LITERATURE STUDY OF LITHIUM BEARING MINERALS IN THE AREA OF MENTIKUS DEPOSIT, BELITUNG

• Main Author: Mahitala Hikmah Daluas, Terra
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/61512
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Lithium (Li), is an energy metal that is becoming a “hot” topic discussed among both academia and industry due to the increasing demand for lithium, along with the increasing use of Li as a raw material for rechargeable batteries, alloys for aircraft, and fusion fuel for nuclear reactors. As technology develops, and new mining methods emerge, the increasing demand for this element of lithium can encourage future exploration activities. In Indonesia itself, until now there is no known significant lithium deposit, this is due to the market demand for lithium which was previously not so large and has not become the main focus in the exploration of mineral deposits. However, from literature studies and the results of previous research, in Indonesia itself, especially in the Tanjungpandan Granite, Sijuk, Belitung areas which are famous for it is Sn-W deposits, lithium bearing minerals have been found. From a microscope observation of one of the Mentikus deposit samples by Indriati (from personal communication) it is shown that there was a lepidolite mineral present with purplish colour among other mica minerals. This is also reinforced by the results of the Analytical Spectral Device (ASD) interpretation by Tampah, M. E (2017), which also shows the presence of lepidolite minerals. In addition, Indriati's unpublished x-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of several samples indicated that there were zinnwaldite minerals present in the samples. Although the lithium-carrying minerals were found in small quantities, it did not rule out the possibilities that there are spodumene minerals in that area, which are considered more economically valuable as lithium source, given that in the Mentikus deposit area there is a "quartz body" (M. Schwartz and Surjono, 1990) whose crystal grain size resembling the mineral constituents of pegmatite rock. However, the detailed microscopic observations that had been planned could not be carried out because the microscopy laboratory could not be accessed during the Lockdown and PPKM due to the Covid 19 pandemic. So the research results were obtained from a literature study.