Geochemical peculiarities of the Maikubensky Coal Field, Kazakhstan

Gradual depletion of resources of standard metallic minerals and limitation of current reserves urges exploration activities to find new potential sources of metals. This study estimated the content and sources of impurity elements in coal of the Maikubensky Coal Field. The results were obtained from interpretation of data on 10 samples from the Taldykol and Sarykol deposits. The analyses were performed using the NAA methods at the Tomsk Polytechnic University in Russia. The geochemical analysis produced the reliable result, and the rates of concentration of different elements were estimated. The Sarykol coal is rich (2<Clarke Concentration<5) in lithophylic elements Cs and Rb, and chalcophile element Ag. For the Taldykol coal, a slight exceedance of the Clarke Concentration (0.5<CC<2) is observed in case of REE, Br, Th, Hf, Ba, Sr, Cs, Ta, Co and Sb, and high concentrations (2<CC<5) of lithophylic elements U, Rb, Cr and Sc and chalcophile elements Ag and Zn are revealed. Furthermore, the normal distribution of rare earth elements (REE) is found in the Maikubensky coal; the ratio LaN/LuN varies from 0.27 to 0.64, which means a characteristic dominance of heavy over light lanthanides in coal (normal distribution). The chondrite-normalized REE concentration curves plotted for the Maikubensky Coal Field exhibit three peculiarities: (a) positive Ce and Eu anomalies; (b) absence of Eu minimum; (c) mostly normal distribution of REE with positive Lu anomaly in Jurassic coal of the Maikubensky Field.

Kopobaeva A. N., Blyalova G. G., Amangeldikyzy A., Sungatullin R. Kh., Orazbek N. Geochemical peculiarities of the Maikubensky Coal Field, Kazakhstan. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2025;(9):135-150. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2025_9_0_135.

A.N. Kopobaeva¹, PhD, Associate Professor, e-mail: a.kopobayeva@kstu.kz, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0601-9365,
G.G. Blyalova¹, Master of Technical Sciences, e-mail: gulim.blyalova@kstu.kz, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8801-8683,
A. Amangeldikyzy¹, PhD, Acting Associate Professor, e-mail: a.amangeldykyzy@kstu.kz, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6665-8804,
R.Kh. Sungatullin, Dr. Sci. (Geol. Mineral.), Professor, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, Institute of Geology and Unconventional Technologies, 420102, Kazan, Russia, e-mail: Rafael.Sungatullin@kpfu.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0001-7275-1549,
N. Orazbek¹, Master's Student, e-mail: nurda94@mail.ru,
¹ Abylkas Saginov Karaganda Technical University, 100000, Karaganda, Kazakhstan.

A. Amangeldikyzy, e-mail: a.amangeldykyzy@ktu.edu.kz.

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