Characteristics of pegmatite of Kon Ray, Kontum massif and its potential application in ceramics

Abstract

Feldspar is the primary material used in ceramic production, functioning as a flux during the firing process. Most feldspar materials are extracted from pegmatite. Recently, pegmatite bodies have been discovered in the Kon Ray, Kontum, Vietnam, showing potential for feldspar extraction for the ceramics industry. The pegmatite bodies are in the form of elongated veins trending NW - SE, with widths ranging from a few meters to 30 m and extending from 100 m to 1 km. Results of petrological, mineralogical, and geochemical analyses indicate that the pegmatite is milky white to pale pink, containing approximately 70 – 80% feldspar minerals and about 20% quartz, with shallow muscovite content (< 1%). Geochemical results show that the pegmatite samples have a very high total alkali content from 8.8 to 15.35%, with an average alkali of 11.86% and SiO 2 from 64.1 to 72.7%. Technological samples were tested in the laboratory and a ceramics manufacturing plant and were directly compared with feldspar samples from Phu Tho province. The results indicate that the pegmatite samples from the study area are of exceptionally high quality, equivalent to or better than the Phu Tho samples, meeting the standards of raw materials for industrial ceramics (TCVN 6598:2000).