ME551/GEO551 Geology of
Industrial Minerals
Spring 2012
Commodities, Part 5
Manganese, nepheline syenite,
silica, rare earth elements,
strontium, sodium sulfate, talc,
trona (soda ash), niobium,
zeolites, zircon
Schedule
• Field reports due April 30
• NMGS Spring meeting April 27, Macey
Center
• commodities presentation by students
on May 7
• project presentations on May 7
• Final and project report due May 10
Manganese
Introduction
• Manganese (Mn) was discovered by Scheele and
isolated by Gahn in 1774
• A silver–gray metal, resembling iron but
harder and more brittle
• Forms 0.09% of earth’s crust
• Atomic Number : 25
• Relative Atomic Mass : 55
• Melting Point : 1245oC
• Boiling Point : 2150oC
• Relative Density : 7.43
www.theodoregray.com/
• Hardness on Mohs scale: 5.0
PeriodicTable/Elements/027/
http://www.ucc.ie/ucc/depts/chem/dolchem/html/elem/elem025.html
Manganese Minerals
• Mn does not occur in
nature as a native
metal, but in over 100
minerals including,
oxides, carbonates
and silicates
Industrial Minerals and Rocks
Commonly Mined Mn Minerals
Pyrolusite (MnO2)
Rhodochrosite (MnCO3)
Psilomelane [(BaH2O)2Mn5O10]
http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/
Geology of Mn ores
• Occurs worldwide in various geological
environments
• Two major types of economic Mn ore deposit
– Sedimentary deposits
– Residual deposits
• Minor type of ore deposit
– Metamorphic deposits
Geology of Mn ores
• Sedimentary deposits
– the most common, usually stratiform or lenticular. Formed by
chemical processes during the deposition of marine sediments.
Contain manganese oxides and carbonate minerals, interbedded
together or with limestone or shale
• Residual deposits
– formed by alteration of existing manganese deposits or by
concentration of the manganese minerals when other minerals
are washed away by weathering or ground water processes
• Metamorphic deposits
– regionally metamorphosed sedimentary or residual deposits,
occurring in marbles, slates, quartzites, schists, and gneisses
Manganese Nodules
• Potato-size chunks of Mn mixed with Fe, Ni, Co and
other useful metals
• Exist in deep ocean floors: e.g., at depths between
14,000ft and 17,000ft in the Pacific ocean
• Deep Ocean Mining Project
– Howard Hughes built Glomar Explorer at a cost
of over $200 mil, funded by CIA, to retrieve a
Soviet submarine on June 20, 1974.
– The Soviet Golf-II Class ballistic missile
submarine had sunk on April 11, 1968, ~750
miles northwest of Hawaii
– (Miners News, Vol. 20, Issue 1)
