Toward Understanding the Compositions and the Heterogeneity of the Egyptian Fluorspar Mines: <scp>XRD</scp>, <scp>EDXRF</scp>, and <scp>WDXRF</scp> Study

ABSTRACT Fluorspar or fluorite (CaF 2 ) is a vital and important non‐metallic mineral used for different industrial applications such as steel and metallurgical processing, chemical and construction materials, and ceramics. Given the escalating demand for high quality fluorspar, it becomes imperative to identify new sources of fluorspar and enhance the purity of the mineral. In the present work, representative fluorspar samples were collected from different mines in the Eastern desert of Egypt. The geological and geographical study of the collected samples was demonstrated. The homogeneity and heterogeneity of the fluorspar samples was illustrated using an EDXRF with a beam size of 0.5 mm. Nevertheless, the quantitative analysis of fluorine (F) using EDXRF setups presents significant challenges owing to its low energy of the K absorption edge and the poor sensitivity of the Si drifted detector. The capability of the present WDXRF setup has been effectively utilized to quantify the major and trace elements as well as the fluorine. A successful quantification of fluorine (F) was achieved utilizing WDXRF. The spatial distribution of the main elements (Ca, F, and Si) was accomplished using the micro WDXRF mapping. Based on Rietveld refinement, the quantitative phase analysis of the different fluorspar samples was carried out using X‐ray powder diffraction (XRD). The main abundant phases were fluorspar and silicates, alongside other trace phases. Further work for increasing the fluorspar quality by using the flotation method is under processing.