• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.37-45
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• 2024

Molybdenum is used in various industries because of its high heat and corrosion resistance. It was selected as a critical mineral in Korea. However, there have been recent challenges in production because of the increased depth and decreased grade of molybdenum veins. Consequently, it is necessary to enhance the effectiveness of the molybdenum beneficiation process. In this study, a basic evaluation of beneficiation characteristics was conducted to enhance the effectiveness of the domestic molybdenum ore beneficiation process. The properties of the beneficiation process were assessed using mineralogical analysis, work index, and flotation kinetics. The results revealed that the allowable particle size of the molybdenum ore for liberation was ~100 ㎛. In addition, the work index was calculated to be 14.57 kWh/t. The operating conditions in the flotation units were achieved by determining the optimal flotation time for each process based on flotation kinetics. Finally, the characteristics of molybdenum ore beneficiation provided in this study can be utilized to diagnose the grinding and flotation processes of large-scale molybdenum beneficiation plants.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.54 no.6
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• pp.753-765
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• 2021

The Dongwon Au-Ag deposit is located within the Paleozoic Taebaeksan province, Okcheon belt. Mineral paragenesis can be divided into two stages (stage I, ore-bearing quartz veins; stage II, barren carbonate veins) by major tectonic fracturing. Stage I, at which the precipitation of major ore minerals occurred, is further divided into three substages(early, middle and late) with paragenetic time based on minor fractures and discernible mineral assemblages: early, marked by deposition of pyrite with minor magnetite, pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite; middle, characterized by introduction of electrum and base-metal sulfides with minor sulfosalts; late, marked by argentite, Cu-As (and/or Sb) and Ag-Sb sulfosalts with base-metal sulfides. Fluid inclusion data show that stage I ore mineralization was deposited between initial high temperatures (≥430℃) and later lower temperatures (≤230℃) from fluids with salinities between 6.0 to 0.4 wt. percent equiv. NaCl. The relationship of salinity and homogenization temperature suggest that ore mineralization at Dongwon was deposited mainly due to fluid boiling, cooling and dilution via influx of cooler, more dilute meteoric waters. Changes in stage I vein mineralogy reflect decreasing temperature and fugacity of sulfur by evolution of the Dongwon hydrothermal system with increasing paragenetic time. The Dongwon deposit may represents a Korean-type and/or Au-Ag type mesothermal/epithermal gold-silver deposit.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.471-477
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• 2009

An experimental removal of dissolved uranium (U) exsiting as uranyl ion (${UO_2}^{2+}$) was carried out using Shewanella p., iron-reducing bacterium. By the microbial reductive reaction, initial U concentration ($50{\mu}M$) was constantly decreased, and most U were removed from solution after 2 weeks. Major mechanism that U was removed from the solution was adsorption, precipitation and mineralization on the microbe surface. Under the transmission electron microscopy, the U adsorbed on the microbe was observed as being crystallized and eventually enlarged to several ${\mu}m$ sizes of minerals by combining with individual microbes and organic exudates. It seems that such U growth and mineralization on the microbial surface could affect the U behavior in a radioactive waste disposal site. Thus, the biogechemical reaction of metal-reducing bacteria observed in this experiment could give an affirmative measure that the microbial activity may retard U movement in subsurface environment.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.689-699
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• 2022

The Ssangjeon tungsten deposit is located within the Yeongnam Massif. Within the area a number of hydrothermal quartz veins were formed by narrow open-space filling of parallel and subparallel fractures in the metasedimentary rocks as Wonnam formation, Buncheon granite gneiss, amphibolite and/or pegmatite. Mineral paragenesis can be divided into two stages (stage I, ore-bearing quartz vein; stage II, barren quartz vein) by major tectonic fracturing. Stage I, at which the precipitation of major ore minerals occurred, is further divided into three substages (early, middle and late) with paragenetic time based on minor fractures and discernible mineral assemblages: early, marked by deposition of arsenopyrite with pyrite; middle, characterized by introduction of wolframite and scheelite with Ti-Fe-bearing oxides and base-metal sulfides; late, marked by Bi-sulfides. Fluid inclusion data show that stage I ore mineralization was deposited between initial high temperatures (≥370℃) and later lower temperatures (≈170℃) from H₂O-CO₂-NaCl fluids with salinities between 18.5 to 0.2 equiv. wt. % NaCl of Ssangjeon hydrothermal system. The relationship between salinity and homogenization temperature indicates a complex history of boiling, fluid unmixing (CO₂ effervescence), cooling and dilution via influx of cooler, more dilute meteoric waters over the temperature range ≥370℃ to ≈170℃. Changes in stage I vein mineralogy reflect decreasing temperature and fugacity of sulfur by evolution of the Ssangjeon hydrothermal system with increasing paragenetic time.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.3-11
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• 2015

