The Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 13 No 2 (2009): 194 – 203

 

 

 

DETERMINATION OF HEAVY MINERALS IN ‘AMANG’

FROM KAMPUNG GAJAH EX-MINING AREA

 

(Penentuan Mineral Berat Dalam ‘Amang’

Dari Kawasan Bekas Lombong Kampung Gajah)

 

Zaini Hamzah^1*, Nor Monica Ahmad^1*,  Ahmad Saat²

 

¹Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti

²International Education Centre (INTEC),

Universiti Teknologi MARA, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan

 

*Corresponding authors: zainihamzah@live.com, missika@hotmail.com

 

 

Abstract

‘Amang’ known as a tin tailing, was left abundant in ex-mining area. It is rich in heavy minerals containing rare earth elements. Rare earth elements have various applications in different types of industries. In this study, Kinta Valley in the State of Perak was chosen as the study area because it used to be an active and the largest tin mine. The aim of this study is to measure the amount of rare earth present in these heavy minerals i.e. ilmenite and monazite. Soil samples containing `amang` were taken to recover its heavy minerals by separating them into individual minerals. The separation involves a gravitational separation and magnetic separation using large volume of water and strong hand magnet respectively. Sample containing monazite, ilmenite, and zircon were separated by 8000 G hand magnet. The morphology of each mineral was investigated by computer controlled scanning electron microscopy coupled with an energy-dispersive X-ray detector (CC-SEM/EDX). Surface morphology studies from SEM show that most samples are rounded to subrounded. The minerals were digested using microwave digestion system, and then measured for its rare earth elemental content using inductively couple plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The results show that soil and sediment in this study area contain heavy minerals monozite, ilminite and zircon. The separation method chosen for this study work well and the minerals were confirmed by SEM/EDX results. ICP-OES give the rare earth elements content of these minerals.

 

Keywords: Heavy minerals, ‘amang’, rare earth element (REE), CC-SEM/EDX, ICP-OES

 

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