Eiseb Prospecting and Mining

Soil pH Survey Procedures Materials needed for pH sampling: 1. Soil pH Survey Datasheet 2. Pen, pencil, ruler, eraser and graph papers 3. pH buffer solution (4,7 &10) 4. pH meter 5. Surgical gloves 6. Bottle for 10% HCl 7. Bottle for vinegar 8. Plastic cups 9. Plastic spoon 10. Distilled water for testing 11. De-ionised water for rinsing 12. Brush 13. Scoop 14. Stop watch and a calculator pH meter Calibration The pH meter should be calibrated everyday either in the morning before work starts or at the end of each day when the work is finished. Buffer solution 4 = pink Buffer solution 7 = yellow Buffer solution 10 = blue 1. Fill the white plastic cups marked for calibration purposes with buffer solution 4, 7, 10 (50ml). Always use fresh uncontaminated buffer solution. 2. Press the ON button on the pH meter 3. Press the MODE button until you reach the PH USA parameter 4. pH mode will show you the pH (top of the screen) and temperature (bottom of the screen) 5. Press the CAL button CAL will appear on top of the screen 6. Place tester in buffer solution 4. The bottom reading will show the correct buffer solution (e.g. 4) 7. When the top reading has stabilized (for instance 3.87 for 4.00 buffer solution) then press ENT the reading will blink for a few seconds after you press ENT and then turns to normal.

Eiseb Prospecting and Mining

8. Rinse the tester with clean water and place tester in buffer solution 7. The bottom reading will show the correct solution (7) 9. Press ENT when the reading has stabilized 10. Rinse again the tester with clean water and insert in buffer solution 10. Make sure you are still in CAL mode. 11. Press ENT when the reading has stabilized 12. When calibration is done press CAL key to confirm calibration 13. Pour away the calibration solutions and rinse the white plastic cups with water. Distilled water - TEST New batches of distilled water (every new bottle opened) should be tested for residual buffering capacity this is done through the following procedure; Mix a drop or two of vinegar with distilled water and monitor the change in the pH reading o If the pH drop to a very low reading it indicates no buffering capacity to the water (this distilled water is OK for use) o If pH reading does not drop very low then it show evidence of buffering capacity (throw distilled water away, do not use this water for pH measurement). NB: Enough distilled water should be stocked up and mixed for the whole area being worked on. Sampling Procedure 1. Clean/brush away any windblown surface sand & organic materials such as leaves, grass etc. (use the provided brush). 2. Using a ruler, make a 30cm by 30cm square. 3. Using a small trowel/scoop; dig the square down to a depth of 10cm and sample at that depth (when sampling, avoid taking a spot, but rather try to cover the whole square area at the depth of 10cm and avoid sand falling in from the surface). 4. Sieve the sampled soil through the fine plastic sieve (coffee filter) to get the final sample/soil volume to be tested. 5. Use some of the sieved soil and Test soil for presence of Caliche (CaCo3) with ACID (spray acid on sample) if it fizzes (makes bubbles) then note down as YES on the datasheet and NO if it does not fizz (no bubbles). 6.To avoid contamination, the acid test should be done on a separate plastic spoon of which the soil should be thrown away after the test and the plastic spoon should be rinsed with deionised water thereafter.

Eiseb Prospecting and Mining

Testing Procedures; 1. In a 250ml plastic cup (white plastic cups) mix a leveled plastic teaspoon of sample material (soil) with 50ml distilled water (see marked line on the plastic cup). 2. Always use the same quantities of soil (one leveled plastic spoon) and distilled water (50ml). 3. Stir the mixture for one minute 4. Switch the pH TESTER ON (when its close to a minute; say at 45 seconds) 5. Press MODE button and choose pH USA mode 6. Insert pH meter in the soil/water solution for a minute (60 seconds) and take the readings. Make sure that the pH probe are covered by the mixed solution. 7. Take pH and the Temp reading note it down on the Soil pH-Survey Datasheet 8. Always record the pH results to two decimal places. 9. If organic material is suspected floating on top of the water/soil mixture then take a separate pH measurements after two minutes, if the two readings differ with more than 0.1 units then reject/throw away the sample and discard the pH measurement and re-sample. For example if the first pH reading was 7.00 then the second pH reading should be in the range of 6.90 to 7.10, if not then throw away. 10. Rinse the TESTER with clean de-ionised water 11. Change the TESTER to COND mode 12. Wait until the reading stabilizes and note down the reading on the Datasheet under the conductivity column 13. Rinse the TESTER with clean de-ionised water and change the mode to TDS 14. Wait until the reading stabilizes and note down the reading on the Datasheet under the TDS column. 15. Test the buffering capacity of the soil/water solution: a. Rinse the pH meter with de-ionised water and change the mode to pH-USA. b. Add one drop of table vinegar to the soil and water mixture and stir for 10 seconds c. Take pH reading (put the pH-meter in the soil water mix for one minute) and record to two decimal places d. A little change in pH show location of the carbonate peaks in the soil while a large drop in pH shows areas of no carbonates. 16. Rinse all cups/spoons and material used with clean water 17. Start with the next sample NB: A pH test of distilled water and vinegar should be done every morning before work starts and after every ten samples. Standards should be inserted/ tested and recorded after every five samples and duplicates should be inserted/tested and recorded after every ten samples. If a line is not finished in one day, when work continues the next day, pH testing should start with the last three samples of the previous day. Complete focus and concentration is required at all times when doing the sampling and testing. All materials needed should be ordered in advance and should be sufficient.