Trace Elements in West Virginia Coals

Tantalum (Ta) Summary Statistics

Tantalum in West Virginia coals averaged 0.19 ppm (± 0.16 ppm) with a skewed histogram showing a tail toward higher values and a maximum value of 1.39 ppm in a bench of the Winifrede coal. Tantalum correlated very slightly with ash yield and moderately with the ash related elements hafnium (Hf), thorium (Th), chromium (Cr), scandium (Sc), zirconium (Zr), lithium (Li) and lead (Pb) and rare earth element components of the mineral monazite such as cerium (Ce), lanthanum (La), niobium (Nb), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu) and lutetium (Lu).

**Spearman Correlation Coefficients (r) with Tantalum**
Ash Yield	Hf	Th	Cr	Ce	La	Nb
+0.6576	+0.8758	+0.7866	+0.8111	+0.7757	+0.7642	+0.7531
n = 462	n = 462	n = 461	n = 462	n = 462	n = 458	n = 453
Sc	Zr	Li	Sm	Pb	Eu	Lu
+0.7396	+0.6888	+0.6798	+0.6654	+0.6552	+0.6475	+0.6438
n = 462	n = 462	n = 462	n = 462	n = 462	n = 462	n = 462

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Page last revised: March 2, 2002

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