Pseudorutile-leucoxene-quartz ores of Timan ‒ a new genetic type of titanium raw materials: prospects for industrial development

Abstract

The two largest deposits of Russia – Yaregskoye and Pizhemskoye belong to the same genetic type; hydrothermal-metamorphic indigenous deposits. They are located in the same Timan structure at a distance of no more than 230 km from each other. According to the total approved reserves and forecast resources of titanium dioxide, they are approaching 60% of the all-Russian and will form the basis of industrial titanium raw materials used in Russia in the near future. In the interests of technological mineralogy, morphological features, internal structure, chemical composition of grains of the two main titanium mineral phases ‒ leucoxene and pseudorutile, TiO2 polymorphs, as well as the composition of mineral microinclusions in these phases have been studied in detail. The compositions of all mineral phases in polished preparations of leucoxene and pseudorutile were analyzed by SEM-EDS method at the Institute of Geology and Geochronology of the Precambrian of the RAS, 147 chemical analyses were obtained at the point (3 µk) and many images of polished grains of anatase, leucoxene and pseudorutile were scanned over the area (20×20 µk). In the leucoxene grains themselves, 12 mineral phases were diagnosed and characterized in the form of inclusions: pseudorutile, rutile, anatase, quartz, hydromuscovite-illite, kaolinite, siderite, zircon, xenotime, pyrite, florencite, monazite and kularite. TiO2 polymorphs are verified by Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis. New evidence has been obtained that the transformation of ilmenite into leucoxene occurs hydrothermally through intermediate phases ‒ Fe-rutile and pseudorutile; the enlargement of rutile crystals in the leucoxene grain itself is shown; the presence of secondary crystals of siderite, florencite and others inside the studied grains.