ABSTRACT

Palygorskite and sepiolite are relatively rare minerals in nature; however, their origins have been studied frequently owing to the unique conditions required for their formation and stability, and the need to find new commercial deposits. Moreover, the properties are origin dependent because there are close relationships between origin, crystal structure, chemical composition, beneficiation treatments, and industrial utilization, as occurs with other clay minerals (Murray, 2007). Knowledge of clay mineral genesis from studies of existing deposits also contributes to improve exploration programs and to the selective mining and processing of clay-rich materials (Harvey and Murray, 1997).