Characterization of sedimentary minerals from Kolubara mining basin, Serbia, with the determination of natural radioactivity

Diatomite (diatomaceous earth) and clay minerals deposits from the mining basin Kolubara, Serbia, are natural materials with high economic potential in many fields. As received treated materials, diatomite were characterized using X-ray diffraction, mercury intrusion porosimetry, particle size distribution, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Activity concentrations for radionuclides 40K, 226Ra 232Th anthropogenic radionuclide 137Cs determined by gamma spectrometry HPGe detector. For clay, mean activity of 226Ra, 40K found to be 9, 26 173 Bq kg-1 19, 470 kg-1, respectively. In present study was show that these environmentally safe further use