Weird Intrusives ©2010 Dr. B. C. Paul Pictures were collected from a variety of internet sources. Much of the statistical data is from USGS sources

Mantle Plumes and Chambers Rising Plume of Mantle creates chamber under Continent Old Continental Shields are the favored location- rifting may be related

Differentiation of Melts Carbonate and Silicate Rich Melts Separate – carbonate can also pick up Some carbon already part of the continent.

Carbonatites Appear Well Distributed Over Time

Carbonatite Lava Flows

Grade and Tonnage. Best Ore Deposits have tended to be the Bigger 220MT + with around 1% + Noibium And around 0.5% REE

Columbite (Mg,Fe++,Mn)(Nb,Ta) 2 O 6 Tantalum 10.95% Noibium 47.8% Color Brownish Black to Black Hardness 6.5 S.G Non Fluorescent Non Metalic Streak dark brown

Tantalite MnTa 2 O 6 Tantalum 70.6% Color Black, Brown Hardness S.G. 8.1 Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak brown

Major Rare Earth Elements

Monazite Sm 0.2 Gd 0.2 Th 0.15 Ce 0.15 Ca 0.1 Nd 0.1 (PO 4 ) 0.9 Samarium 13.6% Gadolium 14.2% Neodynium 6.5% Cerium 9.5% Thorium 15.7% Color Yellowish Hardenss S.G Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Bastnasite La(CO 3 )F Lanthanum 43.7% Color Yellow, Redish Brown Hardness 4-5 S.G Streak White Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic

Pyrochlore (Na,Ca) 2 Nb 2 O 6 (OH,F) Noibium 52.5% Color Brown, Yellowish brown, Yellow, Greenish brown, Reddish brown. Hardness Streak Yellowish Brown S.G , Average = 5.3 Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic

Ion Adsorption Clays China has Weathered clays That have Adsorbed REE From a weathered Granite source

Uses Almost all of Niobium tonnage goes to make steel alloys and super alloys About 60% of Tantalum goes to make electronics (especially capacitors) –Super alloys and corrosion resistant equipment coating dominate the rest of use

Uses of Rare Earths

Niobium Reserves and Production

What is Niobium Worth Around $10/lb with some extreme shortage price spikes

Tantalum Production and Reserves

What is Tantalum Worth? About $50/lb

Reserves and Production of Rare Earths

What are Rare Earths Worth? About $5/lb

Processing Rare Earths – Niobium and Tantalum Come from Minerals in Carbonatites, Pegmatites, placer deposits, clays Concentration step usually involves flotation or gravity separation to get the rare earth minerals Minerals are leached with acids or caustics –HF and Sulfuric acid are used in hot pressure leaches for Niobium and Tantalum –Often there will be some selective precipitation/ filtering step to get out impurities –Separating rare earths involves liquid-liquid solvent extractions –Final precipitation and calcining step to produce dry oxide clumps

More Carbonatite Intrusives Iron and Titanium can settle and drop out at the bottom of a carbonatite intrusive This can also happen with mantle origen ocean type theolitic basalts –Basalt does not come to surface and settles out the bottom layer in a chamber Titanium minerals and Zircon are very weathering resistant and form placers –If ocean is retreating back can form big area beach sand placers

Beach Placers Grade Tonnage About 80 to 700 Million tonnes (they are big)

Ore Grade Around 2% plus TiO2 before concentrate making

Deposits Also Include Zircon About 0.25 to 0.9% ZrO2 in place

Ilmenite Crystalline Massive FeTiO % Titanium, 36.8% Iron Color Black Hardness S.G Non Fluorescent Weakly Magnetic Streak Brownish Black

Brookite TiO % Titanium Color Brown, Reddish Brown, Orange Hardness S.G Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak Yellowish White

Rutile TiO % Titanium (just a different crystal structure) Color Red, Violet, Bluish, Yellowish Brown Hardness S.G Non-Fluorescent Non-Magnetic Streak Grayish-Black

Anatase TiO % Titanium Color Black, Gray, Darkblue, Redish or Yellowish Brown Hardness S.G. 3.9 Streak pale yellowish white Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic

Titanite Official CaTiSiO 5 Actual Ca 0.95 REE 0.05 Ti 0.75 Al 0.2 Fe 3.05 SiO 4.9 F % Titanium 3.6% Rare Earths Color Red, Green, Yellow, Gray, Red-Brown Hardness S.G. 3.5 Weak Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak redish-white

Zircon ZrSiO 4 Zicronium 43.4% Hafnium 4.7% La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm about 3.8% Color Brown, Reddish brown, Colorless, Gray, Green. Hardness 7.5 S.G , Average = 4.65 Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Uses Zircon mineral is useful of itself –Valuable for ceramics and refractories (major world use) As a metal zirconium resists corrosion –It is a neutron absorber and is used in nuclear reactor fuel rod coatings. As an oxide its high reflectivity makes it useful in glass and fiber optics

Production and Reserves of Zirconium

What is Zircon Concentrate Worth? About 25 cents per pound

Processing Titanium Titanium minerals are heavy –Gravity separation is popular –Method of choice for basic concentrates Ilmenite is weakly magnetic –High intensity magnetic separators can pull it. Chemically based wash to remove surface coatings on minerals

What is Titanium Used for?

