Slices of apatite (cut ∼45° apart from c-axis) were irradiated with 152Sm ions and heated at different steps in order to investigate the thermal annealing property of tracks generated by these ions. The ions were impinged with 45° and ∼150 MeV at apatite surface. Samples were etched with diluted nitric acid. Results of annealed projected lengths are presented for isochronal 10, 100 and 1000 h thermal treatments (runs) for samples with and without pre-annealing preparation. For low annealing temperatures, a distinct behavior of these samples was observed: pre-annealed samples presented a faster annealing rate. At elevated temperatures, the behavior seems to be equal. A single activation energy model was fitted to data and the energy obtained is in agreement with literature. Finally, despite the different trend in comparison with annealing rates of confined fission tracks, extrapolation to geological timescales presents reasonable estimates, indicating small influence of surface effects and, in principle, the possibility to employ ion tracks as proxies for annealing kinetics. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.