Abstract
Myanmar has a drier sub-tropical climate than countries that typically contain Ni laterite deposits, but hosts a Ni laterite deposit at Tagaung Taung. Given that Ni enrichment processes in the Tagaung Taung deposit are poorly understood, we investigated the geochemical and mineralogical evolution of two weathering profiles developed on different bedrocks in the central part of Myanmar: a partly serpentinized harzburgite at Tagaung and an almost completely serpentinized peridotite at Budaung. The whole-rock geochemical data indicate that Si was retained relative to Fe and Al in the weathering profiles. Nickel has been enriched to contents as high as 4.89 wt.% NiO in the saprolite layers at Tagaung, whereas the saprolite layers at Budaung contain ≤ 1.55 wt.% NiO. Smectite is the main mineral that formed in the saprolite layers at Tagaung, whereas secondary serpentine dominates the saprolite layers at Budaung. Microscopic observations indicate that Ni-smectite (> 10 wt.% NiO), which is only observed at Tagaung, formed as a replacement product of orthopyroxene. In addition to the high Ni fixation capacity of smectite relative to secondary serpentine, Ni-rich pore water derived from the dissolution of olivine likely contributed to the high Ni contents of smectite. Our results imply that high-grade Ni laterite deposits may develop on unaltered or partly serpentinized harzburgite under the climatic conditions typical of Myanmar.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Tin Tun and Soe Yi for their assistance with fieldwork in the Tagaung Taung mining area. We also thank A. Matsumoto and T. Endo for their technical assistance with the XRF and EPMA analyses. Constructive comments by Editor-in-Chief G. Beaudoin and Associate Editor R. Romer, as well as an anonymous reviewer, greatly improved the manuscript and are appreciated.
Funding
This study was supported by a Joint Research Grant from the “Nanotechnology Platform” Program of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Funds (17H03502 and 20H00184).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Akaya Murofushi, Tsubasa Otake, Kenzo Sanematsu, Kyaw Zay Ya, and Akane Ito. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Ayaka Murofushi and Tsubasa Otake, and all authors commented on subsequent versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Murofushi, A., Otake, T., Sanematsu, K. et al. Mineralogical evolution of a weathering profile in the Tagaung Taung Ni laterite deposit: significance of smectite in the formation of high-grade Ni ore in Myanmar. Miner Deposita 57, 1107–1122 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-021-01089-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-021-01089-6