2013

Polymetallic ore in Hellas

2013








Summary report
Rare Earths in Hellas



Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2. History ............................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.1 Wider geological review ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
2.2 Bathymetry oceanography .............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3. The polymetallic ore ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1 Underwater area ................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.1 Sampling ................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.2 Sediment types, measurement techniques of - radiation ................ Error!
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3.1.3 Correlation of the radiation and the depth from the sea surface, the
sediments and the granulometry ................ Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.4 - radiation of underwater areas of densification ..... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
3.1.5 Comparison of underwater areas of densification with its local
environment ............................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.6 Comparison of the undersea densification region with the wider
submarine environment .............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.7 Schematic representation of the sediments with the aid of - radiation
................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.8 Concentrations of minor minerals and the use of special radiation as a
drawing ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.1.9 Contribution of U, Th in the special - radiation of the sand ............. Error!
Bookmark not defined.
3.2 Today's Coastal Zone.......................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.1 Distribution of the radiation along the coast ....... Error! Bookmark not
defined.
3.2.2 Distribution of uranium along the coast, estimates of probable reserves
of uranium (thorium) .................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.3 Correlation of U concentrations and - radiation at the coastal sand
................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
3.2.4 Chemical composition of mineral sand (master data) ..... Error! Bookmark
not defined.
3.2.5 Concentrations of Rare Earths ................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
4. Conclusions ........................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Appendix I .......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Appendix II .......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.


BASIC INFORMATION
Initial research that took place in the past has revealed the existence of
a significant number of Rare Earth (RE) metals and other elements. The
research included: measurements of natural radioactivity and
preliminary sampling of both coastal and seabed sands, seismic test
work, mineralogical and chemical determinations.

According to these studies, a good part of sand ore reserves is very easily
accessible and exploitable and in addition, there is an anticipation that
based on the geological status and geographical formation of the
deposits, a huge amount of reserves, located on the seabed (nearby the
coast), could also be explored.

Geological calculations in the past estimate the reserves of the
interesting beach sands to 5,625,000 tones (9kmx50mx5m=2,250,000m
3

of a specific weight of 2.5t/m
3
).

On the other hand they estimate the nearby seabed reserves at the huge
amount of 480 million tones (12kmx800mx20m depth) for a sea depth
of 8-25m (based on the above calculations in 2001 they estimated a total
value of the included elements at a rate of 300 billion $, taking into
account a recovery of 50%).


Preliminary treatment of the beach sands through sieving, gravimetric
and magnetic separation revealed high volume traces of Lanthanum,
Cerium, Niobium, Titanium Oxide, Uranium, Thorium and Gold, and the
possibility of obtaining preconcentrates of enriched contents of the RE
and TiO
2
.

Several beneficiation tests were performed on bulk samples of the
beach sand in 2003-2004. The samples (500 - 1,000 Kg each) were taken
from different places of the beach and their mean content reached
approx. 1.0 - 1.5% total RE, 2.5% TiO2, 50 ppm U, and 1,000 - 2,000 ppm
Th. The grain size of the samples was less than 1mm and the main
minerals were allanite (30-40%), titanite 18-20%, epidote (~10%),
Ferrum minerals (15-25%), ghaetite, magnetite, titano-magnetite,
amphibole (~4%), feldspars (2-3%), quartz and biotite. The RE are almost
exclusively included in allanite, while the Ti is included mainly in titanite
and it is also associated with titano-magnetite, amphibole and epidote.

The results obtained confirmed that:

With a single stage of screening, necessary to remove pebbles and
other undesirable coarser material, it is possible to remove a

coarse fraction of about 20-25% by weight of the material with
very little losses of RE or Ti.
With a stage of magnetic separation (wet or dry) using a magnetic
separator of very low intensity it is possible to remove another
fraction of about 20% of the initial material with null losses.
A stage of gravimetric separation by industrial shaking tables was
able to remove 35-40% of the initial material with very low losses.
Another fraction of about 4-10% of the remaining preconcentrate
(~1-2% of the initial weight) can be separated as an individual Ti
preconcentrate.

