Rare-Earth Elements in the Swedish Alum Shale Formation: A Study of Apatites in Fetsjön, Västerbotten | Sällsynta jordartsmetaller i Sveriges alunskiffer: en studie av apatiter i Fetsjön, Västerbotten
2019
Engström, Fredrik
The Caledonian alum shales of Sweden host a vast number of economically interesting metals. In Fetsjön, Västerbotten, the shales contain significant amounts of rare-earth elements, vanadium, molybdenum and uranium. As metals with a multitude of high-technological applications, the former rare-earth elements (REEs) are particularly attractive in a world where the supply may be exhausted as the demand continuously increase while new deposits are not being discovered fast enough. Meanwhile, the latter uranium notably constitutes as an unwanted secondary product during the extraction of rare-earth elements. As the mineral association of the REEs in Fetsjön is unknown, the intent of this study is to analyze and thus determine their mineralogical expression. The assumed REE-bearing mineral apatite was confirmed to host the rare-earths in the Fetsjön shales after microscopy and spectrometry analyses.
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