Are Coal-Hosted Gallium-Rich Ores Elastically Detectable: A Rock-Physics Modeling Perspective

Coal-hosted gallium-rich ores are mainly explored with geochemical analyses, and their elasticities lack research. This paper incorporated core testing, rock-physics modeling, and Monte Carlo simulations to characterize the elastic parameters of gallium-rich cores and discuss whether coal-hosted gallium-rich ores are elastically detectable. The measured cores from No. 6 coal in the Heidaigou mine showed that the gallium contents strongly correlate to the boehmite contents with a 0.96 correlation coefficient. The rock-physics modeling results showed that mineral compositions and contents are critical factors influencing elastic parameters, and elastic parameters in No. 6 coal showed profound heterogeneities as mineral compositions and contents. The preferred parameters for classifying and grouping different mineral-rich cores are the bulk modulus and moduli ratio. Cross-plotting bulk modulus vs. moduli ratio can qualitatively group measured cores and Monte-Carlo simulated realizations into different mineral-rich and saturation states properly. Concerning the factors of boehmite content, porosity, and saturation state, an interpretation template for boehmite-rich coal was proposed and used. As the template interpreted readings close to the measured contents, the built templates can quantitatively interpret boehmite and gallium contents in coal-hosted ores with high precision. In summary, the coal-hosted gallium-rich ores are elastically detectable.