• Manganese nodules have not been mined yet
www.theodoregray.com/
PeriodicTable/Elements/02
7/
http://www.fas.org/irp/program
/collect/jennifer.htm
Major World Mn Deposits
Nikopol, Ukraine and Tchiatoura, Russia
S. Appalachian, U.S.
Franklin, NJ
Nsuta,
Ghana
Moanda,
Gabon
Amapa, Brazil
Kalahari, S. Africa
Sedimentary
http://www.mapquest.com/atlas/?region=world
Residual
Groote
Elyandt,
Australia
Metamorphic
Major Mn deposits in USA
Cuyuna iron range, MN
Chamberlain, SD
Three Kids, NV
Artillery Mountain, AZ
S. Appalachian;
Shenandoah
Valley, VA, via
Cartersville,
GA, to AL
Batesville, AR
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/nahps/approved_markets/usa-map-bw.jpg
Mn Minerals Production
Manganese Flow Sheet
Adopted from Jones (1994)
Uses of Manganese
• Manufacture of steel and other important alloys
– Mn removes impurities such as sulfur and oxygen
and improves rolling and forging qualities as well
as strength, toughness, and durability in steel
• Depolarizer in dry cells
• Pigments, glazes, colors, paint dryers and
preservatives
• As a catalyst and laboratory reagent, e.g., potassium
permanganate
Uses of Manganese
• Enzymes for the metabolism of fats and proteins
• Food supplement
– To regulate blood sugar levels and support the immune
system
– To aid bone development and reproduction
– To provide vitamin K and the B-complex group
• Dry feeds for cattle, pigs, & poultry
– It helps to prevent breeding complications in cattle,
ensures optimum growth for pigs, and aids hatchability
and shell quality in poultry
• Fertilizers and fungicides
Nepheline syenite
Nepheline syenite
• light-colored, silica-deficient feldspathic
igneous rock
• sodium and potassium feldspars
• nepheline, no quartz
• not mined in US but in Canada
Nepheline syenite—properties
• In glass, alumina from nepheline syenite
improves product hardness, durability,
and resistance to chemical corrosion
• in ceramics, nepheline syenite is used
as a flux, melting at an early stage in
the firing process and forming a glassy
matrix that bonds together the other
components of the system
Nepheline syenite
• alumina acts as a matrix of stabilizser,
enhancing the workability of molten glass,
and increasing the resistance for scratching,
breaking and chemical protection
• alkali acts as a flux agent, lowering the
melting temperature of the batch (no need
for soda ash)
Uses
• Glass
• Ceramics
• Fillers, extenders, paint, coatings, roofing
granules
• Dimension stone, aggregate, abrasive
• Alumina source
– Russia produces most of its alumina from
nepheline syenite
Silica
Silica
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Quartz
Citrine—yellow to brown color, similar to topaz
Tridymite
Cristobalite
Coesite
Stishovite
Melanophlogite
Lechatelierite
Agate—banded, multicolored
Flint—gray to black, opaque
Chalcedony—fine grained chert
– Carnelian—red to reddish brown
Silica—introduction
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•
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•
•
•
SiO2
industrial sand and gravel
silicon
quartz crystals
special silica stone products
tripoli (microcrystalline silica)
– rottenstone
• novacullite (whetstones, microcrystalline
silica)
• spiculite
http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/silica/780292.pd
f
Industrial sand and gravel—introduction
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•
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•
Silica
silica sand
quartz sand
sand and gravel with a high SiO2
content
Industrial sand and gravel—uses
• glassmaking sand, 38%
• foundry sand, 22% (molds, cores,
castings)
• abrasive sand, 5%
• hydraulic fracturing sand, 5%
• 30% for other uses (flux)
not more than 0.6% iron oxide
USGS Commodity Reports
Industrial sand and gravel—uses
• Glassmaking (high specifications, no Fe)
• foundry (98% SiO2, low CaO, MgO, grain size and
shape)
• abrasive, blasting sand (clean metal, concrete’
angular shape)
• hydraulic fracturing (frac) applications (well rounded)
• ceramics
• chemicals
• ground silica (fillers, extenders; bright, reflective)
• filtration (pure)
• roofing granules
• flux
• optical fiber
Industrial sand and gravel—regions
USGS Commodity Reports
Industrial sand and gravel—regions
USGS Commodity Reports
USGS Commodity Reports
Industrial sand and gravel—geology
• Sedimentary, especially where multiple
cycles of erosion and deposition has
upgraded the deposits
– What geologic environments are we
looking at?
