Mineralogical control and characteristics of rare earth elements occurrence in Carboniferous bauxites from western Henan Province, north China: A XRD, SEM-EDS and LA-ICP-MS analysis

High concentrations of rare earth elements (REE) are found in the bauxite deposits in the Songqi area of Henan Province, North China. However, no studies have been carried out on the occurrences of REE in these bauxite ores. In this study we explored the REE occurrence and their possible enrichment mechanism in the Songqi bauxite deposits using petrographic observation, X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive...