Mineralogical and Geochemical Characterization of the Northern Phosphatic Series of the Sra-Ouertane Basin (Tunisia)

Abstract

The phosphates lying across the Sra Ouertane area are generally classified as phosphates poor in P₂O_5, in respect of those available in the central and eastern basins. Still, the setting up of an appropriate enrichment method could well help in enhancing the effective exploitation of such deposits. Among the enrichment associated methods, the flotation technique seems worth applying as a potentially yield enhancing strategy. The present work is aimed to characterize the phosphatic series, available across the Northern basin, by means of geochemistry and mineralogy, while considering a suitable treatment protocol fit for optimizing the yield’s commercial and marketing potentials. Mineralogical studies of specimens sampled from geological sections of the phosphatic series and trenches, as implemented via X-ray diffraction, prove to reveal that these samples are predominantly composed of hydroxylapatite, calcite, quartz and feldspars. The geochemistry of major and trace elements, administered by means of X-ray fluorescence analyses, appear to indicate thrie remarkable enrichment in SiO_2, Cr, U, Zn and CaO.