The properties of particle-induced X-ray emission, PIXE, and secondary target mode X-ray fluorescence, XRF, applied to the analysis of unprepared drill cores in open air have been evaluated. Typical detection limits for elements heavier than Mg have been determined for a PIXE-system with an external 2.55 MeV proton beam and for an XRF-system with Ti, Mo and Tb secondary targets. These two systems were found to have similar detection limits for most elements in a typical geological sample. The heterogeneous composition of drill cores prevents the performance of accurate matrix corrections, though calculations using fundamental parameters show that in the PIXE analysis of elements heavier than Ca, these corrections are much less sensitive to variations in the matrix composition than in the XRF analysis.