Rare Metals (Ta-Nb-Sn) Mineralization Potential of Pegmatites of Igangan Area, Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The study was carried out to determine the rare metal mineralization potential of some pegmatites associated with metasediments in the Igangan 240 NW sheet. Geological mapping on a scale of 1:50,000 revealed the pegmatites intrude metasediments and geochemical analysis for major, trace and rare earth elements were carried out using ICP MS/AES. Petrographic studies reveal a mineral assemblage of quartz, microcline and tourmaline; SEM studies revealed garnet and tourmaline to be close to the spessartine end-member and schorl respectively with albite occurring as the dominant plagioclase feldspar in the pegmatites. Result of geochemical analysis revealed SiO2 with an average of 73.91% in the whole rock pegmatite Al2O3 with an average of 13.93%, and average concentration of 0.57%, 4.3% and 4.77% for CaO, Na2O and K2O respectively. It also revealed average concentration of 29 ppm, 153 ppm, 30 ppm, 118 ppm and 129 ppm for ...