Uranium and Rare-Earth Elements in Dictyonema Shale of the Baltic Sedimentary Basin (Kaibolovo-Gostilitsy Area)

Abstract

The article presents the results of the study of dictyonema shales of the Baltic basin (Leningrad Oblast, Kaibolovo-Gostilitsy prospecting area) for uranium (updated data on uranium mineralization of dictyonema shales) and rare earth elements (for the first time – as a new promising raw material source). At the same time, updated author’s data on the total metalliferous content of dictyonema shales was made In relation to uranium, its average content in dictyonema shales has been clarified, the distribution of uranium in the section of sedimentary strata according to new well profiles has been given, and the features of its distribution have been clarified, in comparison with earlier authors’ publications on this object of research. For rare earth elements in dictyonema shales, the results on their concentrations on a much larger analytical material are presented (670 samples, instead of 88, data on which were published earlier). For the first time, the features of the distribution of rare earth elements over the prospecting area and in the section of sedimentary strata along the profiles of wells are illustrated. New data on the petrographic composition of dictyonema shales are presented. An additional study of mineral impurities of dictyonema shales was carried out using a new method of areal scanning of preparations with an electron probe microanalyzer using the “Feature” software module. The correlations between the concentrations of uranium and rare earths with other micro- and macroelements, the forms of uranium and rare earth elements in dictyonema shales, geochemical indicators, conditions and genesis of the formation of uranium and rare earth mineralization developed in them was clarified. Based on an earlier assessment of the resource potential of uranium and rare earths, a modern assessment of their prognostic mineral resources and possible recoverable industrial reserves and the cost of potential ore raw materials of the studied acute-deficient metals for energy and a number of important industries has been made. The authors express the opinion that the mineral resource base of uranium and rare earth elements in Russia can be significantly increased due to the presence of these critical metals in the dictyonema shales of the Baltic sedimentary basin, since only within the studied Kaibolovo-Gostilitsy prospecting area the largest uranium resources and large resources of rare earths have been discovered, which may increase even more with further geological research in the conditions of a developed infrastructure of the middle zone of the Russian Federation.