Silica sand—geology
• White Maddi sand is
used in foundries,
filters, and glass
products, Gabal El
Kahshab near
Maadi, Cairo
Industrial sand and gravel—substitutions
• For glass, foundry, molding
– Zircon
– olivine
– staurolite
– chromite sands
Silicon
Silicon—introduction
• Silicon metal and alloys
• Ferrosilicon
Silicon—uses
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•
•
•
•
ferrous foundry
steel industries
aluminum and aluminum alloys
chemical industry
semiconductor industry, which
manufactures chips for computers from
high-purity silicon
Silicon—substitutions
• ferrosilicon
– aluminum
– silicon carbide
– silicomanganese
• semiconductors and infrared
– gallium arsenide
– germanium
Silicon—production
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Silicon—production
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•
Norway, 27%
South Africa, 15%
Russia, 11%
Canada, 10%
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Quartz crystal
Quartz crystal—introduction
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•
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•
Hardness 7
any color
common mineral
cultured quartz crystals became
important in 1971, no natural production
Quartz crystal—properties
• Piezoelectric effect
• when compressed or bent, it generates
a charge or voltage on its surface
• if a voltage is applied, quartz will bend
or change its shape very slightly
• hardness
• high electrical resistance
• dimensional stability
Growing quartz crystal
• Process in Germany 50 years ago
• grown in pressure vessels containing quartz
dissolved in an aqueous alkaline solution at
temperatures of 375 degrees centigrade and
pressures of 800 to 2000 atmospheres
• Seed crystals are placed near the top of the container
• nutrient in the form of broken chunks of natural
Brazilian quartz (lascas) as a nutrient are placed on
the bottom
• Convection currents move dissolved material from
the bottom of the chamber to the cooler upper section
where it deposits on the seed crystals
http://www.itme.edu.pl/z18/syn...
http://www.corningfrequency.com/library/qcao.html
Quartz crystal—uses
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•
•
•
single-crystal silica
Electronic applications
optical applications
filters, frequency controls, and timers in
electronic circuits
• carvings
• gem stone
Quartz crystal—geology
• Pegmatites
• in Arkansas veins filled cavities or
fractures in the Crystal Mountain and
Blakely Sandstones
– 5 feet long and weighing over 500 pounds
and clusters up to 15 feet long by 10 feet
wide, weighing over 10 tons
– end of the Ouachita Mountain orogenic
cycle in Late Pennsylvanian to Early
Permian (Ar/Ar)
Quartz—production
USGS Commodity Reports
Special silica stone products
Special silica stone
products—introduction
• abrasive tools
– deburring media
– grinding pebbles
– grindstones,
hones,
– oilstones
– stone files
– tube-mill liners
– whetstones
• Fillers
• extenders
• flux
Special silica stone
products—introduction
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•
•
•
Sandstone
quartzite
vein quartz
silica pebble
• novaculite
• microcrystalline
quartz
• speculite
• tripoli
• tripolite or
diatomaceous earth
• amorphous silica
Novaculite
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•
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•
•
Sedimentary microcrystaline quartz
homogeneous
more compact than porous tripoli
whetstones
dense, hard, white to grayish-black in color,
translucent on thin edges, and has a dull to
waxy luster
• resistant to erosion, it forms prominent ridges
• Dev to Miss Novaculite Formation in Ark
– 250-900 ft thick
Rottenstone
• Common variety of tripoli
• Penn--weathering of siliceous shale
Spiculite
• Siliceous sponge spicules
• replacement of spicule-bearing limestone
• Texas
Tripoli
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
1 to 10 micrometers
98% to 99% silica, minor Al and Fe
white to cream
brown
red
yellow
abrasive
diatomaceous earth (different origin)
Tripoli—geology
• alteration of chert, chalcedony, or
novaculite, or leaching of highly
siliceous limestones
