• Submit to Minerals Login Register
• MDPI
• Journals A-Z
• For Authors
• For Editors
• About
• Open Access Policy

• Abstract
• Full-Text PDF [422 KB]
• Full-Text XML
• Article Versions Notes

• Article Statistics
• Google Scholar
• Order Reprints

• Cite this article
• Export to BibTeX
• Export to EndNote

• [+] on DOAJ
• Figueiredo, M
• Silva, TPereira da
• Oliveira, Dde
• Rosa, D
• [+] on Google Scholar
• Figueiredo, M
• Silva, TPereira da
• Oliveira, Dde
• Rosa, D
• [+] on PubMed
• Figueiredo, M
• Silva, TPereira da
• Oliveira, Dde
• Rosa, D

•  CiteULike
•  Facebook
•  Mendeley
•  Twitter

This article is

• freely available
• re-usable

Minerals 2012, 2(4), 426-434; doi:10.3390/min2040426

Article

Indium-Carrier Minerals in Polymetallic Sulphide Ore Deposits: A Crystal Chemical Insight into an Indium Binding State Supported by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Data

Maria-Ondina Figueiredo ^1,2,* , Teresa Pereira da Silva ² , Daniel de Oliveira ²  and Diogo Rosa ³

¹ Department of Materials Science, Faculty of Sciences and Technology, New University of Lisbon, Campus da Caparica, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal ² National Laboratory for Energy and Geology (LNEG), Unit of Mineral Resources and Geophysics, Apartado 7586, 2610-999 Amadora, Portugal ³ Department of Petrology and Economic Geology, Nationale Geologiske Undersøgelser for Danmark og Grønland (GEUS), Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 København K, Denmark

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 28 August 2012; in revised form: 17 October 2012 / Accepted: 18 October 2012 / Published: 6 November 2012

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Economic Minerals)

Download PDF Full-Text [422 KB, uploaded 9 November 2012 16:21 CET]

Abstract: Indium is a typical chalcophile element of the Earth’s crust, with a very low average content that seldom forms specific minerals, occurring mainly as dispersed in polymetallic sulphides. Indium recovery is based primarily on zinc extraction from sphalerite, the prototype of so-called tetrahedral sulphides, wherein metal ions fill half of the available tetrahedral sites within the cubic closest packing of sulphur anions, leaving interstices accessible for further in-filling. Ascertaining the tendency towards the establishment of In-In interactions through an x-ray absorption spectroscopy approach would efficiently contribute to understanding the behavior of indium in the carrier mineral. The successful results of applying such a near-edge absorption (XANES) study at In L₃-edge to samples collected at the Lagoa Salgada polymetallic orebody in the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) are described and the crystal chemistry of indium is re-evaluated, disclosing a potential clue for the metal binding state in polymetallic sulphides.

Keywords: indium; carrier minerals; polymetallic sulphide deposits; Iberian Pyrite Belt; crystal chemistry; XANES

Article Statistics

Cite This Article