Finally, two final preconcentrates could be obtained:

A) RE preconcentrate of a weight of about 18-20% of the feed (beach
sand) with typical analysis:

Rare Earth % Oxides %
La 1.75 TiO
2
~6.5
Ce 3.16 SiO
2
~32.5
Pr 0.29 Al
2
O
3
~12.5
Nd 0.87 Fe
2
O
3
~22.0
Th 0.89 CaO ~13.0
Sm 0.09 MgO ~3.0
Gd 0.10
Y 0.07
Total RE 6.0 - 6.5 Rare Earth Oxides ~9.0

Th 5,000 - 10,000 ppm
U 150 ppm Total ~99.0


B) Ti preconcentrate of a weight of about 1-2% of the feed (beach
sand) with typical analysis:
Oxides %
TiO
2
~30.0
SiO
2
~30.0
Al
2
O
3
~4.0
Fe
2
O
3
~5.0
CaO ~25.0
RE Oxides ~1.5

Total ~95.5

Th 500 1,000 ppm

Another potential byproduct could result by the intensive magnetic
minerals, which are separated by the aforementioned low intensity
magnetic separation. The above mentioned are considered to be the
optimum results obtainable by separation using physical methods.


Concentrations of oxides, RE, U and Th in four sand samples (2 original ones and 2 slightly
enriched)
Original samples Slightly enriched
%oxides\No 4 1 9 8
SiO
2
53.50 51.35 32.10 34.25
Al
2
O
3
10.45 10.10 9.30 9.70
Fe
2
O
3
16.35 16.80 24.16 21.90
FeO 3.80 4.45 2.45 3.75
MgO 1.00 0.85 1.50 1.66
MnO 0.13 0.13 0.27 0.28
TiO
2
2.35 2.50 6.50 6.35
CaO

5.35 5.20 10.65 11.05
K
2
O

2.55 2.20 0.66 0.72
Na
2
O 2.00 2.00 0.77 0.85
Cr
2
O
3
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
P
2
O
5
- 0.85 - -
LOI 1.25 1.40 2.96 2.90
Sum 98.73 97.83 91.32 93.41
ppm
La 2179 2000 5360 5475
Ce

7110 3880 10023 10345
Pr 412 380 1038 1079
Nd 1258 1180 3250 3289
Sm 143 144 407 400
Eu 27 27 89 74
Gd 357 397 1048 1071
Tb

20 22 56 60
Dy 47 49 132 133
Ho

9 10 24 24
Er 35 38 97 100
Tm

6 6 11 11
Sum
(La-Tm)
11603 8133 21535 22061
U

51 54 170 175
Th 1710 1283 2089 2378
Y

140 151 409 435
Zr 64 82 138 148
Nb

199 199 575 527
Hf 17 4 10 9
Sum 2181 1773 3391 3672
Total(%) 100.11 98.82 93.81 95.98

Mineralogical composition of sand ore sample from the coastal area


Coastal Area : L 9 km X W 50 m = 450.000 sm
Black sands at the considered coastal area

Sections at he considered coastal area



The special radiation data of the submarine zone
No Depth of the
sample from
the sea surface
(m)
Weight of the
sample (gr)
Description of the
sample
Special
radiation
1 33 127.33 sludge 98
2 19 241.27 fine grain sand 112
3 4 183.01 fine grain sand 382
4 5,9 242.47 coarse grain sand 198
5 21 63.57 seaweed sludge 236
6 28 203.63 sludge 73
7 33 143.7 sludge 139
8 24 113.01 seaweed sludge 150
9 5 178.30 medium grain sand 465
10 6 170.27 coarse grain sand 264
11 14 263.77 coarse grain sand with
shells
94
12 34 139.91 sludge 129
13 27 256.91 sludge 70
14
15 7 181.01 coarse grain sand 138
16 3 245.79 coarse grain sand 109
17 19 318.29 coarse grain sand with
shells
88
18 27 197.03 sludge 91
19 29 109.81 sludge 136
20 19 159.05 fine grain sand 201
21 2,75 236.79 medium grain sand 232
22 2,5 180.35 medium grain sand 516
23 20 143.63 sludge 104
24 28 153.83 sludge 97
25 22 44.57 seaweed sludge 269
26 12 340.59 fine grain sand 308
27 28 214.95 medium grain sand 153
28 3 260.73 medium grain sand 158
29 18 337.57 clay sand 103
30 28 281.56 sludge 74