Alteration of Eudialyte and implications for the REE, ZR, and NB resources of the layered Kakortokites in the ILÍMAUSSAQ intrusion, South West Greenland

TY - GEN

T1 - Alteration of Eudialyte and implications for the REE, ZR, and NB resources of the layered Kakortokites in the ILÍMAUSSAQ intrusion, South West Greenland

AU - Borst, Anouk Margaretha

AU - Waight, Tod Earle

AU - Smit, Matthijs Arjen

AU - Friis, Henrik

AU - Nielsen, Troels

N1 - Conference Paper (submitted), ERES 2014, 5-7 September, Milos Greece

PY - 2014

Y1 - 2014

N2 - The layered kakortokites in the southern part of the Ilímaussaq Intrusion are of great economic interest due to their high concentrations of REE, Zr, Nb and Ta. The prospective metals are largely contained in eudialyte, a complex sodium‐zirconosilicate and one of the major cumulus phases. Eudialyte‐group minerals are easily extracted from the host rock through magnetic separation, and contain 12 wt% ZrO2, 2 % TRE2O3 and 1% Nb2O5 on average. Petrographic investigations show that a large fraction of eudialyte at Ilímaussaq is replaced by complex aggregates of secondary minerals as a result of interaction with late‐stage magmatic, presumably Na‐ and F‐ rich aqueous fluids. The alteration effectively fractionates the major components into the secondary minerals, producing separate Zr‐, Nb and REE‐ phases, leading to an increasedcomplexity of the mineralisation and potential ore recovery.

AB - The layered kakortokites in the southern part of the Ilímaussaq Intrusion are of great economic interest due to their high concentrations of REE, Zr, Nb and Ta. The prospective metals are largely contained in eudialyte, a complex sodium‐zirconosilicate and one of the major cumulus phases. Eudialyte‐group minerals are easily extracted from the host rock through magnetic separation, and contain 12 wt% ZrO2, 2 % TRE2O3 and 1% Nb2O5 on average. Petrographic investigations show that a large fraction of eudialyte at Ilímaussaq is replaced by complex aggregates of secondary minerals as a result of interaction with late‐stage magmatic, presumably Na‐ and F‐ rich aqueous fluids. The alteration effectively fractionates the major components into the secondary minerals, producing separate Zr‐, Nb and REE‐ phases, leading to an increasedcomplexity of the mineralisation and potential ore recovery.

M3 - Article in proceedings

SP - 325

EP - 332

BT - ERES2014: 1st European Rare Earth Resources Conference

T2 - 1st Conference on European Rare Earth Resources

Y2 - 4 September 2014 through 7 September 2014

ER -