• Paleozoic chert bearing limestones in
Arkansas and Oklahoma, Illinois
– NE Ar cherty limestones of the Boone
Formation (Mississippian)
– Ouachita Mountains leaching of a limy
phase within the Upper Division of the
Arkansas Novaculite
• Arkansas tripoli is >99% SiO2
Special silica stone
products—source
• Arkansas
• Wisconsin
Special silica stone
products—uses
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•
•
•
Craft
household
industrial
leisure uses
Special silica stone products
USGS Commodity Reports
Environmental regulations of
quartz
• regulation of crystalline silica
– hours workers exposure
– water well monitoring
– noise and dust control
– water discharge
– archaeological surveys
– carcinogen
Rare earth elements
Rare earth elements—introduction
• Lanthanide Series
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–
–
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–
–
–
–
Lanthanum
Cerium
Praseodymium
Neodymium
Promethium
Samarium
Europium
Gadolinium
Terbium
Dysprosium
Holmium
Erbium
Thulium
Ytterbium
Lutetium
scandium
Yttrium
• Actinide Series
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–
–
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–
–
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–
–
–
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Actinium
Thorium
Protactinium
Uranium
Neptunium
Plutonium
Americium
Curium
Berkelium
Californium
Einsteinium
Fermium
Mendelevium
Nobelium
Lawrencium
Rare earth elements—uses
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•
permanent magnets, 16%
automotive catalytic converters, 22%
glass polishing and ceramics, 39%
petroleum refining catalysts, 12%
metallurgical additives and alloys, 9%
rare-earth phosphors for lighting, televisions,
computer monitors, radar, and x-rayintensifying film, 1%
• miscellaneous, 1%
– NiMH batteries
– flints for lighters
Rare earth elements—uses
• Phosphors (including pigments) largest
growing sector
– TVs
– computer screens
– energy-efficient tricolour lamps
Toyota Prius
2.2 lbs Nd in magnets
22-33 lbs La in batteries
http://www.molycorp.com/hybrid_ev.asp
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Aluminum
Cadmium
Chromite
Coal
Cobalt
Copper
Gold
Iron
Lead
Lithium
Manganese
PGM
Nickel
Silica
Tungsten
Zinc
http://www.reitausa.org/storage/Challenges%20Facing%20New%
20Global%20Rare%20Earth%20Separation%20Plants pdf
Rare earth elements—import sources
• Bastnaesite (Ce, La, Y)CO3F
– China, California
• Monazite (Ce, La, Th, Nd, Y)PO4
– Australia, 67%
– France, 33%
• Rare-earth metals, compounds, etc.:
– China, 74%
– France, 21%
– Japan, 3%
– United Kingdom, 1%
IRON OXIDE COPPER-GOLD DEPOSITS (U, REE, PGM, Ni)
http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2007/1155/of2007-1155_map.pdf
Mining
districts and
areas in New
Mexico that
contain REE
deposits
Mines and
prospects in the
Gallinas
Mountains,
Lincoln County
Geologic map of the
Gallinas Mountains,
Lincoln and Torrance
Counties, New Mexico
(modified from Kelley et
al., 1946; Kelley, 1949,
1971; Perhac, 1961, 1970;
Woodward and Fulp, 1991;
Schreiner, 1993; field
reconnaissance by the
author).
Aeromagnetic
map of the
Gallinas
Mountains area,
from Kucks et
al. (2001).
Mineral zoning
in the Gallinas
Mountains,
Lincoln
County
http://un2sg1.unige.ch/athena/...
Monazite
http://mineral.galleries.com/m...
Apatite
http://mineral.galleries.com/m...
Rare earth elements—production
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
100
90
80
Production, Kilotons
70
60
50
China
40
30
20
United States
Australia
10
0
1983
Other
1988
1993
1998
2003
Rare earth elements—mineralogy
• Bastnaesite LnFCO3
• Apatite > 5400 ppm total REE
Ca5(PO4)3(OH,F,Cl)
• monazite 500,000 ppm total REE
(Ln,Th)PO4
• manganese nodules 99,000ppm total
REE
Rare earth elements—geology
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•
•
•
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Carbonatites
pegmatites
Monazite sand
veins
Cretaceous heavy-mineral beach
sandstones
• sea floor manganese nodules
Beach placer sandstone deposits
are tabular, stratabound REE-TiNb-Zr-Th (U) deposits.
