![]() Limited drilling to date has delineated a preliminary resource of 340,000 tonnes grading 2.294% Cs 2O that is wide open for expansion. The photo below is a sample from this pollucite dyke, with the white pollucite highlighted in the black circles. In one of these dykes, pollucite occurs throughout the pegmatite as one of its main rock-forming minerals, a unique occurrence globally. The Lilypad area hosts a field of LCT pegmatite dykes containing significant pollucite mineralisation. is one of the few potential new producers of pollucite in the world from its Lilypad Caesium Project in Northwestern Ontario. New opportunities for caesium production in CanadaĪvalon Advanced Materials Inc. Its pollucite was sold to Sinomine to be used for feed at the Tanco caesium formate plant. Pioneer Resources’ small Sinclair pollucite deposit in Western Australia was commissioned in 2018 and was mined out by 2020. Sinomine now controls Bikita’s supply, although Bikita’s pollucite ore stockpiles are now largely exhausted. The Bikita Minerals’ pegmatite in Zimbabwe, the only other significant past producer of pollucite, did not process it but sold it as hand-sorted mineral concentrates to some European consumers. Because this part of the mine was under a lake, the risk of a significant collapse forced the closure of Tanco’s underground caesium mining operations, although much of the resource had already been mined out. ![]() In 2013, the Tanco underground mining operation began to experience loose rock falls because of the instability of the mine’s crown pillar. By 2002 it produced 8,400 tonnes of caesium formate product often leased to oil well drillers. In 1996-7, they commissioned a new caesium formate plant at the site designed to produce 500 barrels/day and subsequently expanded to 700 barrels/day for increased production, including other caesium chemicals. In 1993 the Tanco mine was bought by Cabot Corporation. One of these proved to be caesium formate. To support this research, the operators would donate pollucite samples to any research laboratory interested in finding other unique uses for caesium, creating new market opportunities for Tanco. However, the owners realised that it had much potential that required more research and development of potential new applications. At the time, there was no significant demand for caesium. ![]() After the mine was developed, a large sub-zone was discovered in the 1970s that contained mainly pollucite. The only significant past producer of pollucite was the Tanco mine at Bernic Lake, Manitoba, Canada, a large zoned lithium-tantalum-caesium pegmatite originally developed as a tantalum resource. Pollucite mining and caesium production in Canada It can also be used to sequester those radio-isotopes and other radioactive wastes. It is well known for medical applications and artificially produced radioactive isotopes used in treating various types of cancers. ![]() As a dense medium, caesium formate is also used in metallurgical testing and to separate DNA. It is eco-friendly and can be readily recycled.Ĭaesium compounds also have applications as catalysts in plastics and petroleum refining, medical isotopes, photo-emissive devices, experimental magneto-hydrodynamic electricity generation, high accuracy atomic clocks for 5G communications and GPS navigation systems, speciality glasses, ion-propulsion rocket motors, high-density alkaline batteries, and coatings for solar cells. It is used in high pressure, high-temperature deep oil and gas well drilling as a coolant and lubricant. The best known recent example in a commercial application is caesium formate, a high-density fluid with the same viscosity as water but 2.2 times as dense. It is a little known alkali element with enormous potential for new applications, particularly aerospace technologies.Īs the most electro-positive naturally found element (aside from synthetised francium) in the periodic table, it forms exceptionally stable compounds. What is caesium, and what are its applications?Ĭaesium has mainly been recovered from the alumino-silicate mineral pollucite (Cs,Na) 2Al 2Si 4O 12♲H 2O), a rare mineral only found in very highly fractionated lithium pegmatites. Since 1967, caesium has been widely used in highly accurate atomic clocks. It was first discovered in 1860, and the initial small-scale applications for caesium were as a ‘getter’ in vacuum tubes and photoelectric cells. Donald Bubar, President and CEO of Avalon Advanced Materials Inc., examines the opportunities for caesium production in Canada and potential new technology applications.Ĭaesium (or cesium) is a scarce and little known alkali element that is usually only found in low concentrations in bedrock.
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