# Process Mineralogy of Micro/Nano Silicon-Carbon Ore Obtained from Jiangxi, China
## 5 Conclusions  
The ore was found to mainly comprise \(\alpha\)-quartz, fixed carbon, kaolinite, pyrite, and muscovite. Silica accounted for 81.28% of the sample, with carbon, Al\({}_{2}\)O\({}_{3}\), and FeS\({}_{2}\) accounting for 10.77%, 4.56%, and 2.01%, respectively. Ore particle size was mainly distributed between 1.5 and 70, with average particle size of 13.80. The SEM-EDS results showed that the ore morphology was uneven. Quartz was encapsulated by fixed carbon, and there were obvious holes and depressions on the ore surface. Nano-sized needle-like structures and nanoparticles were also found. These results proved that the ore was formed by biological mineralization. Based on the findings of this study, this ore may have formed via the deposition of phytoliths in a semi-consolidated state following the death of herbaceous plants in a wetland environment. Insoluble siliciic acid and stable carbon were retained in this environment. According to the morphological characteristics and chemical EA of the ore, the difficulty of purifying the quartz within the ore was found to mainly lie in separating quartz from fixed carbon. The removal of impurities, such as kaolinite, pyrite, and muscovite, was also challenging. Due to its small particle size and high silicon content, this micro/nano silicon-carbon ore has high application potential. In the future, this ore can be used to obtain fine-grained high-purity quartz, without the need for crushing. The as-obtained quartz has applications in various fields such as electronic information, photovoltaic power generation, and the development of new materials [25; 26; 27]. The carbon tailings produced during separation can also be used in rubber reinforcing filler, water purification, or as a conductive material [28; 29]. Data curation, H.S., R.Z. and X.W. ; funding acquisition, G.D. and X.W. ; investigation, S.T. and H.S. ; methodology, S.T., H.S., R.Z. and J.W. ; resources, S.T. and J.W. ; writing-original draft, S.T. ; writing-review and editing, G.D. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. This research and the APC was funded by Jiangxi Geological Exploration Fund Project grant number 20220015. Not applicable. The authors declare no conflict of interest. * [PERSON] et al. (2013) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] Representational bias in phytoliths from modern soils of central North America: Implications for paleovegetation reconstructions. _Paleogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol._**2013**, _374_, 338-348. [CrossRef]
* [PERSON] et al. (2019) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON] Sponge spicule and phytolith evidence for Late Quaternary environmental changes in the tropical Pantanal wetlands of western Brazil. _Paleogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol._**2019**, _518_, 119-133. [CrossRef]
* [PERSON] et al. (2020) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] Mineralogical and surface chemical characterization of flotation feed and products after wet and dry grinding. _Miner. Eng._**2020**, _156_, 106500. [CrossRef]
* [PERSON] et al. (2015) [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] Processing of quartz lumps rejected by silicon industry to obtain a raw material for silica glass. _Int. J. Miner. Process._**2015**, _135_, 65-70. [CrossRef]
* [PERSON] et al. (2012) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] Structural and optical characterization of two-dimensional arrays of Si nanocrystals embedded in SiO\({}_{2}\) for photovoltaic applications. _J. Appl. Phys._**2012**, _111_, 083536. [CrossRef]
* [PERSON] et al. (2017) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] Degradation and recovery of the external quantum efficiency of organic photovoltaic structure. _Crystallogr. Rep._**2017**, _62_, 309-312. [CrossRef]
* [PERSON] et al. (2020) [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON]; [PERSON] [PERSON]; [PERSON] Dual-frequency modulation quartz crystal tuning fork-enhanced laser spectroscopy. _Opt.