Soluble silica generated from acid leaching process is very difficult to filter and deceases the purity of products, and thus becomes one of hot issues in hydrometallurgy. This paper reviewed the dissolution and reactivities of silicates in acid solution, and the methods for treatment of soluble silica. Removal of silica with alkaline pre-treatment, crystallization to $SiO_2$ and precipitation behaviour of silica with coagulation under acid conditions were briefly described.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.197-207
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• 2022

This study investigated spectroscopic exploration of Myeonsan formation, the titanium(Ti) ore hostrock, in Joseon supergroup based on machine learning technique. The mineral composition, Ti concentration, spectral characteristics of Myeonsan and non-Myeonsan formation of Joseon supergroup were analyzed. The Myeonsan formation contains relatively larger quantity of opaque minerals along with quartz and clay minerals. The PXRF analysis revealed that the Ti concentration of Myeosan formation is at least 10 times larger than the other formations with bi-modal distribution. The bi-modal concentration is caused by high Ti concentrated sandy layer and relatively lower Ti concentrated muddy layer. The spectral characteristics of Myeonsan formation is manifested by Fe oxides at near infrared and clay minerals at shortwave infrared bands. The Ti exploration is expected to be more effective on detection of hostrock rather than Ti ore because ilmenite does not have characteristic spectral features. The random-forest machine learning classification detected the Myeonsan fomation at 85% accuracy with overall accuracy of 97%, where spectral features of iron oxides and clay minerals played an important role. It indicates that spectral analysis can detect the Ti host rock effectively, and can contribute for UAV based remote sensing for Ti exploration.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.343-355
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• 1985

Spectral reflectivity and microhardness were measured quantitatively on polished surfaces of a selection of bireflecting minerals obtained from several well known metallic deposits. Incremental errors are much higher than decremental errors and errors were found to be lowest in the spectral region close to the green wavelength ($544m{\mu}$). The characteristics of the spectral profile are significant in their control of white light color. The covellite and graphite have reflectivity profiles similar in shape for each principal direction, showing noticeable difference in magnitude between the profiles: The spectral reflectivity of covellite parallel to the extraordinary vibration is higher (R$$\simeq_-$$10%) than that parallel to the ordinary vibration and graphite shows opposite feature. Reflectivity of the enargite and famatinite cut parallel to the cleavage plane is always higher (R$$\simeq_-$$5%) than that of the section cut normal. The optical symmetry of 5 bireflecting minerals was determined by noting the variation in reflectivity at $544m{\mu}$. The data indicate that covellite is optically uniaxial positive and graphite is optically uniaxial negative. The Rm values for enargite and famatinite are clearly closer to the minimum value for the mineral ($R_1$) than to the maximum value ($R_2$) : the minerals can be recognized as optically biaxial positive. Enargite and famatinite cut parallel to cleavage have much higher hardness values (HV=> $200kg/mm^2$) than those cut normal to cleavage. Vickers indentations exhibit characteristic features for all the bireflecting mineral species studied. Broad radicle groupings of the mineral species can be made with regard to the reflectivity microhardness numbers.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.13-22
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• 2016

The objectives of this study were to recover silica and iron oxides and $CO_2$ sequestration using serpentine via various acid dissolution and pH swing processes. Serpentine collected from Guhang-myeon in S. Korea were mainly composed of antigorite and magnetite consisting of $SiO_2$ (45.3 wt.%), MgO (41.3 wt.%), $Fe_2O_3$ (12.2 wt.%). Serpentine pulverized ($${\leq_-}75{\mu}m$$) and then dissolved in 3 different acids, HCl, $H_2SO_4$, $HNO_3$. Residues treated with acidic solution were recovered from the solution (step 1). And then the residual solution containing dissolved serpentine was titrated using $NH_4OH$. And pH of the solution increased up to pH=8.6 to obtain reddish precipitates (step 2). After recovery of the precipitates, the residual solution reacted with $CO_2$ and then pH increased up to pH=9.5 to precipitate white materials (step 3). The mineralogical characteristics of the original sample and harvested precipitates were examined by XRD, and TEM-EDS analyses. ICP-AES analysis was also used to investigate solution chemistry. The dissolved ions were Mg, Si, and Fe. The antigorite became noncrystralline silica after acid treatment (step 1). The precipitate at pH=8.6 was mainly amorphous iron oxide, of which size ranged from 2 to 10 nm and mainly consisting of Fe, O, and Si (step 2). At pH=9.5, nesquehonite [$Mg(HCO_3)(OH){\cdot}2(H_2O)$] and lasfordite [$MgCO_3{\cdot}H_2O$] were formed after reaction with $CO_2$ (step 3). The size of carbonated minerals was ranged from 1 to $6{\mu}m$. These results indicated that the acid treatment of serpentine and pH swing processes for the serpentine can be used for synthesis of other materials such as silica, iron oxides and magnesium carbonate. Also, This process may be useful for the precursor synthesis and $CO_2$ sequestration via mineral carbonation.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.171-181
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• 2022

