Uranium Occurrence State and Its Implication for Sandstone-Type Uranium Mineralization within the Hanbazhai Area of the Longchuanjiang Basin, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In general, this is a nice study on the systematics of uranium mineralization in an interesting locality. There are some areas that require edits prior to acceptance however. Several areas of the introduction are confusing and should be reworded for clarity. In general, the authors need to take care to spell out instrument names prior to using abbreviations. In addition, some figures need to be updated, in particular the lithography shown in Fig 2 is unreadable as presented. The results in lines 187-198 are very confusing and difficult to follow. The authors should avoid colloquialisms here too. 

Significant editing is required. I found numerous areas of the manuscript difficult to read due issues with grammar. 

Author Response

Dear  Reviewer:

      Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers' comments concerning our manuscript entitled "Uranium occurrence state and its implication for sandstone-type uranium mineralization within the Hanbazhai Area of the LongChuanJiang Basin, China" (ID:minerals-2473451). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches.The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer's comments are as flowing: 

       （1）The paper was edited for grammar, phrasing, and punctuation. In addition, many edits were made to further improve the flow and readability of the text.

       （2）We update the Figure 2.

       （3）The conclusion of the paper has been revised to convey the information with increased clarity and reduced ambiguity.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

This paper presents the results of a study of uranium minerals in a sandstone-hosted uranium deposit in China.  It is of relevance to mineral systems modelling and geometallurgy, and a potentially very useful contribution given the paucity of similar studies elsewhere in the world. 

 I suggest that the many illustrations also need substantial work, as many have text that is illegible. Substantial reorganisation of the text is required (e.g. the results section mixes rationale for analysis with results and discussion of results).

The paper suffers from very poor English to the point where the authors message is obfuscated, and this needs to be addressed before the paper can be considered for publication. 

Author Response

Dear  Reviewer:    

       Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers' comments concerning our manuscript entitled "Uranium occurrence state and its implication for sandstone-type uranium mineralization within the Hanbazhai Area of the LongChuanJiang Basin, China" (ID:minerals-2473451). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches.The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer's comments are as flowing: 
       （1）The paper was edited for grammar, phrasing, and punctuation. In addition, many edits were made to further improve the flow and readability of the text.

       （2）We update the Figure 2.

       （3）The conclusion of the paper has been revised to convey the information with increased clarity and reduced ambiguity.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Line 9: The beginning of Abstract lacks the discussion of scientific problems and research purposes;

 

Line 15: The results show that ……you can add, for example, The results of electron probe show that...

 

Line 18: The discovery of coffinite and phosphosilicates of uranium are discussed in... You should change are to is to agree with the subject.

 

Line 22: Add a "." The punctuation marks.

 

Line 30: including is more accurate

 

Line 39: "which is often uraninite and coffinite" needs to be changed to "such as uraninite and coffinite"

 

Line 126: "account for" should be "accounts for"

 

Line 137: "account for" should be "accounts for"

 

Line 139: "account for" should be "accounts for"

 

Line 147: Figure 3, Figure 6 The numbers of the small figures in these figures, some are upper case ABCD, some are lower case abcd, it should be preferably in upper case or lower case.

 

Line 231: Methods： This sentence starts with incorrect grammar and missing verbs. Try reconstructing the sentence like this: The spatial distribution of compositional elements in ore block samples obtained by spot selection (Table 4), map analyses (Fig. 6), and backscattering images (Fig. 5) was analyzed using EPMA.

 

Line 234: The punctuation marks separating the two uranium minerals and the two uranium containing minerals are inconsistent and should be in parallel, but the stop sign for uranium minerals and the comma for uranium containing minerals.

 

Line 237: but it with no impact on the qualitative discrimination of uranium mineral species. →but this has no impact on the qualitative discrimination of uranium mineral species.

 

Line 240: Says that …… is rarely seen in the analysis. Is …… the predominant form of uranium? However, 5.1.3 Whether it is reasonable to speculate the elemental characteristics of late fluid based on the formation and elemental characteristics of …… in the discussion of uranium mineralization of late fluid in the uranium mineralization stage.

 

Line 272: There is an error in the sequence number and (6) should be changed to (5).

 

Line 282: Figure 7, Figure 9, the small picture is large and small, you can pay attention to the layout of the map

 

Line 294: Fig 8. 6a-f in the title should be changed to 8a-f

 

Line 300: One more dot.

 

Line 305: biological process reduction → biological reduction process to more accurately indicate biological reduction process

 

Line 308: Chinese periods cannot be used.

 

Line 317: Replace the comma with a period.

 

Line 324: Chinese period cannot be used.

 

Line 338: Chinese periods cannot be used.

 

Line 339: "is" should be replaced by "are" because "pyrites" is plural

 

Line 341: The particle size of strawberry-shaped pyrite is not counted in this paper. Based on the BSE diagram of several strawberry-shaped pyrite in Figure 6, it cannot be judged that strawberry-shaped pyrite is a sedimentary strawberry-shaped pyrite, and the conclusion that the geochemical environment from the sedimentary period to the diagenetic period was a sulfide reduction environment is not supported by sufficient evidence. Further supplement the evidence.

 

Line 354: The identification of the cited document should be placed at the end of the sentence, and no Chinese period should be used.

 

Line 357: The comma should be replaced with a period.

 

Fig.7. There are Chinese characters in it

 

Line 373: According to the enrichment of P and Y in the uranite, the author inferred the characteristics of U, Si, P and Y in the later period of the fluid, but it can be seen from Table 4 that there are two different types of uranite, one rich in Y and one poor in Y, and the contents of other elements of the two types of uranite are also quite different, such as Fe, Ca and Th. The formation of uranite and the properties of the fluid should be further discussed.

