MAGNESIUM CARBONATE - COBALT - COBALTOAN Most descriptions of - magnesite - will state it's milky white or, different shades of grey.
If iron is presnt it will turn dark yellow or brown.
Did you miss it ?
As soon as another mineral comes in contact - the magnesium ( carb 0 wil lreact and change it'scolor.
What's not being spoken about here is...
How the mineral is affected.
We must keep in mind there are several more parties involved when speaking about
magnesium carbonate.
Take MGX's Driftwood deposit as example.
There are other mineral constituents involved, not just magnesium.
- aluminum
- iron
- calcium
- silica
- and of course, the magnesium.
So... if one simply takes for granite the observation of one saying.
the magnesium presenteditself as,
- dark yellow
- med gray tones
- med brown
One then has ot keep in mind ( other minerals ) influencing the color change.
There are a few descriptions online that depict magnesium carboante as, pink, or purple.
But what they don't do is - further the examination.
If i were to make a ( half knowledgable ) guess what would i say is occuring ?
1 - magnesite is not yet fully understood
2 - there are several ( silvery 0 metals that are related and do transition
3 - magnesite whther carbonate or oxide will only have it's own unique color
4 - magnesite seen displaying other ( colors ) have not been fully put to the test
5 - cobalt is extremely hard to detect
6 - cobalt can be easily missed ( field or labortory )
Here's an analysis report - Cobalt found in Magnesite - Dominican Repub
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwic66SGhfn5AhXEFzQIHRxcAfgQFnoECAQQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mdpi.com%2F2073-4352%2F12%2F5%2F639%2Fpdf%3Fversion%3D1651217633&usg=AOvVaw34IyMnCOjTvUFwP7ZZh6rb
Chances are...
if there are other colors present - then...
There's a high probability that another mineral has influenced a color change.
In the 2015 tech report -
it metnions several other ores.
- sandstones
- argillites
- irons
- hematite
- mudstones
- shales
these can be cconstruded as.... at one time, sedimentry.
Ocean floor.
In one report - i beleive it was a gentlman with a doctroal,
did not want to define to oquickly how the magnesium carboante was formed.
He wanted to further study how it formed and whether the magnesium carbonate came first or
an other oree body intruded to arrive at a ore body geology.
Smart man... knowig how it was formed 9 factoring in ) other minerology to explain away how mineral is found in the stratigraphy is how it should be done.
For all anyone knows...
Could be as simple as, ocean floor pushing up and onto exisiting lands creating severla geologies and after time, each perform a blend at a latter point or distance creating a blended replacement deposit.
Each of the reports... ( sadly )
Did not do the connective with other nearby mines.
This i chose to do myslef seeing it was overlooked in eachof the studies on Mt Nelsons magnesium deposits.
Knowing what other mines are in close vicinity adds to the overall intel in which one can futher interpret how other ore bodies may influence each other.
If one factors in, lead,silver, gold, moly in nearby historical mines.
It begins to paint a different picture.
Simple magnesium deadburn deposit with - pinks, blues, purples andgreens, suddenly
it takes on a different persona.
Argillites, greywacke, mudstones are similar in nature.
Shales and sedimentry, along with several layers of statigraphy and more intel can be gained.
What's my own " assumption " ?
I feel, pecific and i emphais specific ( magnesium or magnesium carboante ) ore bodies are poorly understood.
Many have just assumed magnesium takes on other colors...
These are only visual photo or field observations - such observations have not been fully scrutinized.
If geologists can miss cobalt along with lab assays...
The how do others discover cobalt in magnesium depsoits ?
They simply question WHY is there other colors in the ore body.
If iron can change the magnesium carbonate - to turn a different color...
Could other minerals do so ?
Of course.
Again, i stress...
It's not perse a color change of changing the magnesium.
its more likely the iron has more presence and thus - with a blend of iron with in the Mg carbonate
causes a visual change - allowing one ot assume the magnesium carbonate is borwn, or yellow.
