Minerals, Volume 15, Issue 2

Slags containing critical minerals concentrated in artificial phases, so-called engineered artificial minerals (EnAMs), are a novel source of critical raw materials. To liberate the EnAMs, the slags need to be comminuted, reducing the size of the par...

The unreasonable parameters of mill liner lifter bars will not only decrease the operating rate of the mill and increase electricity consumption but, also, seriously restrict the production capacity of the mill. Therefore, optimizing the parameters o...

Mining activities generate substantial amounts of waste rock, which are often disposed of in waste rock piles. Drainage from these piles can pose serious environmental risks. It is crucial to reliably predict drainage properties in order to effective...

Karst bauxites are valuable terrestrial records of paleoclimate and tectonic evolution formed under tropical to subtropical conditions during the subaerial exposure of carbonate platforms. This study explores Croatian bauxite deposits within the Adri...

Late Permian–Early Triassic basic rocks, which are widespread in the western margin of the Yangtze block (SW China), provide critical information for regional tectonic evolution. The Qiaoqi intrusion, distributed in the western margin of the Ya...

Drawing on extensive geological surveys, as well as systematic mineralogical, petrological, and geochemical analyses, the study evaluates the provenance, tectonic setting, paleo-redox conditions, and paleoclimate characteristics of the Wufeng Formati...

The Meso- to Neoproterozoic magmatic rocks cropping out in the western Yangtze Block are pivotal to comprehending the tectonic-magmatic revolutionary processes of the South China Craton during the breakup and assembly of Rodinia. A combined study inc...

Production of rare earth enrichment from the in situ leaching solution of ion-adsorbed rare earth ores greatly decreases the treatment scale and significantly reduces production energy consumption and cost. However, the generated rare earth enrichmen...

A slurry’s rheological properties significantly affect flotation performance. Flotation variables—including mineral composition, slurry concentration, and ore particle size—influence these properties by altering the interaction forc...

The Arabian–Nubian Shield (ANS) hosts numerous volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits formed in submarine volcanic settings and enriched by hydrothermal processes, making it a critical region for mineral exploration due to the types of de...

Ion-adsorption-type rare-earth element (iREE) deposits, a primary source of global heavy REE (HREE) ores, have attracted wide attention worldwide due to their concentrated distributions and irreplaceable role in the field of cutting-edge technologies...

The Xiahe-Hezuo area in Gansu Province, China, located in the West Qinling Metallogenic Belt, is characterized by complex regional geological structures and abundant mineral resources. A number of gold-polymetallic deposits have been identified in th...

This study focused on the surface microtextures of quartz grains deposited by dam-break floods in Jiacha Gorge, situated in the middle reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River. Utilizing a scanning electron microscope (SEM), 200 quartz grains were observ...

This study investigates the correlations between the wear conditions of conical pick cutters and key variables such as the physical properties (shape, aspect ratio, roughness), explosive potential, health and safety implications, and particle size di...

Experiments were conducted to evaluate domestic low-grade laterites and serpentinite waste as potential secondary sources of nickel and magnesium and to assess leaching residues for carbon dioxide adsorption. Solids were leached chemically using sulf...

This paper presents a new account of the mineralogy of the bat guano deposit in Gaura cu Muscă Cave, Locvei Mountains, Romania. The cave, which, in its main proportion, is a wet, “live” cave, has a dry portion hosting guano. Biogenic...

In order to find a short, economically feasible process for chalcopyrite preconcentration and to provide a reference for the preconcentration of similar copper sulfide ores, the particle size characteristics of the crushed products from a high-pressu...

The Azigan Formation and the Lower Member of the Tahaqi Formation, dating to the Late Pennsylvanian, are pivotal exploration targets within the Tarim Basin. This region exhibits extensive siliciclastic-carbonate mixed sediments. However, the lack of...

Coal is a carrier of geological information, preserving paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic data from geological history. The Ordos Basin hosts abundant coal resources with significant potential for exploration and development. The geochemical prope...

The high-efficiency dewatering of ultra-fine tailings is one of the most prominent challenges in tailings thickening. The two-step shear flocculation process represents a promising practical method to achieve the dewatering of ultra-fine tailings. In...

Transfer chutes are crucial components in handling bulk materials using belt conveyors. The flow of material through these devices is influenced by several variables. Traditionally, these devices have been designed based on prior experience. However,...

The Ossa-Morena Zone (SW Iberian Massif) hosts the largest set of Cambro–Ordovician alkaline magmatic plutons related to the Palaeozoic rifting of the northern Gondwana margin so far described. An organized framework for their classification at...

Germanium (Ge) has been recognized as a critical strategic metal due to its high-technology implications. It is predominantly found in sphalerite within the Pb-Zn deposits, whose genesis is closely related to chloride-bearing hydrothermal activities....

The Jiangnan Orogen (South China) hosts abundant gold deposits, but the absence of accurate constraints on the ore-forming age and process has resulted in significant controversy regarding their origins. The Yangwantuan gold deposit, located in the c...

Heavy metal pollution in surface soils poses significant environmental and health risks, yet the factors driving its spatial distribution remain poorly understood in certain regions. This study investigates the distribution and key influencing factor...

