Abstract
The relevance of alteration of chlorite, one of the major constituent minerals of the host rock to uranium ore at Koongarra, to the redistribution of uranium in the vicinity of the ore deposit has been examined. The chlorite alteration is produced by weathering; chlorite is transformed to vermiculite, through regularly interstratified chlorite/vermiculite. The Fe released from chlorite reprecipitates to form iron minerals, possibly ferrihydrite. Vermiculite is then replaced by kaolinite (and possibly smectite), further releasing Fe. On the millimeter scale, an alpha autoradiography study has shown that uranium concentrations are qualitatively proportional to the extent of the alteration; altered chlorite grains having higher uranium concentration. On the meter scale, the X-ray diffraction study has revealed that the abundances of chlorite, vermiculite, and kaolinite correspond well to the low, intermediate, and high uranium concentration zones, respectively. These suggest that the interaction of the uraniferous solution with chlorite causes the alteration of chlorite and the precipitation and sorption of uranium in the alteration products from the solution, and thus, the uranium migration is retarded at Koongarra.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are indebted to P. Duerden of the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation for critically reviewing the manuscript. We are also grateful for the discussions throughout the present study with the staff members of the Environmental Radiochemistry Laboratory of Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute.
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Murakami, T., Isobe, H. & Edis, R. Effects of Chlorite Alteration on Uranium Redistribution in Koongarra, Australia. MRS Online Proceedings Library 212, 741–748 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-212-741
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/PROC-212-741