Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Geochemistry and Mineralogy of the Clay-Type Ni-Laterite Deposit of San Felipe (Camagüey, Cuba)

Esperança Tauler
* ORCID logo ,
Salvador Galí
* ,
Cristina Villanova de Benavent
* ,
Alfonso Chang-Rodriguez
* ,
Kenia Nuñez-Cambra
* ,
Giorgi Khazaradze
* ORCID logo ,
Joaquin Antonio Proenza
* ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 4 August 2023 / Approved: 4 August 2023 / Online: 4 August 2023 (10:40:27 CEST)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Tauler, E.; Galí, S.; Villanova-de-Benavent, C.; Chang-Rodríguez, A.; Núñez-Cambra, K.; Khazaradze, G.; Proenza, J.A. Geochemistry and Mineralogy of the Clay-Type Ni-Laterite Deposit of San Felipe (Camagüey, Cuba). Minerals 2023, 13, 1281. Tauler, E.; Galí, S.; Villanova-de-Benavent, C.; Chang-Rodríguez, A.; Núñez-Cambra, K.; Khazaradze, G.; Proenza, J.A. Geochemistry and Mineralogy of the Clay-Type Ni-Laterite Deposit of San Felipe (Camagüey, Cuba). Minerals 2023, 13, 1281.

Abstract

The Ni-laterite deposit at the San Felipe plateau, located 30 km northwest of Camagüey, in cen-tral Cuba, is the best example of a clay-type deposit in the Caribbean region. San Felipe resulted from weathering of mantle peridotites of the Cretaceous Camagüey ophiolites. In this study, a geochemical and mineralogical characterization of two profiles (83 and 84) from the San Felipe deposit has been performed by XRF, ICP-MS, quantitative XRPD, oriented aggregate mount XRD, SEM, FE-SEM and EMPA. Core 83 with a length of 23 m, and drilled in the central part of the plateau, presents a notable concentration of cryptocrystalline quartz fragments and a rather poor content in NiO, averaging 0.87% wt. Core 84, which is 12 m long, and drilled at the border of the plateau, lacks silica fragments and presents a higher NiO content, averaging 1.79 %wt. The smectite structural formulae reveal that they evolve from trioctahedral to dioctahedral towards the top of the laterite profiles. Quantitative XRD analyses indicate that smectite is a dominant Ni bearing phase, accompanied by serpentine and minor chlorite. Serpentine, as smectite, is en-riched in the less soluble elements Fe3+, Al and Ni towards the top of the profiles. Core 83 seems to have been affected by collapses, replenishments, whereas core 84 may have remained undis-turbed.

Keywords

weathering; laterite; nickel; smectite; serpentine; clay-type; Cuba

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Geochemistry and Petrology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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