Due to the gradual depletion of traditional metallic mineral resources, the search for new potential sources is an important issue. One such source is coal deposits. The extraction of metals from coal is a way to produce clean energy. This study pres...

Porphyry molybdenum deposits hold significant potential for deep exploration. However, in the Dasuji molybdenum deposit, quartz porphyry, granite porphyry, and syenogranite are sporadically exposed beneath low mountains and hilly terrain, limiting th...

With the rapid development of analytical techniques, especially the in situ Lu-Hf, Rb-Sr, U-Pb, fission-track and (U-Th)/He dating of garnet, zircon, apatite and other accessory minerals, several important geological issues have been successfully res...

In the archaeometallurgical study of iron nails to investigate Roman manufacturing processes, multi-analyte characterization provides information on alloy composition and microstructure. Nails from the Roman sites of Forua, Aloria, and Iuliobriga (no...

The selective separation of adjacent rare earth elements (REEs), such as La(III) and Ce(III), is a critical challenge in hydrometallurgy due to their similar chemical properties. This work evaluates the performance of non-dispersive solvent extractio...

Geochemical data serve as crucial references for prospecting, and the effective extraction of prospecting information from such data determines the success rate of exploration. In the era of big data, novel prospecting methods based on geochemical da...

During the Mesozoic, NE Asia experienced intense tectonic and magmatic activity, including the closure of the Mongol–Okhotsk Ocean (MOO), the subduction and demise of the Mudanjiang Oceanic Plate (MOP), and the continuous westward subduction of...

To increase the interaction between a catalyst and large pollutant molecules in industrial wastewater, this study employed worm-like micelles created by surfactants as soft templates for synthesizing structured hydrotalcites with high specific surfac...

The flotation separation of sphalerite (ZnS) and pyrite (FeS₂) in a copper sulfate (CuSO₄)–butyl xanthate (BX) system is challenging because the indiscriminate activation of Cu²⁺ gives them similar floatability. To this end, the suitability of...

Lateritic nickel deposits frequently contain elevated concentrations of chromium. The recovery of this fraction of chromium resources can enhance the comprehensive utilization of resources while simultaneously reducing the energy consumption and envi...

The results of a detailed examination of an anomalously PGM-rich anorthositic fragment from the Main Reef of the Yoko-Dovyren massif (Northern Transbaikalia, Russia) are presented. This fragment is to represent a 15 mm core drilled out from a typical...

Organic matter (OM) is the primary carrier for the generation and occurrence of shale oil and gas. The combination of sequence stratigraphy and elemental geochemistry plays a crucial role in the study of organic matter enrichment mechanisms in marine...

Red sandstone is widely distributed in southern China. Due to the significant difference in mechanical properties before and after hydration and its poor water stability, red sandstone often triggers landslide accidents. In this paper, red sandstone...

The Mahu Sag, where the Mahu 1 well block is located, is one of the most important hydrocarbon-rich depressions in the Junggar Basin, NW China. The Permian Upper Wuerhe Formation (UWF) constitutes the primary layer of the unconventional tight oil res...

At least three tephra layers, with ages around 2 Ma, crop out in the Pleistocene marine sequence of the Crotone basin, in southern Italy. We present the petrography and the mineral and glass chemistry of these layers, in order to correlate them with...

In this study, we investigated the effect of particle size and solids loading on the magnesite yield in the direct aqueous mineral carbonation of heat-activated lizardite. Experimentation was conducted under single-step reaction conditions (130 bar p...

Deep-sea Fe-Mn polymetallic nodules formed nowadays at the deep-sea ocean floor were evaluated as promising critical raw materials (CRMs). Here, we report results of polymetallic nodules from the H22_NE block of the Interoceanmetal (IOM) exploration...

This systematic study was conducted on the separation of yttrium (Y) and erbium (Er) from a chloride medium using a mixed extractant system composed of [N1444][P507] and TRPO (trialkylphosphine oxide) in kerosene. This investigation focused on the ef...

The objective of this study is to utilize a simulation employing advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) from photodegradation to examine the treatment of textile effluents. The selection of textile effluents as the material to be degraded is justified b...

The Nevşehir coals are located in the Central Anatolian Crystalline Complex (CACC), Türkiye, and no reports exist on trace element, nitrogen, and carbon isotope composition data of the Nevşehir coals. The present study aims to geochemi...

The acid neutralization process is widely recognized for its effectiveness in the dealkalization of red mud, and it faces challenges in solid–liquid separation due to the formation of numerous colloidal components. This study investigated the i...

This paper investigates the rare earth (RE) leaching process of weathered crust leached rare earth ores (WCE-DREOs) with different ore particle sizes. Ore particles were categorized into seven distinct size ranges: −0.106 mm, +0.106 mm to &minu...

The Falakra geosite is located at the northern shoreline of the island of Limnos, Greece, and exhibits an array of unusual geomorphological features developed in late Cenozoic sandstones. Deposition of the primary clastic sediments was overprinted by...

The entrainment of gangue particles always increases the ash content of coal flotation concentrate. In the present work, the adjustment for entrainment of kaolinite in coal flotation was studied focusing on the parameters including solid concentratio...

Existing coal filling mining technologies face significant challenges of controlled surface subsidence, efficient utilization of waste rock in coal mines, and a shortage of adequate filling materials. This study introduces an innovative cut-and-fill...