Mineralogy of gold, silver, platinum and palladium of the Belogorsky iron ore deposit (Primorye)

Abstract

This article presents the results of the study of gold-silver-palladium-platinum mineralization of the Belogorsky iron ore deposit (Primorye). It is represented by disordered solid solutions of gold and silver, gold and copper of variable composition, intermetallic compounds similar in composition to cu-proauride and auricupride, native platinum without impurities, copper-containing platinum, compounds of platinum with palladium and platinum with silver and other minerals. Noble-metal mineralization in the skarn deposits of the Belogorsky deposit has a dual nature. It was formed in the process of metamor-phism due to the substance of the protoliths (accumulated in the lagoons of the Islands of the products of erosion of the lateritic weathering crust of gabbroids), and also due to the noble metals in Triassic carbonaceous silicites, migrated through cracks in other rocks in the fluid composition with high and ul-traregenerative abilities. Enrichment of the skarn protoliths, Triassic metal-bearing sediments (accumulated in the waters adjacent to the Islands) and Triassic carbon silicites of noble and other metals must have been caused by their sorption with Mn and Fe hydroxides and organic matter in the process of exogenous weathering of the ancient gabbroids composing the Islands of the Sikhote-Alin.