Mineralogical auditing of the Volta Grande Mine (SE Brazil) Sn-Ta-Nb-Li processing plant, aiming at REE recovery as by-products

Pub Date : 2021-07-05 DOI:10.1080/25726838.2021.1945875

F. Alves, Reiner Neumann, C. Ávila, Paulo E. M. Ferreira, Caymon de S. Assumpção, M. Carneiro, Pedro H. V. Garcia

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引用次数: 3

Abstract

ABSTRACT Recovering rare earth elements (REE) as by-products of existing mineral operations is a low-investment option to increase supply in short terms. REE-minerals were reported for the São João del Rei Pegmatitic Province (southern Minas Gerais State, Brazil) since the late 1940s, but data is scarce and dubious. The largest pegmatites project in the Province – Volta Grande mine – has been mined since 1945, producing concentrates of cassiterite, columbite-subgroup minerals, and microlite, and since 2018 spodumene is also recovered. Here we prepare a stream-specific mineralogical characterisation of the beneficiation plants to identify REE-minerals for potential REE recovery. The results analyse the feasibility of reprocessing some streams to generate a high-apatite product adequate for phosphoric acid production with REE recovery as by-products. The further REE speciation also revealed the preferential distribution of heavy-REE into columbite-subgroup minerals and light-REE into microlite, which may represent promising targets for the production of concentrates with high-purity.

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巴西东南部Volta Grande矿Sn-Ta-Nb-Li加工厂副产稀土回收的矿物学审计

摘要回收稀土元素（REE）作为现有矿产经营的副产品是一种短期内增加供应的低投资选择。自20世纪40年代末以来，圣若昂-德尔雷-佩格马蒂克省（巴西米纳斯吉拉斯州南部）就有REE矿物的报告，但数据稀少且令人怀疑。该省最大的伟晶岩项目——Volta Grande矿——自1945年以来一直在开采，生产锡石、铌矿亚组矿物和微晶石的精矿，自2018年以来，还回收了锂辉石。在这里，我们准备了选矿厂的特定溪流矿物学特征，以确定潜在REE回收的REE矿物。结果分析了对一些料流进行再处理以产生足以生产磷酸的高磷灰石产品的可行性，其中REE回收作为副产品。稀土元素的进一步物种形成还揭示了重稀土元素优先分布在铌矿亚类矿物中，轻稀土元素优先分配在微晶矿中，这可能是生产高纯度精矿的有希望的目标。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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