Titanate-Zircon-Apatite Bearing Diorite-Monzodiorites and their Resource Potentiality

Abstract

Placer beach sand deposits are considered as the reserve for ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, xenotime. The global reserve for titanium, zirconium and rare earth metals is accounted from the distribution of these miner-als in the beach sand. It is proposed to look into Archean diorites and monzodiorites as the potential resource for these minerals. These rocks contain sphene, ilmenite, zircon and apatite in trace amount but account for about 3 wt% of TiO,, 700 ppm of Zr, and about 500-800 ppm of rare earth in bulk. The mineralogical and geochemical characteristic of such rocks is discussed. The potentia-lity of sphene as a resource for titanium is highlighted