Tanco mine
| Tanco Mine | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| General information about the mine | |||
| Information about the mining company | |||
| Start of operation | 1969 | ||
| Funded raw materials | |||
| Degradation of | Pollucite / Spodumene / Wodginite | ||
| Degradation of | Spodumene | ||
| Degradation of | Wodginite | ||
| Geographical location | |||
| Coordinates | 50 ° 25 '48 " N , 95 ° 26' 47" W | ||
|
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| {{{NUTS3_BEZEICHNUNG}}} ( NUTS3 ) | Manitoba | ||
| province | Manitoba | ||
| Country | Canada | ||
| District | Manitoba | ||
The Tanco Mine is a Cesium - Lithium - Tantalum - mine in the Canadian province of Manitoba . The mine is on the shores of Bernic Lake . The ore deposit consists of a granitic pegmatite - orebody . Above all, pollucite , a cesium ore, spodumene , a lithium ore and Wodginite , a tantalum ore , are mined. Above all, pollucite has been mined since 1992. The deposit, which has been the world's dominant source of cesium for decades, harbors so much cesium ore that, assuming constant global consumption, it will only be exhausted after two to three thousand years.
Geology, deposit, mineralogy
Pegmatites are igneous rocks in which large amounts of the incompatible elements accumulate through slow cooling . In the ore body, which is partially under Bernic Lake, mainly cesium, lithium and tantalum have accumulated. The deposit is strongly structured, which facilitates the extraction of the various minerals.
After extensive test drilling, the pollucite occurrence was estimated at 350,000 tons of Cs 2 O, this corresponds to about two thirds of the world-wide known occurrences. With an estimated consumption of 30 tons per year, the deposits would last for more than 2000 years, although the global demand for cesium is almost completely covered by this mine. The mined pollucite contains approx. 24% Cs 2 O.
history
The pegmatite deposit was discovered in 1929. Although there have been several attempts to exploit the deposit, it was not until 1969 that major mining began. Tantalum ore in particular was mined until the early 1990s. After the Cabot Corporation bought the mine in 1992, mainly pollucite was extracted and processed directly into cesium formate . Cesium formate is used as an additive for drilling fluid to increase the density. Saturated cesium formate solution in water has a density of 2.3 g / cm 3
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b TANCO —Tantalum Mining Corporation of Canada, Ltd. (PDF; 126 kB) Cabot Corporation. 2001. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
- ↑ PD Kremer, Lin: Report of Activities 2006: Structural geology of the Bernic Lake area, Bird River greenstone belt, southeastern Manitoba (NTS 52L6): implications for rare element pegmatite emplacement (PDF; 6.0 MB) Manitoba Geological Survey. Pp. 206-213. 2006. Archived from the original on July 22, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 3, 2011.
- ^ A b P. Černý, FM Simpson: The Tanco Pegmatite at Bernic Lake, Manitoba: X. Pollucite . In: Canadian Mineralogist . 16, 1978, pp. 325-333.
- ^ The Tanco Mine . davidkjoyce.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
- ↑ a b c William C. Butterman, William E. Brooks, Robert G. Reese, Jr .: Cesium (pdf; 141 kB) United States Geological Survey. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
- ↑ Désirée E. Polyak: Cesium (PDF; 84 kB) United States Geological Survey. Retrieved October 17, 2009.
- ↑ Donald E. Garrett: Handbook of lithium and natural calcium chloride: their deposits, processing, uses and properties . Academic Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-12-276152-2 , pp. 150-157.
- ^ National Materials Advisory Board (US). Committee on the Technical Aspects of Critical and Strategic Materials: Tantalum and columbium supply and demand outlook . National Academies, 1983, p. 23 (Retrieved February 3, 2011).