Strontium
Strontium—introduction
• Sr
• 15th abundant element
• does not occur naturally as an element,
in compounds
• No production in the United States since
1959
• celestite or celestine SrSO4 (same
structure as barite) 56.4% Sr
• strontianite SrCO3, 70.1% Sr
Celesitite
http://www.zeuter.com/~tburden
Strontianite
http://www.zeuter.com/~tburden
Strontium—uses
• faceplate glass of color television
picture tubes, 77%
• ferrite ceramic magnets, 8%
• pyrotechnics and signals, 9%
– fireworks (red flame)
– flares
• other applications, 6%
– refining zinc
– optical materials
Strontium—production
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Strontium—geology
• association with rocks deposited by the
evaporation of sea water (evaporites)
• igneous rocks
Sodium sulfate—introduction
Sodium sulfate—introduction
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•
•
•
•
disodium sulfate (Na2SO4),
inorganic chemical
Thenardite Na2SO4
Hanksite Na22K(SO4)9(CO3)2Cl
Glauberite Na2Ca(SO4)2
Sodium sulfate—uses
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soap and detergents, 46%
textiles, 12%
pulp and paper, 13%
glass, 11%
carpet fresheners, 7%
miscellaneous, 11%
Sodium sulfate
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Sodium sulfate—reserves
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Botswana
China
Egypt
Italy
Mongolia
Romania
South Africa
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Sodium sulfate—geology
• brines or crystalline evaporite deposits
• 10 ft thick deposit 1400 ft below the
surface near Green River, Wyoming
• Searles and Owens Lakes in California
– 450 million tons of sodium sulfate
resource
• Great Salt Lake, Utah
– 400 million tons of resource
Sodium sulfate—byproduct
• byproduct from the production of
ascorbic acid, boric acid, cellulose,
chromium chemicals, lithium carbonate,
rayon, resorcinol, and silica pigments
Glauberite
http://mineral.galleries.com/m...
Searles Lake
http://www.bovagems.com/eclectic/HTML/19971001_1097BOVA2.html
Talc
Introduction
Talc is an important industrial mineral, it is a vital part of everyday life.
It can be found in:
• the magazines;
• the polymers in our cars and houses;
• the paints
• the tiles we walk on
9 Talc has high heat and chemical resistance, good electrical
insulating properties, and improves stiffness and tensile strength,
making it useful for use in the plastics and rubber industries.
9 Low electrical conductivity and acids make it an ideal surface for
lab counter tops and electrical switchboards.
It is also an important filler material for paints, rubber and
insecticides. It is most known as the primary ingredient in talcum
powder.
Mineralogy
Talc is a hydrated magnesium sheet silicate, Mg3Si4O10
(OH)2. Its elementary sheet is composed of a layer of
magnesium-oxygen/hydroxyl octahedra, sandwiched
between two layers of silicon-oxygen tetrahedra.
MORPHOLOGY
The size of an individual talc platelet can vary from approximately 1
micron to over 100 microns depending on the deposit. It is this
individual platelet size that determines a talc’s lamellarity. The
elementary sheets are stacked on top of one another, like flaky
pastry, and, because the binding forces linking one elementary
sheet to its neighbors are very weak, the platelets slide apart at the
slightest touch, giving talc its characteristic softness.
Macro-crystalline talc
Micro-crystalline talc
¾ Mineral specimens are not very common as it does
not form very large crystals
¾ It often replaces other minerals on an atom by atom
basis and forms what are called pseudomorphs
(false shape).
The talc takes the form of the mineral it replaces. A
specimen of what looks like milky quartz is quite a
surprise when it not only has a soapy feel but can
be scratched by a fingernail.
Geology
Talc is one of the common minerals in
metamorphic rock. Although talc deposits
can be found throughout the world in
various geological contexts.
Economically viable concentrations of talc
are not that common.
Best field indicators are softness, color,
soapy feel, luster and cleavage.
Talc deposits result from the transformation
of existing rocks under the effect of hydrothermal fluids carrying one or several of the
components needed to form the mineral
(MgO, SiO2, CO2).
The size and shape of talc deposits depend
upon:
9the intensity of the hydrothermal activity;
9Pressure and deformations;
Types of talc deposit
Magnesium carbonate derivative orebodies
The talc results from the transformation of carbonates (dolomite and
magnesite) in the presence of silica. Deposits of this kind represent
some 60% of world production and provide some of the whitest and
purest talc ores. The Yellowstone (Montana, USA) and Respina
(North-West Spain) talc deposits are good examples.
