Niobium content of soils from West Africa

Analysis of twenty lateritic soil samples from West Africa has shown them to contain an average 24 p.p.m. of niobium; four similar samples taken from within a few miles from a niobium deposit contain from 79 to 87 p.p.m. niobium. It has been shown that as the aluminum content of the soils increases, the following depletion sequence is obtained: Si > Nb > Al = Fe The data indicate that, in general, high enrichments of niobium are not to be expected in lateritic soils.