New data on the rare-earths - rare-metal mineralization in pegmatites of the Slyudyanogorskoe muscovite deposit in the South Urals

Popova V.I, Muftakhov V. A., Popov V. A., Blinov I.A., Kotlyarov V. A.

Zapiski RMO (Proceedings of the Russian Mineralogical Society). 2015. V. 144. N 5. P. 96-111

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Language: Russian

Abstract

The Slyudyangorskoe muscovite deposit in the South Urals was explored and exploited in 1926—1957. By the mid-1950s, 104 veins of quartz-feldspar pegmatites including 21 muscovite-bearing veins have been found. Pegmatites with giant black Y-bearing epidote crystals are crosscut by veins with giant muscovite crystals, which, in turn, are intersected by veins of two-mica quartz-two-fel dspar pegmatites with rare metal and rare earth mineralization. Microprobe composition of complex Ti-Ta-Nb oxides [fergusonite(Y), samarskite-(Y), euxenite-(Y), polycrase-(Y), columbite-(Fe), and pyrochlore supergroup], as well as uraninite, ilmenorutile, scheelite, Y-bearing epidote, some sulfides and rock-forming minerals from the Slyudyanogorskoe deposit is characterized. The morphology and interrelation of minerals indicate that they are the result of growth in cavities rather than metasomatic replacement of gneisses, as was considered before. Thus, the rare metal and rare earth minerals in the Slyudorudnik area are promising to be found in igneous rocks (granitic muscovite-quartz-feldspar pegmatites with the Nb-Ta-Ti-Y-U-W-Mo mineralization) rather than in «metasomatites».

Key words: complex Ti-Ta-Nb oxides, uraninite, pegmatites, Slyudyanogorskoe deposit, South Urals.