Sampling and preparation
How increments are taken from a lot and combined into a sample, then dried, crushed and reduced to the size a laboratory can work with. This is what ISO 3082 addresses.
The subject of this standard
Iron ore standards
ISO 3082 iron ore sampling: what the standard decides, and what your contract still has to
ISO 3082 is the iron ore sampling and sample preparation standard. For a cargo transfer, it is the document that sits between the material in the hold and the assay a contract is settled on: it governs how a sample is taken and reduced before any laboratory determination is made. What it does not do is decide the commercial terms around that sample — who attends, what happens when the parties disagree, and which result is binding all remain contract questions.
Separating the standard from the settlement
- ISO 3082 governs
- How a sample is taken from a lot and how it is prepared and reduced before determination.
- Your contract governs
- Which sample binds, who attends, where sampling happens and what follows a disagreement.
- Neither substitutes for
- The determination itself — the assay, moisture and other figures reported on the sample.
Method scope
A sampling standard, not an assay and not a certificate
Three different things get conflated in a cargo dispute. Keeping them apart is what makes a sampling clause enforceable.
Determination
The measurement actually carried out on the prepared sample — iron content, moisture and the remaining figures. These are separate methods with their own scopes and their own editions.
A different standard and a different laboratory step
Reporting and certification
The certificate or report that records what was done and what was found, issued by the party that performed the work. It evidences the determination; it is not produced by the sampling standard.
Issued by the testing party
Where an offer or a report names the standard, check which stage it is being invoked for. A sampling basis and a determination basis are recorded separately, and a document that cites one is not automatically saying anything about the other.
Decision aid
Eight questions that have to be answered before a lot is sampled
Work through them in order. The tool tracks which arrangements are recorded, which are acknowledged but unresolved, and which are still open — so the gaps are visible before sampling starts rather than after a result is disputed.
01Where the lot begins and ends
OpenA sample can only represent a lot the contract defines. Cargo, parcel, sub-lot, day's production or a specific number of trucks are different objects, and a sample drawn against one does not evidence another.
02How the sample is to be taken
OpenThe approach determines whether a representative sample is achievable at all. A stopping-belt or cross-stream cutter operates on the full stream; a manual grab from a stockpile operates on what is reachable, not what the lot contains.
03Where the sample points sit
OpenLoading, discharge and stockpile are different positions in the same movement of material. Where the parties sample at opposite ends, the two samples are not automatically comparable, and the contract should say which position governs.
04Increments and how they are combined
OpenAn increment is one individual portion; the gross sample is what the increments make together. The number, interval and mass are set by the agreed plan — not by this page — and the plan should be written into the contract before sampling starts.
05Sample preparation and reduction
OpenPreparation — drying, crushing, division and reduction to laboratory size — is where a representative sample most easily stops being representative. It has to be done to a stated procedure by a named party, not left to the point of least convenience.
06Chain of custody and the reference sample
OpenA sample is only as good as the record of who held it. Sealing, labelling and retention of a reference portion are what make a later check possible at all, and they must be arranged before the sample is drawn.
07Dispute sampling and the umpire
OpenDeciding the fallback after a result is disputed is too late — the material has moved. The contract should name what triggers a check, who holds the reference sample, and which result the parties will accept.
08Basis and the determination that follows
OpenSampling establishes the sample; a separate determination establishes iron content, moisture and the rest. Recording the intended basis alongside the sampling plan keeps the two from being confused when the figures arrive.
Plan coverage
A count of the eight arrangements, based only on what you have selected. Nothing here supplies a sampling parameter.
0
Recorded
0
Unresolved
8
Open
Nothing selected yet. Start with the lot boundary, because every later question depends on what the lot actually is.
The tool reports coverage only. It does not tell you what a compliant plan would contain, because that depends on the lot, the material and the precision your contract requires.
In practice
Where a representative sample is won or lost
The standard sets the method. What usually decides whether the sample survives the journey to the laboratory is whether the arrangement was made in advance.
The position of sampling is a commercial term
Loading and discharge sit at opposite ends of the same movement of material. Both may be sampled, but the two samples answer different questions, and the contract should say which one the settlement rests on. Leaving it implicit is how two defensible sets of figures end up in conflict.
Attendance and access have to be agreed, not assumed
A plan that requires a party to be present at a point they cannot reach is not a plan. Where the surveyor attends, who provides access to the hold or the belt, and what happens if a party is absent all belong in the arrangement.
The reference sample is the only fallback you get
Once the lot has moved, a disputed result can only be revisited through a sample that was retained for the purpose — sealed, labelled and traceable. If no such portion was kept, the dispute has no material basis, whatever the parties agree afterwards.
Adjacent scopes
Standards that sit next to this one, and the line between them
A sampling clause is only one part of a specification. These are the neighbouring scopes a buyer most often needs to hold separately — each governs a different stage, and none stands in for another.
| Scope | What it governs | The limitation to hold in mind |
|---|---|---|
| Sampling and sample preparation | How a lot is sampled and how the sample is prepared and reduced. | Produces the sample. It reports no iron content, moisture or other figure on its own. |
| Iron content determination | The measurement of iron in the prepared sample. | Applies to the sample as prepared. Its result is only as representative as the sampling that produced it. |
| Physical and metallurgical testing | Mechanical and process-related properties, determined on defined test portions. | Written for the specific test object. A result obtained on one prepared form does not transfer to another. |
| Commercial terms and settlement | Which result binds, pricing adjustments and the route for a dispute. | A contract term, not a standard. It decides consequence; it does not perform the measurement. |
Edition, part and applicability matter. Where a document cites a standard, confirm which edition and which part is being applied, and whether it is current — a method reference carried forward from an older contract is not automatically the same basis today.
