Couldn't find much in a cursory search of WA1 announcements about Nb mineralogy. May be there but compared to assays not a major priority during this phase of work. Tests done on 2022 holes and in the 5/6/23 announcement mention pyrochlore. The latter also mentions columbite, another Nb bearing mineral, though no details Mett testing upcoming mid 2023 with some initial processing data mentioned later (2/2/24).
Likely to be some more complexities of mineralogy of Nb minerals IMO. Work in progress.
Ore mineralogy more in passing in the above paper. Very technical. p13 extract gives an idea of the different varieties of pyrochlore depending on trace elements.
Oxides1. PyrochloreIt makes up the principal accessory of Araxá rocksand is mainly found in glimmeritic rocks and carbonatites,particularly the Mg-rich types. The mineral iswidespread as minute isolated grains, but also occursin association with carbonates. Chemical compositionis strongly variable and based on its considerablehigh Nb2O5 and low TiO2 contents, themineral is placed into the Nb+Ta>2Ti, Nb>Tagroup (Hogarth 1977). Ta concentration is very lowand normally below the detectable limit. Site A in the mineral structure is in general occupiedby Ca, Sr, Ba and Ce, but these elementsvary considerably in concentration and may not necessarilybe present in the same crystal. Owing tothese strong variations in composition, some typescould be more properly named bariopyrochlore, ceriopyrochoreor even strontiopyrochlore. High Baconcentration in pyrochlore is believed to be an indicativeevidence of its secondary origin (Heinrich1980, Mariano 1989). In fact, bariopyrochlore is the.....
Interesting the mention of glimmerite. From what I have heard glim. tends to be a marginal alteration which may account for Nb distribution in fresh rock, if not weathered zones.
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