• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.277-287
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• 2007

To understand the effects of the powdered manganese nodule and sea bottom sediment pumped up with nodules on the mining process, the shattering ratio of manganese nodule and their physical properties are analyzed. The self shattering ratio and crushing shattering ratio are about 27% and about 3%, respectively. Then total shattering ratio is about 30%. The initial turbidity of the powdered manganese nodule and the bottom sediment show high, i.e., about 3,100 and 1,850 respectively. But their turbidities decrease rapidly with time. After 1 hour, turbidity of the powdered manganese nodule drops to about 1,570 and that of the bottom sediment to 1,310. The turbidity of Na-bentonite changes from 820 to 730 after 1 h and to 700 after 2 h. The viscosity of powdered manganese nodule is $1.4{\sim}1.5cP$, and the viscosity of bottom sediment is less than 1 cP. The viscosity fo Na-bentonite is initially 37.2 and increase with time to 86.4 cP after 30 min. The high initial turbidity of powdered manganese nodule is due to dark color of the powder. The high specific gravity makes rapid precipitation and then decreases the turbidity rapidly. The bottom sediment shows high initial turbidity because of easy suspension with very fine particle size. But it cannot be hydrated and formed gel in suspension, then it is easily precipitated. However Na-bentonite is hydrated to the expended state and makes gel state, then it shows high turbidity and high viscosity. These physical properties of the powdered manganese nodule suggest that the powder of manganese nodule should not make scaling inside of lifting pipe or pump. And the bottom sediment lifted up with manganese nodule should not play the role of drilling mud shch as Na-bentonite.

• 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.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.277-288
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• 2004

Alkali-silica reaction (ASR) is a chemical reaction between alkalies in cement and chemically unstable aggregates and causes expansion and cracking of concrete. In the Present study, we studied the effects of metakaolin, which is a newly introduced mineral admixture showing excellent pozzolainc reaction property, on the inhibition of ASR. We prepared mortar-bars of various replacement ratios of metakaolin and conducted alkali-silica reactivity test (ASTM C 1260), compressive strength test and flow test. We also carefully analyzed the mineralogical changes in hydrate cement paste by XRD qualitative analysis. The admixing of metakaolin caused quick pozzolanic reaction and hydration reaction that resulted in a rapid decrease in portlandite content of hydrated cement paste. The expansion by ASR was reduced effectively as metakaolin replaced cement greater than 15%. This resulted in that the amounts of available portlandite decreased to less than 10% in cement paste. It is considered that the inhibition of ASR expansion by admixing of metakaolin was resulted by the combined processes that the formation of deleterious alkali-calcium-silicate gel was inhibited and the penetration of alkali solution into concrete was retarded due to the formation of denser, more homogeneous cement paste caused by pozzolanic effect. Higher early strength (7 days) than normal concrete was developed when the replacement ratios of metakaolin were greater than 15%. And also, late strength (28 days) was far higher than normal concrete for the all the replacement ratios of metakaolin. The development patterns of mechanical strength for metakaolin admixed concretes reflect the rapid pozzolanic reaction and hydration properties of metakaolin.