Rare-Earth Mineral Deposits of the Mountain Pass District, San Bernardino County, California

Abstract

Bastnaesite, a rare-earth fluocarbonate, was found in the Mountain Pass district in April 1949. Subsequent geologic mapping has shown that rare-earth mineral deposits occur in a belt about 6 miles long and iy2 miles wide. One of the deposits, the Sulphide Queen carbonate body, is the greatest concentration of rare-earth minerals now known in the world.The Mountain Pass district is in a block of metamorphic rocks of pre-Cambrian age bounded on the east and south by the alluvium of Ivanpah Valley. This block is separated on the west from sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Paleozoic and Mesozoic age by the Clark Mountain normal fault; the northern boundary of the district is a conspicuous transverse fault. The pre-Cambrian metamorphic complex comprises a great variety of lithologic types including garnetiferous mica gneisses and schists; biotite-garnet-sillimanite gneiss; hornblende gneiss, schist, and amphibolite; biotite gneiss and schist; granitic gneisses and migmatites; granitic pegmatites; and minor amounts of foliated mafic rocks.The rare-earth-bearing carbonate rocks are spatially and genetically related to potash-rich igneous rocks of probable pre-Cambrian age that cut the metamorphic complex. The larger potash-rich intrusive masses, 300 or more feet wide, comprise 1 granite, 2 syenite, and 4 composite shonkinite-syenite bodies. One of the shonkinite-syenite stocks is 6,300 feet long. Several hundred relatively thin dikes of these potash-rich rocks range in composition from biotite shonkinite through syenite to granite. Although a few thin fine-grained shonkinite dikes cut the granite, the mafic intrusive bodies are generally the oldest, and granitic rocks the youngest. The potash-rich rocks are intruded by east-trending andesitic dikes and displaced by faults.Veins of carbonate rock are most abundant in and near the southwest side of the largest shonkinite-syenite body. Most veins are less than 6 feet thick. One mass of carbonate rock near the Sulphide Queen mine is 700 feet in maximum width and 2,400 feet long. About 200 veins have been mapped in the district; their aggregate surface area is probably less than onetenth that of the large carbonate mass.The carbonate minerals, which make up about 60 percent of the veins and the large carbonate body, are chiefly calcite, dolomite, ankerite, and siderite. The other constituents are barite, bastnaesite, parisite, quartz, and variable small quantities of crocidolite,

Forming sulfate- and REE-rich fluids in the presence of quartz

“…In any case, our experimental results and simulations show that sulfate-rich fluids can account for the formation of the REE-rich ore fluids at the Maoniuping and Lizhuang deposits, where quartz is present accompanying REE minerals (Xie et al, 2015). Given the common occurrence of sulfate minerals in carbonatite-related REE deposits (Fan et al, 2016;Olson et al, 1954;Xu et al, 2015), we infer that the sulfate ion may indeed be the major ligand responsible for hydrothermal-magmatic REE mineralization worldwide.…”

Carbon Mineralogy and Crystal Chemistry

“…(Ruberti et al 2008; also see section on "Uranyl carbonates" below). Two of the world's largest economic ore bodies for REE are carbonatites: Mountain Pass California (age 1.37 Ga; Olson et al 1954;Jones and Wyllie 1986;Castor 2008) and Bayan Obo, China (age 1.35 Ga: Le Bas et al 1992;Yang et al 2011 (Kapustin 1980).…”

2. Carbon Mineralogy and Crystal Chemistry

“…REE-carbonatites are often geologically associated with U and Th minerals (Ruberti et al 2008; also see section on "Uranyl carbonates" below). Two of the world's largest economic ore bodies for REE are carbonatites: Mountain Pass California (age 1.37 Ga; Olson et al 1954;Jones and Wyllie 1986;Castor 2008) and Bayan Obo, China (age 1.35 Ga: Le Bas et al 1992;Yang et al 2011). Finally, several hydrous carbonates, including the uncommon REE phases of the ancylite group [(Ca,Sr,Pb) (Kapustin 1980).…”