Study of Rare Earth Elements in Tin Tailings from Mining Activities on Bangka Island
Delita Ega Andini (a*), Fajar Indah Puspita Sari (b)
a) Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Bangka Belitung, Merawang, Bangka 33172, Indonesia
*delitaegaandini[at]gmail.com
b) Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Bangka Belitung, Merawang, Bangka 33172, Indonesia
Abstract
Rare earth element (REE) is a material that is quite attractive to the defense sector and the modern high biotechnology production material industry. In Indonesia, one of the rare earths comes from the association of rare earth elements with acidic rocks (granitic) and phosphatic deposits. In the acid rock environment, REE deposits are found as associated minerals in placer tin mining such as monazite and xenotime in Bangka Island. This research was conducted at an active tin mine on land and at sea in Bangka Island. There are several sampling locations including primary tin mines and alluvial tin mines on land and at sea. Samples taken came from tailings in the process of washing tin ore using jigs in tin mining. Samples taken were then analyzed using X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) to find out how much REE content was in each sample. In tin mining in the sea, the element of cerium (Ce) is dominant, which is 10718.11 ppm or 1.07% found in the tailings sample in the sluice box at the sea mining site Air Kantung Sungailiat using production suction vessel. Whereas in tin mining on land the element cerium (Ce) also became the dominant element, which is 481.23 ppm or 0.04% in Pemali area which is the primary tin deposit.
Keywords: Rare earth elements; Tin tailing; Bangka Island
Topic: Chemistry