Ann: 8m @ 5,716ppm TREO- Jupiter Drilling Continues to Outperform, page-235

So Paul7890 I thought it might help the discussion if I post my understanding of chondrite plots.

I might not be the expert you are, but when I did my geochemistry degree (way back when), I was taught that yes chondrite plots can be quite useful. By my understanding you see what they do is normalise a set of REE results to those that you find in chondrites, you know meteorites. Why? Well meteorites are taken to represent the “purest” form and make up of original rock in the solar system. And as you know, REE’s really aren’t rare they’re present in all rock, just at low levels, so they are useful as a marker in many geochem settings. Of course, on earth, rock is subjected to a lot of “reprocessing” through tectonic activity (you know volcanoes and stuff). This can disrupt original ratios and concentrations of REE (lucky or we would have nothing to mine!). So, by “normalising” or comparing REE results to those in meteorites you can get clues to the origins of the rock and how it might have been “reprocessed” over eons by tectonic activity. Those clues can often manifest spikes or slopes in the plot showing the rock has undergone some process that preferences one or some REE’s over the others.

But you see, from your plot I struggle to deduce what you do. Nice flat plot showing high enrichment of all REE’s in a clay (not rock) setting, when compared to chondrites. From my limited understanding that’s a good thing. The deposit is close to high enriched hard rock grades at 4 to 5 orders of magnitude (if that’s your left scale), indicates fantastic grades in the syenite intrusion (given the consistency over a massive area), and shows the consistent loading of all REE’s into the clays.

Unfortunately for me it tells me nothing about what extraction conditions would be. Can you explain how it does for you? Sure, the deposit may not be economical, may still need tons of acid to break open bits of host rock/secondary mineralisation in the clays (you don’t need acid for clays themselves) but I couldn’t tell from these plots. I always thought you needed minerology studies for that (you know microscopes/XRD’s and stuff) before you can tell what extraction solutions really work.

Well that was my understanding anyway, and sure I may not be up to speed on the latest applications of chondrite plots, so feel free to correct me. What am I getting wrong?