Your going to want ot read this study -
keep in mind, one one of the five dolomite deposite surrounding driftwood, copper was present.
Carbonate ores of cobalt are a significant but under-recognized fraction of the global Co resource. Cobalt forms spherocobaltite (CoCO3, calcite group), whose complete solid solution with isostructural magnesite, MgCO3, is described here for the first time. Cobalt-rich dolomite, Ca(Mg,Co)(CO3)2, and Co-rich calcite, (Ca,Co)CO3, can accommodate up to 20 mol.% Co and up to 2 mol.% Co, respectively. Cobalt has also been reported as a minor substituent of other calcite-group carbonates and as a major constituent of the non-rhombohedral carbonates comblainite, Ni4Co3+2 (OH)12(CO3)·3H2O (hydrotalcite supergroup), and kolwezite, (Cu,Co)2(CO3)(OH)2 (poorly understood, possibly rosasite group). Cobalt carbonates are most common in the supergene zones of Cu-Co sulfide ore deposits, especially the Central African Copperbelt. A study focused on the Tenke-Fungurume district (TFM) in the Copperbelt found Co-rich dolomite, Co-rich magnesite, spherocobaltite, and kolwezite. Cobalt-rich dolomite occurs as Co-rich bands in supergene dolomite and as individual Co-rich dolomite crystals filling void spaces.
Members of the magnesite-spherocobaltite solid solution occur as crystals filling void spaces in rocks and as microscopic inclusions with kolwezite in supergene chalcocite (Cu2S) replacing primary carrollite (CuCo2S4). The formation of Co-rich carbonates remains enigmatic. Evidence from Bou Azzer indicates that they can form under specific hypogene conditions, but in general Co-rich carbonates form from supergene processes. Dedolomitization has been proposed as a mechanism of formation for the analogous Zn carbonates, but there is no evidence of dedolomitization in the TFM cobalt carbonates.
Most of them appear to have precipitated directly from pockets of Co-(Mg)-(Cu)-carbonate-enriched solution trapped within oxidizing hypogene sulfides
. Cobalt carbonates pose a serious metallurgical problem. Most carbonate ores are processed by solvent extraction using acid. Solubility calculations indicate that the Co in carbonates is less soluble than Mg, Fe, and Ca by 3 to 4 orders of magnitude. Thus, acid leaching will liberate all other ions from carbonate ores before releasing appreciable Co. Furthermore, many of the Mg-rich spherocobaltites in this study were initially misidentified as Co-rich dolomite, which is far more soluble than spherocobaltite. This may cause Co recoveries to be lower than predicted at many Central African Copperbelt mines.
Thus, the Co2+ coordination octahedron is compressed relative to the Mg2+ octahedron (Rosenberg & Foit 1979). The Co-bearing carbonates stable in nature (Table 1) reflect these crystal-chemical factors.
Gotta love that solubility problem.
Hence, cobalt is a rea lbugger to detect.
Imagine now... Driftwood ores sent for lab assaying - they perform the usual aqua regia -
Magnesium solubilizes - they filter it - dehydrate it - and then fire it = MgO OXIDE CONTENT.
But wait... what about the sludge still left in the beaker ?
Does it contain the cobalt if cobalt was present ?
Or... if cobalt did solubilize, could it sustain the firing assay ?
Was it blended in with the Mgo never to be detected - since Co2 bonds to Mg2 ?
Here's the link to the report -
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwic66SGhfn5AhXEFzQIHRxcAfgQFnoECAIQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geo.arizona.edu%2F~mdbarton%2FMDB_papers_pdf%2FBarton%255B14_CobaltCarbonates_CM.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3sNZ98oxXcs4pYSgi0NsHe
Cheers....
If it were me ?
I'd test the driftwood cores - looking for the key coloration indifference - blue, purple, pinks.
Send out a gerologist with ( on hte spot testing ) looking for the mudstones, argillites, and other ores that harbor these specific colorations.