Scandium of the Kovdor baddeleyite–apatite–magnetite deposit (Murmansk Region, Russia): Mineralogy, spatial distribution, and potential resource

Despite extensive industrial application, global scandium resources are uncertain. Although Sc is mainly supplied as a by-product of mining of rare earth metals, uranium or aluminum, it is also concentrated by carbonatite process, both magmatic and post-magmatic. In this paper, we report data on Sc distribution within the Kovdor baddeleyite–apatite–magnetite deposit (phoscorite–carbonatite pipe) in the Murmansk Region of Russia, which seems to be a significant reservoir of this “strategic” metal. We show that baddeleyite is the main Sc-concentrating mineral, and reveal the spatial distribution of Sc-bearing baddeleyite within the Kovdor phoscorite–carbonatite pipe. The scandium content in baddeleyite differs according to the petrographic zonation of the pipe culminating in the inner (axial) zone of the pipe and in dolomite carbonatites cutting the pipe. We have estimated the amount of Sc2O3 in the Kovdor deposit as amounting to 420 t at average content in baddeleyite of 0.078 wt.%, and revealed the economic potential for Sc recovery as a by-product. Other Sc-bearing minerals – pyrochlore and ilmenite groups, zirconolite, and juonniite – have been described and opportunity of Sc recovery was examined, too.