Special Issue "Laterites, Lateritisation and Related Ore Deposits"

Dear colleagues,

Lateritisation and its products, laterites, were discovered just over a century and a half ago, but only from the 1960s onwards did they receive greater attention from the scientific community. The immediate recognition that this formation was strongly related to the tropical climate contributed to this. Soon afterwards, studies discovered that laterites could have been formed in paleotropical conditions and there are currently records of Paleoproterozoic laterite formations. The presence of laterites throughout the Earth's history helps in understanding the paleoenvironmental evolution of the Earth's surface in its more than 2.2 Ga. Studies that were previously restricted to current tropical regions, with discoveries of important mineral deposits, turned to others that apparently had no connection with these formations, discovering mineral deposits with prospects for new distinct mineralisations. In recent decades, effective methods have been developed in part to geochronologically date lateritic formations, and in the same way, studies of isotopic geochemistry have been developed. Finally, in addition to the the classic mineralisations, Fe, Mn, Ni, Au, Pt and bauxites, new mineralisations are being discovered: phosphates, rare earths, Sc, Nb, Ta, Y, Ni-Co and platinum group elements. Undoubtedly, this Issue is an opportunity to present the state of the art on lateritisation and laterites around the world: formation and evolution processes, related mineral ore deposits and new technological applications for their ore residues resulting from extraction, mineral processing and metallurgy.

This Special Issue is organized into the following topics:

• Laterites and lateritisation;
• Laterite mineralogy, geochemistry and geochronology;
• Mineral exploration methods and applications in lateritic terrain;
• Lateritic mineral deposits;
• Laterite ore mineral processing and extractive metallurgy;
• Environmental mineralogy and biogeochemistry in lateritic terrain;
• Crystallography and physical chemistry of minerals and nanominerals in lateritic profile;
• Biomineralization and biominerals in laterite;
• Development of new materials from lateritic ore mineral residues.

The present Special Issue on Laterites, Lateritisation and Related Ore Deposits has the main objective of disseminating the current level of knowledge on this topic and thereby encouraging its further study.

Prof. Dr. Marcondes Lima Da Costa
Guest Editor

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• lateritisation over geological time: paleogegraphic reconstruction
• mineralogy, geochemistry and geochronology of lateritic formations and detrital zircon age data
• classic ore deposits
• ore perspective for critical minerals for the global energy transition
• biomineralization and biominerals in laterite
• future development and new frontiers