Global high purity quartz deposits: Resources distribution and exploitation status
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P619.23+3

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    Abstract:

    High purity quartz, a strategical material that is indispensable for producing integrated circuit, semiconductor, photovoltaics, optical fiber and novel glass, has seen growing demand worldwide. Ore deposits from which high purity quartz is extracted, however, are extremely rare throughout the world. Present ore deposits, including active and inactive, are located in the USA, Australia, Norway, Russia, China, Mauritania, and Canada, with resources in the USA and Australia possessing top reserves. Apart from China, there are 14 ore deposits, and their types include alaskite, pegmatite, hydrothermal quartz vein, tailings, and weathered granitoid. Ore fluids yielding the purest quartz were more likely differentiated from Paleozoic-Mesozoic magmas, and intruded ambient Archaean-Proterozoic metamorphic rocks, such as biotite gneiss, granite gneiss and schist, controlled by long-term multi-stage metamorphism. China is faced with a much more severe difficulty as it barely preserves any high purity quartz deposits, leading to massive import annually for high purity quartz sands, especially from the USA. Under current fluctuating global economic and political environments, China's premier task undoubtedly is to put more effort on geological survey on domestic Archaean-Proterozoic metamorphic rocks, and meanwhile intensify quality assessment, aiming toidentify hydrothermal veins, pegmatite, and alaskite that possess potential for extracting high purity quartz. Attentions should be paid to quartz in tailings from granodiorite, pegmatite, kaolin ores, and beneficiation trails should be implemented to evaluate their resource potentiality. In addition, China should build diversified pipelines for importing high purity quartz sands and products, and shift from sole reliance on the USA to other countries, such as Norway, Russia and Mauritania, thus providing safe and stable resource supply for national security.

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王九一,2021,全球高纯石英原料矿的资源分布与开发现状[J].岩石矿物学杂志,40(1):131~141. WANG Jiu-yi,2021,Global high purity quartz deposits: Resources distribution and exploitation status[J]. Acta Petrologica et Mineralogica,40(1):131~141.

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History
  • Received:August 12,2020
  • Revised:
  • Adopted:
  • Online: January 16,2021
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