Nuclear techniques are applied for exploration and efficient tapping of natural resources in finding promising resources of mining and mineral processing industries. The rare earth elements (REEs) in four fluorite samples, collected from Nuba Mountains are determined using neutron activation analysis (NAA) technique. The concentration of 11 REEs (Sc, La, Ce, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Tb, Yb, Lu) was measured and found within ranges between 685 and 1747 ppm. The Ca is a major element in the four samples. The Fe, Al, Na, Ba and Sr are found as minor elements in the investigated samples. In addition, tracer levels of U, Th, Cs, V and Sc are also detected. The signature of Ce, La and Nd as light REEs is characterized in all samples under this study. The enrichment types of light-REEs (L-type), medium-REEs (M-type) and several distinct features of some REEs e.g., Ce and Eu anomalies are identified and described as the signature of REEs in the geochemical samples. These results have demonstrated promising materials that could be used for hydrometallurgy processing to get significant amounts of REEs.

中文翻译：

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中子活化分析对地球化学样品中稀土元素进行微量分析和特征分析

核技术被用于自然资源的勘探和有效开采，以寻找有前途的采矿和矿物加工行业资源。使用中子活化分析（NAA）技术确定了从努巴山采集的四个萤石样品中的稀土元素（REE）。测量了11种REE的浓度（Sc，La，Ce，Nd，Sm，Eu，Gd，Dy，Tb，Yb，Lu），发现浓度在685和1747 ppm之间。Ca是这四个样品中的主要元素。Fe，Al，Na，Ba和Sr在所研究的样品中被发现是微量元素。另外，还检测到U，Th，Cs，V和Sc的示踪剂水平。在本研究中，所有样品均表征了Ce，La和Nd作为轻稀土元素的特征。轻稀土元素的富集类型（L型），确定了中等稀土元素（M型）和某些稀土元素（例如Ce和Eu异常）的几个不同特征，并将其描述为地球化学样品中稀土元素的特征。这些结果表明，有前途的材料可用于湿法冶金工艺以获得大量的稀土元素。