If We Are Going to Titanium Metal (Kroll Process) Titanium concentrates and coke (a relatively pure carbon) are put into a Chlorination tower - CO reduces TiO2 similar to a blast furnace while Chlorine forms TiCl4

Magnesium Reduction Titanium metal is then vaporized and Distilled under vacuum to further Purify.

Crushing and Casting Shape the Titanium into ingots

Recycling the Magnesium Chloride Electrolyze the salts to make magesium and chlorine to recycle

What are Our Reserves

Rutile Production and Reserves

What is Titanium Worth? About $1/lb About $9/lb

Lepidolite K(Li,Al) 3 (Si,Al) 4 O 10 (F,OH) 2 3.6% Lithium Color Lilac, yellowish, gray-white Hardness S.G Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Weird Pegmatites Pegmatites are granatoid rocks with very large crystals Some of the pegmatites associated with solutions high in lithium –Late stages of cooler left tabular dikelike pegmatite intrusions with some unusual lithium rich minerals.

Spodumene LiAl(Si2O6) 3.7% Lithium Color white, grayish white, yellow, green, blue, lilac, pink Hardness S.G. 3.1 Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak clear

Petalite LiAlSi 4 O % Lithium Color Colorless, Gray, Yellow, Yellow gray, White Hardness S.G Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak Clear

Amblygonite (Li,Na)Al(PO 4 )(F,OH) 3.44% Lithium Color White, Yellow, Gray, Bluish gray, Greenish gray. Hardness S.G Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Eucryptite LiAlSiO4 5.5% Lithium Color Brown, Colorless, White. Hardness 6.5 S.G Fluorescent Non-Magnetic Streak White

Lithium Brines Recovery

What is Lithium Used For

How is Lithium Processed Spodumene resources –Floatation is used to get a spodumene concentrate –Concentrate is calcined –Calcined concentrate is treated with sulfuric acid Makes Lithium sulfate –Add Soda ash is added to produce lithium carbonate (a major trade chemical) –Lithium carbonate is chlorinated to make Lithium Chloride salt –Molten salt is electroylzed form metal

Brine Lithium Evaporation –Start with 500 ppm Li –Precipitate Halite –Precipitate Sylvite –Get 6% Lithium solution –Pricipitate lithium salts

What are Reserves and Production

What is Lithium Worth? About $1 to $3 per Lb

More Weird Pegmatites Beryllium is often present in the same kinds of Pegmatite intrusives as Lithium Another type of deposit (which is currently producing most of worlds beryllium) –Ryolite flow on surface –Hydrothermal solutions deposited bedded Bertrandite mineral

Beryl Be 3 Al 2 Si 6 O 18 5% Beryllium Color Green, Blue, Yellow, Colorless, Pink Hardness S.G Non-Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Bertrandite Be4Si2O7(OH)2 15.1% Beryllium Color Colorless, Pale yellow. Hardness 6-7 S.G Non Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Beryllium Uses About ½ is used in electronics and computer components Another large portion is used to make super high strength and heat resistant alloys for aerospace and defense Also used in industrial and automotive electronics and appliances

Processing Beryllium Crush, grind, and slurry bertrandite Treat at steam heated high temperature with sulfuric acid to form beryllium sulfate Filter and settle out the solids Use solvent extraction which removes the beryllium from solution –High temperature needed to speed the process Add ammonium carbonate to the solution to strip out Beryllium as (NH 4 )Be(CO 3 )

Continued Heat the solution to 70 C to bring down iron and aluminum as precipitates Use hydrolysis steps to remove the ammonium and CO 2 Beryllium hydroxide forms –It is filtered out of solution –Beryllium hydroxide is the major chemical feedstock for most beryllium processes

Production and Reserves

What is Beryllium Worth About $150 to $200 / lb of contained Beryllium

Another Zoned Pegmatite Cousins to rare earth deposits – Cesium –All current production is from Bernic Lake in Canada –Zimbabwa has occurrences as does U.S.

Pollucite (Cs,Na)2Al2Si4O12(H2O) 28% Cesium about 1.2% Rubidium Color Colorless, White, Gray, Pale pink, Blue. Hardness 6.5 S.G. 2.9 Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Uses of Cesium High density low viscosity brines for oil and gas drilling Biomedical research and cancer treatment Used in Photodetectors –Infared –Night vision

Prices and Processing Techniques are a bit shaky specialty product No regular market but some of the trade prices are quite high

Cryolite Locations Only commercial deposit – granetic pegmatite intrusive vein

Cryolite Na3AlF6 Color Brownish black, Colorless, Gray, White, Reddish brown. Hardness S.G Fluorescent Non Magnetic Streak White

Uses Cryolite is a key flux in making Aluminum –Needed to lower the melting temperatures of the Hall Heroult pot lines Natural supplies cannot keep up and all current supply is synthetically made.