Alluvial-placer gold of northwestern Salair; composition, types, and mineral microinclusions

• Published in: Russian geology and geophysics Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 67 - 85
• Main Authors: Nevolko, P. A, Kolpakov, V. V, Nesterenko, G. V, Fominykh, P. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Allerton Press 01.01.2019
• Subjects: alluvium; Asia; bedrock; Cambrian; carbonate rocks; clastic sediments; Commonwealth of Independent States; copper; Economic geology; gold ores; heavy mineral deposits; igneous rocks; impurities; inclusions; mercury; metal ores; metals; mineral composition; mineral inclusions; minor elements; ore bodies; ore grade; Paleozoic; placers; prediction; provenance; Russian Federation; Salair Ridge; sedimentary rocks; sediments; Siberia; silver; terrigenous materials; volcanic rocks; Yegor'yevsk mining district
• ISSN: 1068-7971; 1878-030X
• DOI: 10.15372/RGG2019005

On the territory of the Egor'evsk district, 3500 results of probe microanalyses of surface gold particles taken from 17 placers, weathering crusts, and orebodies were processed and summarized. High-fineness and mercury-containing gold is predominantly found within mother lodes and placers, and medium- and low-fineness gold is distributed in subordinate and dramatically subordinate quantities, especially in the placers. A unique feature of the gold composition, rarely occurring in other districts, is the constant and commonly simultaneous presence of mercury and copper impurities. Analysis of Ag, Hg, and Cu content variations has enabled us to identify five main grades of gold. The mother lodes of the predominant gold grades are metasomatites with beresite and listwaenite compositions, which are developed primarily after lower Cambrian volcanoterrigenous-carbonate rocks and ore-bearing mafic dikes. Mercury-containing gold is characteristic of beresites, but copper-bearing gold is typical of listwaenites. The relationship between corresponding grades of surface and ore gold is confirmed by the presence of microinclusions in the gold grains. Nonconformity between the content of gold from mother loads, weathering crusts, and placers is explained by the losses of Hg and Ag impurities by endogenous gold under subsurface hypergene conditions. Identification of mineral-geochemical properties of surface gold is of exceptional practical importance in ore-grade gold mineralization prediction.