Karst bauxite is a major source of aluminum and contains high concentrations of trace elements such as Li, Ga, Sc, and rare earth elements (REEs). It is regarded as a potential non-conventional REE source due to the increasing demand for REEs. This study provides new mineralogical and geochemical evidence of a Lindai bauxite deposit in central Guizhou Province, aiming to analyze the genesis of REE minerals and reveal the forms of REEs occurring in these deposits. The results indicate that a large number of detrital and authigenic rare-earth phosphate minerals, including monazite and xenotime, were identified. In terms of their genesis, the authigenic monazite was mainly precipitated under alkaline and reducing conditions, whereas the authigenic xenotime was formed in acidic and reducing conditions. The mineralogical evidence detected by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) and a TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyzer (TIMA) suggests that the REEs in the Lindai bauxite exhibit multiple forms, including rare-earth phosphate minerals (monazite and xenotime) and REE scavenging by hematite and anatase phases. Among them, the anatase controls some LREE (such as La, Ce, and Pr) distributions in addition to monazite, whereas the hematite also controls relatively large amounts of Sm, Eu, and HREE (such as Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Lu) distributions. According to the calculation of the percentage of REE-bearing mineral phases obtained by a TIMA analysis, REE scavenging by hematite accounted for 93.28% of all forms of REEs, REE scavenging by anatase accounted for 5.88%, monazite accounted for 0.67%, and xenotime accounted for 0.17%. This study provides new evidence of the forms of REEs occurring in Carboniferous karst bauxite in central Guizhou Province.

Bauxite, in central Guizhou, is predominantly karst bauxite, but there is insufficient research on the effect of karst paleogeomorphology on bauxite development. Xiaoyuan bauxite is also a karst bauxite, and high- and low-iron bauxite deposits exist in the study area. This study conducts geological modeling of karst bauxite using controlled-source audio-frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT) data and drill core data. The effects of karst paleogeomorphology on bauxite deposition and mineralization are evaluated by assessing karst paleogeomorphology, conducting a mineralogical analysis of drill cores at different locations, and determining the geochemical distribution characteristics of the elements in the horizontal and vertical directions. Combined with previous research results, we propose two metallogenic processes of high-iron and low-iron bauxite. The findings are significant for understanding the mechanism of bauxite formation.