Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological Purification
High-purity quartz (HPQ) is an important material widely used in many high-tech industries. It is a product processed from pure natural quartz raw materials, so selecting suitable quartz raw material is the key to successfully processing HPQ. Hydrothermal quartz vein is one of the most likely raw ma...
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MDPI AG
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Minerals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/2/261 |
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| author | Mei Xia Chao Sun Xiaoyong Yang Jian Chen |
| author_facet | Mei Xia Chao Sun Xiaoyong Yang Jian Chen |
| author_sort | Mei Xia |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | High-purity quartz (HPQ) is an important material widely used in many high-tech industries. It is a product processed from pure natural quartz raw materials, so selecting suitable quartz raw material is the key to successfully processing HPQ. Hydrothermal quartz vein is one of the most likely raw materials to be purified into HPQ because of its high SiO<sub>2</sub> content. This study focuses on the evaluation of HPQ raw material potential of the two gold-bearing quartz vein tailing resources in Chibougamau (CBG) and Tianjingshan (TJS). Petrography and the contents of impurity elements in the two vein quartz samples before and after processing were studied by optical microscope, SEM, Raman spectrometry, XRD, LA-ICP-MS, and bulk solution ICP-OES. Petrographic results reveal that major impurities in quartz are feldspar, mica, iron compounds, ankerite, rutile, silicate melt, and fluid inclusions. LA-ICP-MS analysis result shows that the SiO<sub>2</sub> contents are between 99.953–99.971 wt.% in CBG raw quartz and 99.969–99.976 wt.% in TJS raw quartz, respectively, with very low contents of impurity elements, except for Ca. Bulk solution ICP-OES analysis demonstrates that the CBG processed quartz sand has total impurity contents of 56.8 µg·g<sup>−1</sup>, with 13.1 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Al and 6.6 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Ti, and the TJS processed quartz sand has the total impurity contents of 85.2 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> with 29.4 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Al and 6.1 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Ti. Both the contents of Al and Ti fit with the lattice-bound criteria for HPQ. These results, for most of the impurities, are likely hosted by silicate melt, fluid, and mineral inclusions, indicating that these two hydrothermal raw vein quartz samples can be upgraded to HPQ after processing by more advanced methods. Therefore, the CBG and TJS quartz vein deposits would be considered as potential future resources for HPQ to realize efficient recovery and utilization of tailings resources and to improve mine economic benefits. |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
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| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T08:22:08Z |
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| spelling | doaj.art-677d057bddce4b68a5d7cc2ab28ddc5a2023-11-16T22:19:04ZengMDPI AGMinerals2075-163X2023-02-0113226110.3390/min13020261Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological PurificationMei Xia0Chao Sun1Xiaoyong Yang2Jian Chen3CAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, ChinaCAS Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, ChinaKey Lab of Photovoltaic and Energy Conservation Materials, Institute of Solid State Physics, HFIPS, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, ChinaHigh-purity quartz (HPQ) is an important material widely used in many high-tech industries. It is a product processed from pure natural quartz raw materials, so selecting suitable quartz raw material is the key to successfully processing HPQ. Hydrothermal quartz vein is one of the most likely raw materials to be purified into HPQ because of its high SiO<sub>2</sub> content. This study focuses on the evaluation of HPQ raw material potential of the two gold-bearing quartz vein tailing resources in Chibougamau (CBG) and Tianjingshan (TJS). Petrography and the contents of impurity elements in the two vein quartz samples before and after processing were studied by optical microscope, SEM, Raman spectrometry, XRD, LA-ICP-MS, and bulk solution ICP-OES. Petrographic results reveal that major impurities in quartz are feldspar, mica, iron compounds, ankerite, rutile, silicate melt, and fluid inclusions. LA-ICP-MS analysis result shows that the SiO<sub>2</sub> contents are between 99.953–99.971 wt.% in CBG raw quartz and 99.969–99.976 wt.% in TJS raw quartz, respectively, with very low contents of impurity elements, except for Ca. Bulk solution ICP-OES analysis demonstrates that the CBG processed quartz sand has total impurity contents of 56.8 µg·g<sup>−1</sup>, with 13.1 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Al and 6.6 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Ti, and the TJS processed quartz sand has the total impurity contents of 85.2 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> with 29.4 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Al and 6.1 µg·g<sup>−1</sup> Ti. Both the contents of Al and Ti fit with the lattice-bound criteria for HPQ. These results, for most of the impurities, are likely hosted by silicate melt, fluid, and mineral inclusions, indicating that these two hydrothermal raw vein quartz samples can be upgraded to HPQ after processing by more advanced methods. Therefore, the CBG and TJS quartz vein deposits would be considered as potential future resources for HPQ to realize efficient recovery and utilization of tailings resources and to improve mine economic benefits.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/2/261quartz veinquartz processingimpurity elementhigh-purity quartzgenetic implication |
| spellingShingle | Mei Xia Chao Sun Xiaoyong Yang Jian Chen Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological Purification Minerals quartz vein quartz processing impurity element high-purity quartz genetic implication |
| title | Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological Purification |
| title_full | Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological Purification |
| title_fullStr | Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological Purification |
| title_full_unstemmed | Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological Purification |
| title_short | Assessment of Gold-Bearing Quartz Vein as a Potential High-Purity Quartz Resource: Evidence from Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Technological Purification |
| title_sort | assessment of gold bearing quartz vein as a potential high purity quartz resource evidence from mineralogy geochemistry and technological purification |
| topic | quartz vein quartz processing impurity element high-purity quartz genetic implication |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-163X/13/2/261 |
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