Asosiasi Skandium dan Potensi Logam Tanah Jarang pada Profil Laterit Nikel di Daerah Palangga Selatan, Konawe Selatan, Sulawesi Tenggara

Abstrak

This study examines the association between scandium (Sc) and rare earth elements (REE) in a nickel laterite profile within the concession of PT Generasi Agung Perkasa, Watumbohoti Village, South Palangga, Southeast Sulawesi. Nine samples were collected from six observation points on the pit face, representing limestone, clay, limonite, saprolite, and bedrock layers between 5 and 35 m depth. Sc and fourteen REE were determined by ICP-MS and ICP-OES, major oxides by XRF, and relationships among variables were tested using Pearson correlation. Sc ranges from 0.9 to 76 ppm and total REE from 4.4 to 60.1 ppm. The highest Sc contents occur in the limonite zone, 76 ppm in USN LP06 and 71 ppm in USN LP04, whereas the highest total REE occur in the clay zone, 60.1 ppm in USN LP02 and 60.0 ppm in USN LP03. Sc correlates strongly with Cr₂O₃ (r = 0.952), Fe (r = 0.949), and Co (r = 0.917) at p < 0.001, while ΣREE correlates significantly only with Al₂O₃ (r = 0.771, p < 0.05). Sc correlates with neither ΣREE (r = 0.161) nor Ni (r = 0.158), whereas Ni correlates with MgO (r = 0.707, p < 0.05). These results confirm two separate enrichment controls within one profile, the iron oxide fraction for Sc and aluminium-bearing clay for ΣREE. REE contents are too low to justify exploration in their own right, whereas Sc in the limonite zone merits testing as a nickel by-product through regularly spaced drilling and mineralogical analysis.

Kata kunci

• Nikel laterit
• korelasi pearson
• limonit
• logam tanah jarang
• scandium