Monazite chemistry and its distribution along the coast of Neendakara–Kayamkulam belt, Kerala, India

The beach sands along the coasts of India contain large reserves of strategic minerals like ilmenite, monazite, zircon, etc. Monazite mineral is primarily used as an ore for extracting rare earths particularly cerium and lanthanum. In the present study, the chemistry and distribution of monazite found in the beach sands of Neendakara–Kayamkulam belt in Kerala, south India, is studied using advanced techniques and standardized methods. Beach sediments were collected and analyzed for the texture, and mineralogy reveals that the study area contains characteristically fine sand with maximum 98.9% total heavy minerals (THM) content with ilmenite as predominant mineral species. The content of monazite ranges from 0.1 to 1.4%. A combination of unit operations like gravity separation, magnetic separation and electrostatic separation techniques were applied to the beach sand to recover monazite mineral. The data indicate that samples show a maximum yield of about 81% for THM and 0.5% for monazite. The ED-XRF, XRD and SEM–EDS analysis gives reliable results on the chemistry of monazite. The major chemical constituents of monazite mineral like Ce2O3, La2O3, P2O5 corresponds to 26.658, 13.421 and 23.649%, respectively. The SEM reveals the weathering mechanism, both mechanical and chemical, occurred in monazite mineral. Advanced characterization of monazite mineral will influence positively the efficiency of determining their potential applications.