Use of QEMSCAN® to characterize oxidized REE ore from the Bear Lodge carbonatite, Wyoming, USA

Rythoven, Adrian D. Van; Pfaff, Katharina; Clark, James G.

doi:10.1016/j.oreoa.2020.100005

Cited by 10 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Above this, the carbonatite is moderately weathered to the top of the carbonatite interval at 132.9 m. Highly weathered carbonatite that lacks remnant carbonate minerals is not present in the drill core studied but is present at surface (Fig. 8) as described by Noble (2013Noble ( , 2014 and Van Rythoven et al (2020).…”

Section: Weathered Carbonatite (Stages Iii-v)mentioning

confidence: 85%

“…It was not directly investigated as a part of this study. The mineralogical details of this advanced weathering can be found in Andersen et al (2017) and Van Rythoven et al (2020). In summary, stage V consists of very fine to finegrained hydrous Al phosphates goyazite and florencite.…”

Section: Weathered Carbonatite (Stages Iii-v)mentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Minor REE-bearing minerals in the Lower Weathering zone include REE-fluorocarbonates, monazite, SCRp, and cerianite. Rare earth fluorocarbonates, especially bastnäsite, are dominant in the Upper Weathering zone and are often commonly accompanied by lesser monazite, cerianite, and very minor rare earth aluminum phosphates (Noble, 2014;Van Rythoven et al, 2020).…”

Section: Ree-bearing Minerals At Bear Lodgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These carbonatite dikes have undergone variable degrees of late-and postmagmatic alteration and weathering (Noble, 2014), which have caused an increase in ore grade within the deposit. Previous work has focused on either the primary mineral compositions of the Bear Lodge Carbonatite Complex (Moore et al, 2015;Andersen et al, 2017;Chakhmouradian et al, 2017) or the intensely weathered (i.e., saprolitic) REE mineralogy (Andersen et al, 2017;Van Rythoven et al, 2020). This study focuses on a single drill hole (RES09-17) intercept of continuous carbonatite at Bull Hill and investigates the evolution of the carbonatite from the primary (stage I), magmatic-hydrothermally altered (stage II), and weathered (stages III-V) mineral assemblages.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rare Earth Element Enrichment in the Weathering Profile of the Bull Hill Carbonatite at Bear Lodge, Wyoming, USA

et al. 2022

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Bull Hill is a carbonatite diatreme within the Paleogene Bear Lodge Carbonatite Complex in Wyoming, USA. Rare earth element (REE)-bearing carbonate, fluorocarbonate, phosphate, and oxide minerals occur within near-vertical carbonatite dikes on the western margin of Bull Hill. Changes in mineralogy and REE concentrations with depth are ascribed mainly to late-stage magmatic-hydrothermal and supergene alteration. Approximately 35 m of drill core from Bull Hill was analyzed and encompasses least altered, weakly weathered, and moderately weathered carbonatite. The least altered carbonatite contains magmatic burbankite, typically as inclusions within Mn-rich calcite (stage I). Secondary REE-bearing minerals, which pseudomorphically replaced unidentified hexagonal phenocrysts, include ancylite, bastnäsite with synchysite/parisite, and an unidentified Sr-Ca-REE-phosphate (stage II). These replacive minerals generated small amounts of incipient porosity (~7–8%) and are largely stable in the lower portion of the weathering profile. Progressive weathering (stages III and IV) of the carbonatite involved the oxidation of pyrite to iron oxides and iron hydroxides, dissolution of calcite and strontianite, and the replacement of Mn-rich calcite by manganese oxides. These mineralogical changes resulted in an ~40% porosity gain in the core studied here. The volumetric concentration of weathering resistant REE-bearing minerals resulted in REE enrichment from an average of 5.4 wt % in the least weathered carbonatite to an average of 12.6 wt % in moderately weathered carbonatite, and to an overall increase in REE ore tenor of two to three times compared to the least altered carbonatite. Isocon plots confirm the increased concentration of REEs in the weathered carbonatite and demonstrate that REEs, along with TiO2, Ta, Nb, Zr, and Hf, were conserved in the lower weathered zone.

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Section: Weathered Carbonatite (Stages Iii-v)mentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Weathered Carbonatite (Stages Iii-v)mentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: Ree-bearing Minerals At Bear Lodgementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Rare Earth Element Enrichment in the Weathering Profile of the Bull Hill Carbonatite at Bear Lodge, Wyoming, USA

et al. 2022

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“…Some scholars used INCA software on OXFORD spectrometer to establish a synthetic energy spectrum database and retrieval system for minerals and used it to identify minerals [39]. Such methods have already realized quantitative identification of rare earth minerals which conventional identification methods are difficult to accomplish, yet problems such as high measurement cost and difficulty in application and promotion still exist [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Quantitative Approach for Element-Mineral Determination Based on “EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy) Method”

2021

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With the continuous development of hydrocarbon exploration, how to efficiently, economically, accurately, and comprehensively obtain mineral species, composition, and structure and diagenesis information has become one of the hot topics in both the academia and industry. By scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), a new method of qualitative mineral identification and quantitative measurement is established. Typical tight sandstone reservoir rock samples in the Ordos Basin are selected; through the element surface scanning image of “mineral element composition” and “pixel element combination”, mineral types are distinguished, and mineral parameters such as types, characteristics, and content are rapidly and accurately determined. Meanwhile, such results achieved via the new method are compared with conventional XRD and TIMA methods. The results show that the new method exhibits several advantages: cost advantages compared to XRD experiment analysis technology and TIMA system and ability to analyze low content minerals which XRD techniques are hard to identify; it allows quantitative characterization on the phenomenon of mineral miscibility, which is of great significance to explore the mineral diagenetic evolution.

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Key process mineralogy parameters for rare earth fluorcarbonate-bearing carbonatite deposits: The example of Songwe Hill, Malawi

Al-Ali

Wall

Fitzpatrick

et al. 2020

Minerals Engineering

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Use of QEMSCAN® to characterize oxidized REE ore from the Bear Lodge carbonatite, Wyoming, USA

Cited by 10 publications

References 26 publications

Rare Earth Element Enrichment in the Weathering Profile of the Bull Hill Carbonatite at Bear Lodge, Wyoming, USA

Rare Earth Element Enrichment in the Weathering Profile of the Bull Hill Carbonatite at Bear Lodge, Wyoming, USA

A New Quantitative Approach for Element-Mineral Determination Based on “EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy) Method”

Key process mineralogy parameters for rare earth fluorcarbonate-bearing carbonatite deposits: The example of Songwe Hill, Malawi

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