Yellowstone mine in Montana - US
Types of talc deposit
Serpentinite derivative orebodies
About 20% of present world production comes from the transformation of
serpentinite into a mixture of talc and reactional magnesium carbonates. This
ore, commonly called "soapstone", is always grey and never pure. To be used
as an industrial mineral, it is often upgraded by flotation to increase the talc
content and whiteness.
This type of deposit is relatively common and widely distributed along ultramafic rock belts. In Vermont (USA), Quebec and Ontario (Canada) and
Finland are deposits currently being worked.
Argonaut mine in Vermont - US
Types of talc deposit
Siliceous or silico-aluminous rock derivative orebodies
Results from the transformation of siliceous rocks. Magnesium is brought by the
migration of hydro-thermal fluids.
If the parent rock has a silico-aluminous composition, e.g. pelitic schist or gneiss,
and under the same conditions of formation, chlorite can be formed in addition
to the talc, the resulting ore being a mixture of both talc and chlorite. This type
of deposit can be found in association with the magnesium-carbonate derivative
type, this kind of deposit represents about 10% of world production.
Trimouns mine, French Pyrenees
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PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS
Color is green, gray and white to almost silver.
Luster is dull to pearly or greasy.
Transparency crystals are translucent and masses are opaque.
Crystal System is monoclinic.
Crystal Habits: flattened tabular crystals with a hexagonal cross-section,
usually talc is found in compact or lamellar masses. Forms
pseudomorphs (false shape) of other crystals such as quartz, pyroxenes,
olivines and amphiboles.
Cleavage is perfect in one direction, basal.
Fracture is uneven to lamellar.
Hardness is 1
Specific Gravity is 2.7 - 2.8 (average)
Streak is white.
Associated Minerals include serpentine, dolomite, magnesite, quartz,
pyroxenes, olivine, biotite and amphiboles.
USES
¾Agriculture and Food
¾Ceramics
¾Coatings
¾Paper
¾Personal Care
¾Plastics
¾Rubber
¾Wastewater treatment
Substitutes
The major substitutes for talc are:
™ clays and pyrophyllite in ceramics;
™ kaolin and mica in paint and rubber;
™ kaolin in paper;
™ clays and mica in plastics.
• Notable Occurances: include many
mines up and down the Appalachian
Mountains and in California and Texas,
USA; Germany; Florence, Italy; Tyrol,
Austria; Transvaal, South Africa and
Shetland, Scotland.
Mining Methods
Overburden removal
Most talc deposits are open-pit mines. The waste rock
covering the talc vein is removed using shovels.
Talc extraction
The exposed talc is then extracted using shovels. Even at
this early stage, the different ore types are sorted as they
are extracted from the seam.
"Pedra Preta“ Mine, in Brumado – Bahia state - Brazil
Mineral Processing
Beneficiation
According to their talc content and brightness is a key phase of the
production process. Techniques include hand sorting, state-of-the-art laser
and image analysis technology or flotation.
9First milling: to liberation size which can vary from 0.4 to 0.08 mm
9Magnetic Separators: remove magnetic materials.
9Froth Flotation: to improve product purity.
9Thickening
9Filtering
9Drying
9 Milling
To obtain just the right particle size distribution curve and top cut for a given
application, the techniques used include compressed air, steam and impact
grinding. Median particle sizes can range from less than 1 micron to 15
microns, and top cuts from 6 microns to over 100 microns.
9 Treated talcs
Certain grades of talc are treated, e.g. amine-coated talcs for fertilizers,
silane-coated talcs for the rubber industry and cationic talcs for pitch control
in papermaking. For the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries, talcs are
heat-treated to decontaminate them.
9 Talc delivery forms and packaging
Talc powder is delivered in bags, semi-bulk bags or in bulk. Increasingly,
there is a demand for talc in pellet form or as a liquid (slurry).
Mineral Processing Flow Sheet – Magnesita Inc.