Evidence
The documents that make a sampling basis checkable
Each one answers a different question. Asking for them by name is more useful than asking for 'inspection documents'.
| Document | The question it settles |
|---|---|
| Sampling plan or procedure | How the sample was to be taken, from what lot and at which points. |
| Sampling record | What was actually done, when, and by whom — as distinct from what the plan said. |
| Chain-of-custody record | Who held the sample between drawing and testing, and whether it was sealed intact. |
| Preparation record | How the sample was dried, crushed, divided and reduced, and to what procedure. |
| Determination report | The figures measured on the prepared sample and the methods applied to obtain them. |
| Certificate or statement of analysis | The issuing party's formal statement — and who that party is. |
This page describes what each document is for. It publishes no certificate, no test result and no analysis for any material, and makes no claim about any inspection party.
Commercial
What the commercial desk needs before it can answer
A sampling basis is one part of an enquiry. These are the inputs that turn a general request into one that can be quoted against your specification.
Material and ore form
Which form is being purchased — fines, lumps, concentrate, pellets — and the grade band you are specifying.
Sampling and inspection basis
Whether a surveyor is appointed, at which end of the movement sampling is to take place, and which result the contract treats as binding.
Determination basis
Which figures are to be reported, on what moisture basis, and by which method the determinations are to be made.
Documents expected
The particular records you require with the shipment, named individually rather than as a general category.
Lot and quantity unit
The tonnage and the unit it is transacted in, so that the sampling plan and the commercial quantity describe the same lot.
Destination and terms
The receiving place and the delivery term the enquiry is written against, since these decide what has to happen at each end.
What this page does not state
No price, availability, stock position, origin, mill, lead time or shipping arrangement appears here, and none is implied by it. Sampling terms are one input to a commercial offer; they do not themselves constitute one.
- No increment count, sampling frequency or mass is published, because these depend on the lot and the contract.
- No acceptance tolerance or specification limit is asserted, because these are agreed between the parties.
- No claim is made about any inspection party, laboratory or certificate.
Procurement navigator
Where the enquiry is being received
Sampling and inspection terms are settled against the destination as well as the material. Choose the receiving market to carry the requirement into the right procurement context.
Each market page covers import planning for that destination. This page covers the sampling and preparation basis that a contract for any of them has to settle.
Questions
What buyers ask about the sampling basis
What does ISO 3082 actually cover?
It is the standard for sampling and sample preparation of iron ores — the steps that produce the sample on which a later determination is made. It addresses how a sample is drawn from a lot and how that sample is prepared and reduced. It does not itself give you an iron content, a moisture figure or a verdict on a cargo; those come from separate determinations carried out on the sample that ISO 3082 governs.
Does following the standard guarantee my assay is correct?
No, and the distinction matters. Sampling is one stage in a chain: sample, prepare, determine, report. A defensible sampling procedure produces a sample that represents the lot; whether the figure reported on that sample is correct depends on the preparation and the determination that follow. ISO 3082 governs the earlier part of that chain and cannot make up for a determination carried out on a sample that was mishandled after it was drawn.
Can I take the increment count or sampling frequency from this page?
No, and you should be wary of any page that gives you one. The number of increments, the sampling interval and the masses involved are set by the agreed sampling plan for the specific lot and material — they depend on the lot size, the variability of the material and the precision the contract requires. Those belong in the contract and the surveyor's plan, not in marketing copy.
Who decides whether the buyer's or the seller's sample governs?
The contract, not the standard. ISO 3082 describes how sampling and preparation are carried out; it does not determine which party's sample is binding when the two disagree. That is a commercial term. What the standard does is make the disagreement resolvable, because a procedure carried out to a known basis can be checked and repeated in a way an informal sample cannot.
Is ISO 3082 the same as a testing or certification standard?
No. It is a sampling and sample-preparation standard, so a page describing it is describing a method scope rather than a supplier certification. A certificate of analysis comes from the laboratory that performed the determination, against the method it applied. Referencing ISO 3082 tells you how the sample was obtained; it says nothing on its own about who tested it or what the results were.
Where does the standard sit relative to my enquiry?
It frames the sampling and inspection terms you want written into the contract, and those terms are part of what a supplier has to be able to meet. When you raise an enquiry, naming the sampling basis, the inspection party and the documents you expect is what turns a general request into one a commercial desk can actually answer against your specification.
Source
Where the method scope is defined
The standard is published by the International Organization for Standardization. Check the current edition and status there before relying on any particular clause.
Qualified enquiry
Put the sampling terms into the enquiry, not into the dispute
Tell the commercial desk which material you are buying, which sampling and inspection basis the contract will use, and which documents you expect with the shipment. The enquiry goes to the same desk that answers the specification.
Price on request — no figure is published on this page.
Commercial desk reachable Monday to Saturday, 8.00 AM to 6.00 PM.
What to include in the request
- The ore form and grade band you are specifying.
- The sampling basis you intend to write into the contract, and which result binds.
- Whether a surveyor is appointed and at which end of the movement sampling takes place.
- The determinations you require and the moisture basis they are to be reported on.
- The documents you expect with the shipment, named individually.
- The lot, quantity unit, destination and delivery term.