Geochemical Characterization and Economic Potential of Emure and Ijero Ekiti Pegmatites in Southwest Nigeria
Keywords:
Emure-Ekiti, Ijero-Ekiti, Pegmatites, Characterization, Geochemical, Economic valueAbstract
Global demand increase for rare metals deposits has re-enacted the search for economically viable deposits. Pre-cambrian pegmatites occurring as near dykes and massive types were studied for Emure-Ekiti and Ijero-Ekiti respectively, with the aim of characterizing them geochemically and determining their possible economics values. A total of twelve samples comprising seven from Emure-Ekiti, three whole rock muscovite extract for Ijero-Ekiti were analysed for major and trace elements using X-ray fluorescence method. Thin sections prepared for the Emure-Ekiti pegmatites show that quartz, microcline are major mineral constituents. The geochemical results reveals that the Emure-Ekiti and the whole rock samples of Ijero-Ekiti are considerably siliceous, with an average value of 68.72% and 68.6% respectively, while the muscovites extracts average 48.86%. Mean values of major oxides for the Emure, Ijero[whole rock, muscovite] are as follows; Al2O3 -20.42%,[13.74%, 35.15%]; Fe2O3 - 1.83%,[1.24%, 2.19%]; MgO- 0.013%,[0.029%, 1.04%]; CaO - 0.02%,[0.34%, 2.4%]; Na2O – 1.01%,[4.40%, 1.045%]; K2O – 3.17%,[2.77%, 11.07%]. Trace and rare-earth elements result shows that the Emure-Ekiti pegmatites is “barren” – depleted in rare metals Ta, Nb, Cs, Sn, Rb e.t.c and compare favourably with Apomu ,Ago-Iwoye and Ijebu-Ife barren pematites. On the other hand, two of the whole rock samples are mineralized- fairly enriched in rare metals Ta, Nb, Rb while the remaining sample and the muscovite extract are barren; as depicted by the Rb Vs Rb plot and when compared to the other rare metal pegmatites across the world.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Nigerian Journal of Technology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The contents of the articles are the sole opinion of the author(s) and not of NIJOTECH.
NIJOTECH allows open access for distribution of the published articles in any media so long as whole (not part) of articles are distributed.
A copyright and statement of originality documents will need to be filled out clearly and signed prior to publication of an accepted article. The Copyright form can be downloaded from http://nijotech.com/downloads/COPYRIGHT%20FORM.pdf while the Statement of Originality is in http://nijotech.com/downloads/Statement%20of%20Originality.pdf
For articles that were developed from funded research, a clear acknowledgement of such support should be mentioned in the article with relevant references. Authors are expected to provide complete information on the sponsorship and intellectual property rights of the article together with all exceptions.
It is forbidden to publish the same research report in more than one journal.