Mine Production and Reserve
Soda ash
Soda ash—introduction
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
sodium carbonate (Na2CO3)
Trona (Na2CO3•NaHCO3•2H2O)
nahcolite (NaHCO3)
Gaylussite Na2Ca(CO3)2 - 5H2O
mixture of various salts and other trace impurities
(including sand, clay and metals such as potassium,
silicon, magnesium, calcium, iron, aluminum and
titanium)
Nonflammable
white, yellow, brown or gray
no notable odor
Decomposes beginning at 70oC
Trona
http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/carbonat/trona/trona.jpg
Trona
http://www.trainweb.org/wyomingrails/wymining/trona.html
Gaylussite
http://mineral.galleries.com/minerals/carbonat/gaylussi/gaylussi.jpg
Soda ash—uses
• glass, 50%
• chemicals, 27%
• soap and
detergents, 11%
• distributors, 6%
• flue gas
desulfurization and
pulp and paper, 2%
each
• water treatment, 1%
• other, 1%
– baking soda
Soda ash—production
USGS Commodity Summaries
Soda ash—consumption
USGS Commodity Summaries
Soda ash—production
USGS Commodity Summaries
Soda ash—geology
• Bedded lacustrine deposits
• bedded trona and disseminated shortite
and locally abundant halite in the
Wilkins Peak Member of the Green
River Formation
– 82 billion short tons of trona
– 53 billion tons of mixed trona and halite
• nahcolite is found in the Parachute
Creek Member of the Green River
Formation
Niobium and tantalum
Niobium and tantalum—
introduction
• Columbium
• Nb
• found with tantalum Ta
Niobium—uses
•
•
•
•
•
•
carbon steels, 33%
superalloys, 23%
stainless and heat-resisting steels,18%
high-strength low-alloy steels, 16%
alloy steels, 9%
other, 1%
Tantalum—uses
• capacitors
– automotive electronics
– pagers
– personal computers
– portable telephones
• electrical applications
USGS Commodity
Summaries
Niobium—uses (USGS OF01-348)
Production—niobium
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Production—tantalum
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Tantalum Price vs. Time
45.00
40.00
35.00
$/lb
30.00
25.00
20.00
15.00
10.00
5.00
0.00
1955
1965
1975
1985
Year
1995
2001
Niobium—geology
http://www.tanb.org/niobium1.html
• pyrochlore [(Ca,Na)2 Nb2(O,OH,F)7 ] in
carbonatite and alkaline igneous deposits
• pegmatites (Columbite and tantalite)
• alluvial deposits
• largest deposit in Araxá, Brazil, owned by
Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e
Mineração (CBMM) (460 million tons of 3.0%
Nb2O5, or 500 yrs reserves)
• Niobec mine in Quebec
• tin slags produced from the smelting of
cassiterite ores
Lauzon
Farm, Oka,
Quebec,
Canada. 3.9
x 2.9 cm.
http://www.webmi
Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e
Mineração (CBMM), open pit mine for Nb,
Minas Gerais, Brazil
http://www.us.cbmm.com.br/english/sources/mine/operat/f_operat.htm
Zircon
Zircon—introduction
•
•
•
•
•
ZrSiO4
baddeleyte ZrO2
highly resistant to weathering
high specific gravity 4.6-4.7
other potential minerals
– Eudialyte
– gittinsite
Zircon—introduction
• Zr resistant to corrosion by acids and
other chemicals
• alloyed with Nb it becomes
superconductive (conduct electricity
with very little loss of energy to electric
resistance)
• does not absorb neutrons
Hafnium—introduction
• Hf
• in zircon and baddeleyte
Zircon—uses
•
•
•
•
zircon ceramics
opacifiers
refractories
foundry applications
•
•
•
•
•
•
abrasives
chemicals
metal alloys
welding rod
coatings
sandblasting
Hafnium—uses
• addition in superalloys
Production
USGS Mineral Yearbooks
Zircon—geology
• Beach sands in Florida, Virginia and
South Carolina (with Ti)