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Physicochemical Variation of Clay Minerals and Enrichment of Rare Earth Elements in Regolith-hosted Deposits: Exemplification from The Bankeng Deposit in South China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Martin Yan Hei Li Open the ORCID record for Martin Yan Hei Li [Opens in a new window]  and
Mei-Fu Zhou
Martin Yan Hei Li*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Guiyang 550081, China
Mei-Fu Zhou
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Science, Guiyang 550081, China School of Earth Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
*
e-mail: martinyhli@gmail.com
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Abstract

The wide application of rare earth elements (REEs) in the development of a carbon–neutral society has urged resource exploration worldwide in recent years. Regolith-hosted REE deposits are a major source of global REE supply and are hosted mostly in clay minerals. Nonetheless, the ways in which changes in the physicochemical properties of clay minerals during weathering affect the concentrations of REEs in the regolith are not well known. In the current study, a world-class regolith-hosted REE deposit (Bankeng, South China) has been studied to illustrate further the effect of clay minerals on sorption and fractionation of REEs during weathering to form economic deposits. In the weathering profile, halloysite and illite are abundant in the saprolite due to weathering of feldspars and biotite from the bedrock. During weathering, halloysite and illite transform gradually to kaolinite and vermiculite. The large specific surface area, pore volume, and cation exchange capacity of the clay mineral assemblages are favorable to the sorption of REEs, probably because of the formation of vermiculite. The abundance of vermiculite could explain the enrichment of REEs in the upper part of the lower pedolith. For the saprolite-pedolith interface, halloysite is probably the main sorbent for the REEs, as indicated by the distinctive appearance of pore sizes of 2.4–2.8 nm characteristic of halloysite. The progressive transformation of halloysite to kaolinite reduces the pores and desorbs the REEs, causing REE depletion in the shallower soils. As a result, REEs were mobilized downward and re-sorbed in the lower pedolith-upper saprolite causing gradual enrichment and formation of these regolith-hosted deposits.

Keywords

HalloysiteKaoliniteRare earth elementsRegolith-hosted depositsREE sorptionVermiculite
Type
Original Paper
Information
Clays and Clay Minerals , Volume 71 , Issue 3: Special Issue on Rare Earth Elements , June 2023 , pp. 362 - 376
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Clay Minerals Society 2023

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Footnotes

Associate Editor: W. Crawford Elliott.

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