Alteration of Beach Sand Ilmenite from Manavalakurichi, Tamil Nadu, India

The study shows that the alteration of ilmenite has taken place according to the two stage model proposed by Grey and Reid (1975). Identification of the intermediate altered compound, pseudorutile, was found difficult in earlier studies by optical and X-ray diffraction methods, because of the occurrence of this phase in altered ilmenite in very fine grain size (30 Å), its poor crystallinity and coincidence of many of the diffraction lines with those of other phases. The present study has shown that the Mossbauer technique is more suitable in the identification and estimation of this phase.

The relative amount of pseudorutile increases progressively in the magnetic fractions in the following order: 0.30 - 0.35 amps (5%), 0.25 - 0.30 amps (40%), 0-0.25 amps (75%) and 0.35 - 0.50amps (95%), indicating that the magnetic susceptibility of the grains is increasing initially with progressive pseudorutile formation, and decreasing in the later stages of alteration. Reflectivity and hardness are also increasing up to the stage of pseudorutile formation and decreasing in the later stages.