ASSESSMENT OF POSSIBILITY OF USING MILKY-WHITE QUARTZ OF NOVOTROITSKОЕ DEPOSIT FOR OBTAINING HIGH-PURITY QUARTZ, SOUTH URALS

Abstract

Relevance. Due to the depletion of reserves of quartz deposits of transparent and semi-transparent granular quartz, which are the traditional sources for obtaining high-purity quartz for the needs of high-tech industries, it is urgent to assess the possibility of using previously unclaimed milky-white quartz deposits for these purposes. The aim of the research is to assess the possibility of using trace element composition of the initial and deep-enriched samples of milk-white quartz of different genetic types of the Novotroitskoe deposit for production of high-purity quartz based on their study. Methods. The prospects are assessed on the basis of a detailed study of the petrographic features and trace element composition of milk-white quartz by ICP-OES spectroscopy. Results. The milky-white quartz of the deposit is coarse-grained, intensely deformed, broken by a system of cracks, with sharp contacts with the host alternating mica shales and quartzites. In the central part, large-giant-grained quartz is blocky and sheet. In the near-contact part, quartz is more mineralized, recrystallized, with the content of newly formed grains in different genetic types from 3 to 50 %. The newly formed grains are formed along the deformation bands, do not contain mineral and fluid inclusions and are characterized by a high degree of purity. In all genetic types, with the exception of recrystallized quartz with a content of newly formed grains of ~50 %, high concentrations of impurity elements were found, in total exceeding the maximum permissible for high-purity quartz. This is due to the presence of a large number of fluid inclusions, and the difficulty of separating them from quartz grains, as well as the difficulty of removing mineral aggregates with quartz. Intensively recrystallized quartz with a total content of newly formed grains >50 % and impurity elements less than 50 ppm is suitable for producing high-purity quartz.

Keywords

• milky-white quartz
• genetic type
• icp-oes spectroscopy
• high-purity quartz
• impurity elements
• fluid inclusions