In Situ Quantitative Measurement of Rare Earth Elements in Uranium Oxides by Laser Ablation‐Inductively Coupled Plasma‐Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

Advances in the quantification of rare earth elements (REE) at the micrometric scale in uranium oxides by laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry are described. The determination of the best analytical conditions was tested using a uranium oxide (Mistamisk) the concentrations of REE in which were previously estimated by other techniques. Comparison between the use of U or Pb as an internal standard clearly showed a diameter-dependent fractionation effect related to Pb at small crater diameters (16 and 24 lm), which was not found for U. The quantification of REE contents in uranium oxide samples using both matrix-matched (uranium oxide) and non-matrix-matched (NIST SRM 610 certified glass) external calibrators displayed no significant difference, demonstrating a limited matrix effect for REE determination by LA-ICP-MS. Moreover, no major interferences on REEs were detected. The proposed methodology (NIST SRM 610 as external calibrator and U as internal standard) was applied to samples from uranium deposits from around the world. The results showed that LA-ICP-MS is a suitable analytical technique to determine REE down to the lg g -1 level in uranium oxides at the micrometre scale and that this technique can provide significant insights into uranium metallogeny.

Rare earth (La, Ce, Nd) and rare metals (Sn, Nb, W) as by-product of kaolin production, Cornwall: Part1: Selection and characterisation of the valuable stream

“…In addition, tailing samples were analysed using Laser Ablation (LA)-ICP-MS at the GeoRessources laboratory (Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, France) composed of a 193 nm MicroLas Pro ArF Excimer coupled with an Agilent 7500c quadrupole ICP-MS. The measurements followed the procedure described in Lach et al (2013), using the NIST 612 glass as external standard and known compositions in Si (ICP-MS, SARM) for internal calibration. Samples were dried and pressed into pellets before being analysed.…”

Magmatic and hydrothermal behavior of uranium in syntectonic leucogranites: The uranium mineralization associated with the Hercynian Guérande granite (Armorican Massif, France)

“…6). Because of this difference, we tested our LA-ICP-MS analytical protocole using an UO 2 reference material (Mistamisk, Lach et al, 2013), and did not notice any significant difference between the measured REE contents and the reference ones. Consequently, we believe that our data are accurate.…”

“…The rare earth element (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu) concentrations in the uranium oxides were quantified using a LA-ICP-MS system composed of a GeoLas excimer laser (ArF, 193 nm, Microlas) coupled to an Agilent 7500c quadrupole ICP-MS. The detailed methodology is provided as supplementary material and followed the one proposed by Lach et al (2013). U-Pb isotope analyses were performed using a CAMECA IMS 1270 ion microprobe.…”

The Nuheting deposit, Erlian Basin, NE China: Synsedimentary to diagenetic uranium mineralization

“…Helium was used as a carrier gas to transport the laser-generated aerosols from the ablation cell to the ICP-MS. Argon as a make-up gas was mixed with the carrier gas via a T-connector before entering the ICP torch. Typical flow rates of 0.5 l min −1 for He and 0.96 l min −1 for Ar were used (Lach et al, 2013). For each experiment, a 16 μm spot size has been used and eleven trace elements (Cu, Zn, As, Se, Mo, V, Ni, Co, Cd, Te, Bi) were analyzed.…”