Characteristics of Disseminated Diaspore in the Longzhou Bauxite Deposit, Guangxi Province, China

Mineralogical investigation reveals that diaspore is the main mineral; pyrophyllite, kaolinite, gibbsite and hematite are minor accessories, and rutile is a relict mineral. Diaspore crystallizes in the orthorhombic dipyramidal class and is often associated with kaolinite, pyrophyllite and other clay minerals, and accompanied by hematite. Semi-quantitative XRD results reveal that the modal mineral proportions are diaspore (36.5% 37% ), pyrophyllite (38.60% 46.70% ), kaolinite (6.10% 15.5%), gibbsite (1.6% 3.10%) and hematite (6.60 6.90%) but that these widely in their abundance. The rutile abundance (0.70%) is relatively consistent. The relatively large quantities of silicates decrease A/S ratio and present difficulties for mineral separation.