Scandium-Bearing Minerals in the Bayan Obo Nb-REE-Fe Deposit, Inner Mongolia, China

Uranium (Nuclear Minerals) / Other Sources, RTGs, Sea Water, Thorium, Helium-3, & Fusion Research / Rare Earth Elements

From the famous Bayan Obo Nb-REE-Fe Deposit, Inner Mongolia, China, Aegirine, perrierite-(Ce), and ferrocolumbite, occurring in the Bayan Obo Nb-REE-Fe deposit contain appreciable amounts of scandium. The Sc2O3 content in aegirine (sample TS-15) was 0.34 1.81 wt% (with one exceptionally high value of 3.45%) with an average value of 1.19%. The Sc2O3 content of perrierite-(Ce) (TS-20) was 2.82 3.64% with an average value of 3.26%. In the ferrocolumbite samples (TS-16, TS-23), the Sc2O3 content was 0.20 0.25% with an average value of 0.22% in sample TS-16, and 0.56 1.04% with an average value of 0.67% in sample TS-23.

These data provide the basic information for future possible recovery of scandium as a by-product from the deposit.