Home – Home – Jornals – Chemistry for Sustainable Development 2018 number 2

Rare metal ores of the Chuktukon deposit (Krasnoyarsk Territory) were explored. It was found that the ores were complex, mainly of iron-manganese composition (iron oxides content of 50% or above), with high contents of lanthanides, yttrium, niobium, vanadium, zinc, and phosphorus. The main mineral forms of rare earth metals are monazite and florencite, of niobium - barium-strontium pyrochlore. As demonstrated by granulometric composition study, above 50 % of ore mass is presented by a particle size of mainly 1-2 µm and ~12 µm. As a rule, elements are almost evenly distributed according to all size grades. According to microscopic study results, the ore is mainly formed by ultrafine micrometre-sized particles (the first micrometres) that, in turn, are nanoscale particle aggregates. The findings explain the complexity of excreting concentrates of rare earth metals and niobium from the ore using enrichment methods.