The Geochang Au-Ag deposit is located within the Yeongnam Massif. Within the area a number of hydrothermal quartz and calcite veins were formed by narrow open-space filling of parallel and subparallel fractures in the granitic gneiss and/or gneissic granite. Mineral paragenesis can be divided into two stages (stage I, ore-bearing quartz vein; stage II, barren calcite vein) by major tectonic fracturing. Stage I, at which the precipitation of major ore minerals occurred, is further divided into three substages (early, middle and late) with paragenetic time based on minor fractures and discernible mineral assemblages: early, marked by deposition of pyrite with minor pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite; middle, characterized by introduction of electrum and base-metal sulfides with minor sulfosalts; late, marked by hematite with base-metal sulfides. Fluid inclusion data show that stage I ore mineralization was deposited between initial high temperatures (≥380℃ ) and later lower temperatures (≤210℃ ) from H₂O-CO₂-NaCl fluids with salinities between 7.0 to 0.7 equiv. wt. % NaCl of Geochang hydrothermal system. The relationship between salinity and homogenization temperature indicates a complex history of boiling, fluid unmixing (CO₂ effervescence), cooling and dilution via influx of cooler, more dilute meteoric waters over the temperature range ≥380℃ to ≤210℃. Changes in stage I vein mineralogy reflect decreasing temperature and fugacity of sulfur by evolution of the Geochang hydrothermal system with increasing paragenetic time. The Geochang deposit may represents a mesothermal gold-silver deposit.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.41-49
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• 1979

A literature review is made on the physical and chemical characteristics of clay minerals in acidic solutions from the mineralogical and hydrometallurgical viewpoints. Some of the important characteristics of clays are their ability to cation exchange, swelling, and incongruent dissolution in acidic solutions. Various clay minerals can take up metallic ions from solution via cation exchange mechanism. Generally, cation exchange capacity increases in the following order : kaolinite, halloysite, illite, vermiculite, and montmorillonite. In acidic solutions, the cation uptake such as copper by clay minerals is strongly inhibited by hydrogen and aluminum ions and thus is not economically significant factor for recovery of metals such as uranium and copper. In acidic solutions, the cation uptake is substial. Swelling is minimal at lower pH, possibly due to lattice collapse. Swelling may be controllable with montmorillonite type clays by exchanging interlayer sodium with lithium and/or hydroxylated aluminum species. The effect of add on clay minerals are : 1. Division of aggregates into smaller plates with increase in surface area and porosity. 2. Clay-acid reactions occur in the following order: (i) $H^+$ replacement of interlayer cations, (ii) removal of octahedral cations, such as Al, Fe, and Mg, and (iii) removal of tetrahedral Al ions. Acid attack initiates, around the edges of the clay particles and continued inward, leaving hydrated silica gel residue around the edges. 3. Reaction rates of (ii) and (iii) are pseudo-1st order and proportional to acid concentration. Rate doubles for every temperature increment of $10^{\circ}C$. Implications in in-situ leaching of copper or uranium with acid are : 1. Over the life span of the operation for a year or more, clays attacked by acid will leave silica gel. If such gel covers the surface of valuable mineral surfaces being leached, recovery could be substantially delayed. 2. For a copper deposit containing 0.5% each of clay minerals and recoverable copper, the added cost due to clay-acid reaction is about 1.5c/lb of copper (or 0.93 lbs of $H_2SO_4/1b$ of copper). This acid consumption by clay may be a factor for economic evaluation of in-situ leaching of an oxide copper deposit.