Identification of rare-earth minerals associated to K-feldspar: Capacsaya project in Peru

SN Applied Sciences

E. Monteblanco¹  L. Avilés-Félix²  L. Cerpa³  J. Ochoa⁴  A. Gutarra-Espinoza⁴ 

[1] CEA-Service de Physique de l’Etat Condensé, Centre d’Etudes de Saclay;Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET);Instituto Geológico, Minero y Metalúrgico. INGEMMET;Laboratorio de Materiales Nanoestructurados, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Nacional de Ingeniera;

关键词: Rare-earth minerals;    K-feldspar;    Electrostatic separation;   

DOI  :  10.1007/s42452-021-04868-y

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract A recently discovered the rare-earth-rich site in Capacsaya, located at 123 km northwest of Cusco, at the south of Peru, contains significant quantities of light and heavy rare-earth elements such as neodymium, lanthanum, cerium, europium, and yttrium. This work reports the identification of rare-earth elements and their associated minerals using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analyses. Five (5) samples extracted from different locations at the Capacsaya site were characterized and identified K-feldspar as the mineral associated with the rare-earth elements in a representative sample with a high concentration of lanthanum and cerium. The results showed rare-earth elements contained within the mineral phase monazite, being cerium the dominant element in the phase (La, Ce, Nd)PO $$_4$$ 4 . Finally, through the electrostatic separation process we demonstrate that it was possible to achieve an efficient separation of the K-feldspar phase in the particle size range 75–150 $$\upmu$$ μ m.

【 授权许可】

Unknown