Rapid determination of the approximate content of bastna spacing diaeresis site in ores using cathodoluminescence imaging

A rapid determination of the rough content of the major rare earth element (REE)-bearing minerals (bastna center dot site, monazite, and xenotime) can lead to a drastic reduction of the time required to analyze mineral ores for the extraction of REE metals, thus enabling the efficient exploration of mines with REE reserves. This study presents a method of using cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging to identify bastna center dot site in mineral ores and determine the rough bastna center dot site content rapidly. By investigating the luminescence colors in CL images and the peaks in CL spectra emitted by minerals in ores that include bastna center dot site, the author found that bastna center dot site can be identified by detecting dark red or red-orange luminescence in CL images of the ores in the wavelength range 420-680 nm or by detecting areas that emitted no luminescence in the 420-680 nm CL images but that do emit pale red luminescence in CL images in the broader wavelength range 350-1000 nm. The bastna center dot site content in the ores can be estimated roughly from the fractional areas identified as bastna center dot site in the CL images. The CL images can be obtained within 30 s. Therefore, CL imaging can prescreen mineral ores for subsequent more precise quantitative analyses (e.g., using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry or electron-probe microanalysis) by iden-tifying mineral ores having a probable high bastna center dot site content. This approach can drastically reduce the time required to explore mines with potential REE reserves.