Mineral, mineral chemistry, and geochronology data for regolith samples, Mount Weld, Western Australia

This U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data release contains analytical data from a suite of mineral samples collected from the Mount Weld carbonatite complex, western Australia. This complex hosts the largest producing rare earth element (REE) mine outside of China. The REEs are mined from the weathered material, a laterite, derived from an underlying carbonatite. Samples were collected from archived drill core from mineral exploration holes and from the active, open pit mine. One set of drill core and mine samples was collected in October 2018 and a second set of mine samples were collected in 2022. Data in this report include 40Ar/39Ar age data from the mineral cryptomelane [(K(Mn⁴⁺,Mn²⁺)₈O₁₆], in-situ laser ablation inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) analyses of the minerals churchite [Y(PO4)•2(H2O)] and rhabdophane [Ce0.75La0.25(PO4)•(H2O)], electron microprobe analyses of cryptomelane, and X-ray diffraction data for cryptomelane and goethite [FeO(OH)]. Data are reported in comma-separated values (CSV) files. All column headings, abbreviations, and limits of the data values are explained in the Entity and Attribute Information section of these metadata.