 

Line 382: The numbers of the individual figures in Fig 6 are in lower case, so it is best to change to lower case here as well.

 

Line 383: It is said here that uranium minerals adsorbed and grew on the surface of strawberry pyrite, while line 272 (6) says that uranium minerals grew in strawberry pyrite microcrystalline Spaces, which is inconsistent.

 

 

 

The scientific problems of this paper are as follows: the enrichment degree and occurrence state of uranium in uranium ore body are identified, and the reactivation, migration and metallogenic mechanism of uranium are discussed. But the whole paper focuses on the occurrence state of uranium, and the study on the enrichment degree of uranium is not reflected, and the discussion on the reactivation and migration of uranium is not enough to answer scientific questions.

Line 9: The beginning of Abstract lacks the discussion of scientific problems and research purposes;

 

Line 15: The results show that ……you can add, for example, The results of electron probe show that...

 

Line 18: The discovery of coffinite and phosphosilicates of uranium are discussed in... You should change are to is to agree with the subject.

 

Line 22: Add a "." The punctuation marks.

 

Line 30: including is more accurate

 

Line 39: "which is often uraninite and coffinite" needs to be changed to "such as uraninite and coffinite"

 

Line 126: "account for" should be "accounts for"

 

Line 137: "account for" should be "accounts for"

 

Line 139: "account for" should be "accounts for"

 

Line 147: Figure 3, Figure 6 The numbers of the small figures in these figures, some are upper case ABCD, some are lower case abcd, it should be preferably in upper case or lower case.

 

Line 231: Methods： This sentence starts with incorrect grammar and missing verbs. Try reconstructing the sentence like this: The spatial distribution of compositional elements in ore block samples obtained by spot selection (Table 4), map analyses (Fig. 6), and backscattering images (Fig. 5) was analyzed using EPMA.

 

Line 234: The punctuation marks separating the two uranium minerals and the two uranium containing minerals are inconsistent and should be in parallel, but the stop sign for uranium minerals and the comma for uranium containing minerals.

 

Line 237: but it with no impact on the qualitative discrimination of uranium mineral species. →but this has no impact on the qualitative discrimination of uranium mineral species.

 

Line 240: Says that …… is rarely seen in the analysis. Is …… the predominant form of uranium? However, 5.1.3 Whether it is reasonable to speculate the elemental characteristics of late fluid based on the formation and elemental characteristics of …… in the discussion of uranium mineralization of late fluid in the uranium mineralization stage.

 

Line 272: There is an error in the sequence number and (6) should be changed to (5).

 

Line 282: Figure 7, Figure 9, the small picture is large and small, you can pay attention to the layout of the map

 

Line 294: Fig 8. 6a-f in the title should be changed to 8a-f

 

Line 300: One more dot.

 

Line 305: biological process reduction → biological reduction process to more accurately indicate biological reduction process

 

Line 308: Chinese periods cannot be used.

 

Line 317: Replace the comma with a period.

 

Line 324: Chinese period cannot be used.

 

Line 338: Chinese periods cannot be used.

 

Line 339: "is" should be replaced by "are" because "pyrites" is plural

 

Line 341: The particle size of strawberry-shaped pyrite is not counted in this paper. Based on the BSE diagram of several strawberry-shaped pyrite in Figure 6, it cannot be judged that strawberry-shaped pyrite is a sedimentary strawberry-shaped pyrite, and the conclusion that the geochemical environment from the sedimentary period to the diagenetic period was a sulfide reduction environment is not supported by sufficient evidence. Further supplement the evidence.

 

Line 354: The identification of the cited document should be placed at the end of the sentence, and no Chinese period should be used.

 

Line 357: The comma should be replaced with a period.

 

Fig.7. There are Chinese characters in it

 

Line 373: According to the enrichment of P and Y in the uranite, the author inferred the characteristics of U, Si, P and Y in the later period of the fluid, but it can be seen from Table 4 that there are two different types of uranite, one rich in Y and one poor in Y, and the contents of other elements of the two types of uranite are also quite different, such as Fe, Ca and Th. The formation of uranite and the properties of the fluid should be further discussed.

 

Line 382: The numbers of the individual figures in Fig 6 are in lower case, so it is best to change to lower case here as well.

 

Line 383: It is said here that uranium minerals adsorbed and grew on the surface of strawberry pyrite, while line 272 (6) says that uranium minerals grew in strawberry pyrite microcrystalline Spaces, which is inconsistent.

 

 

 

The scientific problems of this paper are as follows: the enrichment degree and occurrence state of uranium in uranium ore body are identified, and the reactivation, migration and metallogenic mechanism of uranium are discussed. But the whole paper focuses on the occurrence state of uranium, and the study on the enrichment degree of uranium is not reflected, and the discussion on the reactivation and migration of uranium is not enough to answer scientific questions.

Author Response

Dear  Reviewer:
      Thank you for your letter and for the reviewers' comments concerning our manuscript entitled "Uranium occurrence state and its implication for sandstone-type uranium mineralization within the Hanbazhai Area of the LongChuanJiang Basin, China" (ID:minerals-2473451). Those comments are all valuable and very helpful for revising and improving our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our researches.The main corrections in the paper and the responds to the reviewer's comments are as flowing: 
     （1）The paper was edited for grammar, phrasing, and punctuation. In addition, many edits were made to further improve the flow and readability of the text.

     （2）The conclusion of the paper has been revised to convey the information with increased clarity and reduced ambiguity.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx