Meaningful CEC values of clay minerals from heavy mineral deposits

摘要

Differences in size indicated that the red horizons of samples submitted for analysis contain more slimes (-45 mu m) and more clay minerals (-4 mu m) compared to the orange horizons. Differences in chemical composition between the different samples are related to the mineral phases present. Red and orange horizons both contain the clay mineral kaolinite. The orange horizons, however, also contain montmorillonite, which was not detected in the red horizons. Various results indicate the presence of other phases or interstratifications that could not be detected by XRD and therefore other mineral identification techniques should be used to identify these phases and/or interstratifications. Quantification of mineral phases present is required to fully characterize the mineral properties