Chemical and Mineralogical Characterization of Montevive Celestine Mineral Ariza-Rodríguez, Noemi Rodríguez Navarro, Alejandro Calero De Hoces, Francisca Mónica Martín Martín, José Manuel Muñoz Batista, Mario Jesús Celestine Calcite Solid solution Mineral concentration Rietveld Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www. mdpi.com/article/10.3390/min12101261/s1, Figure S1: Sample E70, Figure S2: Sample E 80, Figure S3: Sample E90. Figure S4: Assembly electric vibrator, Figure S5: Gravimetry fractions, Figure S6: Optical microscopy of celestine crystals replacing carbonate, sample E69., Figure S7: Scanning electron microscopy (a) and compositional SEM map of E69 sample (b).,Figure S8: Granulometry results, % massr and fi to each diameter (mm) in E60, E69, E92 samples, Figure S9: X-ray fluorescence (representative XRF spectra of one of the samples (E69), Figure S10: Correlation Al2O3/SiO2 obtained in XRF.,Figure S11: Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction data used for quantitative mineral analysis, Figure S12: Linear regression model between % Sr(SO4)Ba obtained by XRF and DRX, Figure S13: Linear regression model between % CaCO3 obtained by XRF and DRX, Figure S14: % CaCO3 by TGA vs. % CaCO3 by XRF or DRX; Table S1: Granulometry results, % massr and fi to each diameter (mm) in E60, E69, E92 samples, Table S2: Comparative % CaCO3 by DXR, XRF and TGA methods. Funding: This research was funded by Programa Doctorado Industrial PP19.01, UCE PP 2016.05 (Universidad de Granada), and RNM-938 (Junta de Andalucia). The Montevive celestine mineral deposit, set in the Granada Basin in a marine evaporitic uppermost Tortonian–lowermost Messinian sequence, is the largest reserve in Europe of this economically important strontium ore. Currently, the mine has a large amount of tailings resulting from the rejection of a manual dry screening of high-grade celestine mineral. This visual and density screening was carried out in the early days of mining (1954–1973). Concentrating the celestine mineral and increasing the ore recovery rate would reduce mine operation costs and the generation of new tailings, reducing the impact on the environment. In order to define more adequate concentration methods, we have used complementary analytical techniques such as optical (OM) and scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), energy-dispersive X-rays (EDXs), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) to fully characterize the morphology, microstructure, chemistry, and mineralogy of the celestine mineral. The low-grade mineral is made of prismatic celestine crystals that are replacing a matrix of micro sparry calcite. Other minority minerals are strontianite, dolomite, quartz, and clays (kaolinite, paragonite, and illite). There is also a certain amount of iron oxides and hydroxides (mainly magnetite) associated with clays. We showed that the concentration of low-grade celestine mineral can be achieved through a low-cost and eco-friendly method based on grinding and size separation. The coarser fractions (>5 mm) have more celestine (up to 12 percent units higher than the starting unprocessed mineral) due to the selective loss of calcite and minority minerals (quartz, clays, and iron oxides) that are mainly found in the finer fraction (<1 mm). This process can make mine exploitation more sustainable, reducing the generation of residues that negatively impact the environment. 2022-11-29T09:13:34Z 2022-11-29T09:13:34Z 2022-10-05 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Ariza-Rodríguez, N.; Rodríguez-Navarro, A.B.; Calero de Hoces, M.; Martin, J.M.; Muñoz-Batista, M.J. Chemical and Mineralogical Characterization of Montevive Celestine Mineral. Minerals 2022, 12, 1261. [https://doi.org/10.3390/min12101261] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/78167 10.3390/min12101261 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI