1. A system for determining properties of a sample comprising a LIBS detector, having a laser for ablating a portion of the sample and an optical spectrophotometer for generating LIBS data representing a wavelength dependent intensity variation in optical energy emitted from the ablated portion; an infra-red absorption detector, having an infra-red energy source for illuminating at least a portion of the sample with infra-red energy and an optical spectrophotometer for generating illumination data representing a wavelength dependent intensity variation of infra-red energy after its illumination of the sample; at least one chemometric prediction model in a form usable by a data processor and each constructed to link features of LIBS data and illumination data in combination to a different specific property of the sample; and a data processor configured to receive the LIBS data and the illumination data; to construct a combined dataset derived from at least a portion of the LIBS data and at least a portion of the illumination data; and to apply the at least one chemometric prediction model to the combined dataset to generate therefrom a determination of the specific property.