NDLI: Geochemical prospecting for rare earth elements using termite mound materials

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Horiuchi, Yu Oh, Tetsuji Hoshi, Mihoko Shin, Ki Cheol Murakami, Hiroyasu Tsunematsu, Maiko Watanabe, Yasushi
Copyright Year	2014
Abstract	The Blockspruit fluorite prospect, located in North West State of the Republic of South Africa, occurs within an actinolite rock zone that was emplaced into the Kenkelbos-type granite of Proterozoic age. There are a large number of termite mounds in the prospect. For geochemical prospecting for rare earth elements (REEs), in total, 200 samples of termite mound material were collected from actinolite rock and granite zones in the prospect. Geochemical analyses of these termite mound materials were conducted by two methods: portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Comparison of the two methods broadly indicates positive correlations of REEs (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, and Y), in particular Y and La having a strong correlation. As the result of modal abundance analyses, the actinolite rock at surface mainly consists of ferro-actinolite (89.89 wt%) and includes xenotime (0.26 wt%) and monazite (0.21 wt%) grains as REE minerals. Termite mound materials from actinolite rock also contain xenotime (0.27 wt%) and monazite (0.41 wt%) grains. In addition, termite mound materials from the actinolite rock zone have high hematite and Fe silicate contents compared to those from granite zone. These relationships suggest that REE minerals in termite mound materials originate form actinolite rock. Geochemical anomaly maps of Y, La, and Fe concentrations drawn based on the result of the portable XRF analyses show that high concentrations of these elements trend from SW to NE which broadly correspond to occurrences of actinolite body. These results indicate that termite mounds are an effective tool for REE geochemical prospection in the study area for both light REEs and Y, but a more detailed survey is required to establish the distribution of the actinolite rock body.
Starting Page	1013
Ending Page	1023
Page Count	11
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00264598
Journal	Mineralium Deposita
Volume Number	49
Issue Number	8
e-ISSN	14321866
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Publisher Date	2014-10-07
Publisher Place	Berlin/Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Termite mounds Rare earth elements Geochemical prospecting South Africa Blockspruit Portable XRF Geology Mineral Resources Mineralogy
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Geophysics Economic Geology Geochemistry and Petrology

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