classified data point are not similar to that of a known data point;placing the data point into a group wherein the characteristics of the data points within the group have characteristics similar to that of the classified data point;repeating the previous steps until all data points are classified data points and are placed in groups with similar characteristics; andanalyzing the groups with dis-similar data points to for use in processing the mineral sample. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: removing all groups of dis-similar data points except twenty groups with the most number of dis-similar data points before analyzing the groups with dis-similar data points to determine the mineral content of the groups with dis-similar data points. 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing all groups of dis-similar data points with five or less dis-similar data points before analyzing the groups with dis-similar data points to determine the mineral content of the groups with dis-similar data points. 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing all groups of dis-similar data points with twenty or less dis-similar data points before analyzing the groups with dis-similar data points to determine the mineral content of the groups with dis-similar data points. 5. The method of claim 1 wherein the groups with dis-similar data points are analyzed to determine the mineral content of the groups with dis-similar data points by conducting a quantitative energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy to determine an elemental composition of the group of dis-similar data points. 6. The method of claim 5 wherein the set of known data points are altered based on the results of the energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis and the sample is processed again with the altered set of known data points. 7. The method of claim 1 wherein the groups with dis-similar data points are analyzed to determine the average atomic number of the groups with dis-similar data points by conducting a backscattered electron detector analysis. 8. The method of claim 7 wherein the set of known data points are altered based on the results of the back-scattered electron detector analysis and the sample is processed again with the altered set of known data points. 9. The method of claim 1 wherein each group of classified data points has an average value which is recalculated with the addition of each classified data point. 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the characteristic of each classified data point is within three percent of the average characteristic value of the group it is placed in. 11. The method of claim 9 wherein the characteristic of each classified data point is within one percent of the average characteristic value of the group it is placed in. 12. The method of claim 9 wherein the characteristic of each classified data point is within 0.01 percent of the average characteristic value of the group it is placed in. 13. The method of claim 1 wherein a newly classified data point is placed in a separate group if there are no previously classified data points with characteristics similar to the newly classified data points. 14. A scanning electron microscope x-ray spectroscopy device comprising:a source of a charged particle beam or photon beam and means for directing the beam towards a mineral sample;a detector for detecting emissions from the sample in response to the beam and for forming a data set comprising multiple data points;a processor for controlling the scanning electron microscope; anda computer readable data storage storing computer instruction to:classify an x-ray spectroscopy data point taken from the sample by comparison to a set of known data points as a classified data point wherein said classified data point is classified as a similar data point if the characteristics of the classified data point are similar to the characteristics of a known data point and alternatively the classified data point is classified as a dis-similar data point if the characteristics of the classified data point are not similar to that of a known data point;place the x-ray spectroscopy data point into a group wherein the characteristics of the data points within the group have characteristics similar to that of the classified data point;repeat the previous steps until all x-ray spectroscopy data points are classified data points and are placed in groups with similar characteristics;analyze the groups with dis-similar data points to for use in processing the mineral sample.