FY24 placer TI-ZR-REE deposits in north carolina: integrating coastal plain stratigraphyand placer geochemistryproject period: 10 1 2024 9 30 2027PROJECT descriptionthe north carolina geological…

This Cooperative Agreement award from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) under the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (CFDA 15.073) provides $475,365.72 to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) to conduct an integrated stratigraphic and geochemical investigation exploring for heavy mineral placers in ancient shoreline deposits of the Southeast Atlantic Coastal Plain in North Carolina.

The key activities funded under this 3-year project include identifying locations for geologic cross sections, collecting and analyzing geologic cores to identify heavy mineral-bearing units, and characterizing the heavy minerals and critical minerals they contain. The resulting deliverables will include geologic maps, a borehole geodatabase, a geochemical database, and a final report integrating the stratigraphy and geochemistry. The intended beneficiaries span federal, state, and local government agencies, mineral exploration companies, researchers, and the public, as the project aims to help identify new potential sources of critical minerals in North Carolina.

Activities

Activities will include: identifying locations for four geologic cross sections that transect ancient shorelinedeposits collecting geologic cores along the cross sections using a geoprobe drill RIG logging anddescribing core (visual and with gamma logger) to identify heavy-mineral bearing units and sampling theheavy-mineral bearing units for mineralogy and geochemistry analyses. In some cases, geochemicalsamples will be collected as grab samples from outcrops along the cross sections.heavy liquid separation will be used to isolate the heavy mineral fraction of the collected samples. A splitof the heavy mineral fraction will be further analyzed to characterize the heavy minerals and the criticalminerals they contain. Additionally, heavy mineral splits from a subset of this projects samples will beused in collaboration with the united states geological survey studies of heavy mineral sands.deliverables and expected outcomes:deliverables will include geologic maps of the coastal plain cross section areas, a borehole geodatabase, AA geochemical database, compiled geologic data for unconsolidated strata (coastal plain), and a final reportincluding geologic cross sections that integrates the stratigraphy and geochemistry.

Intended beneficiaries

Intended beneficiaries are the stakeholdersfederal, state, and other government agencies, mineralexploration companies, agribusiness operators whose lands are currently prospected for critical mineralplacer deposits, university researchers, teachers and students, and the public.