Palladium and gold minerals from the Baronskoe-Kluevsky ore deposit (Volkovsky complex, Central Urals, Russia)

Authors: Zaccarini, F.¹; Anikina, E.²; Pusharev, E.²; Rusin, I.²; Garuti, G.³

Source: Mineralogy and Petrology, Volume 82, Numbers 1-2, September 2004 , pp. 137-156(20)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Drill cores from the newly discovered Baronskoe-Kluevsky Pd–Au deposit (Volkovsky massif, Central Urals) have been investigated by reflected-light and electron microscopy, and the ore minerals were analyzed by electron microprobe. The most abundant Platinum-group mineral (PGM) is vysotskite, ideally PdS, characterized by an unusual Pt,Ni-poor composition. Palladium also occurs in kotulskite (PdTe), stillwaterite (Pd₈As₃), and unknown Pd–As–Te compounds with vincentite-type Pd₃(As,Te), stillwaterite-type Pd₈(As,Te)₃, and Pd₇(As,Te)₂ stoichiometries. The main carrier of Au is Pd-rich electrum, approaching the composition Au₇₅Ag₁₅Pd₁₀, with minor Fe, Cu, Ni and Pt. The precious minerals are closely associated with minute blebs of chalcopyrite+magnetite disseminated throughout serpentinized olivine-apatite host rock. Paragenetic relationships among the ore minerals define a succession of crystallization events in the order: 1) Cu–Pd sulfides+electrum, 2) replacement by Pd–Te–As and late Pd–As PGM, 3) final replacement by magnetite. The paragenesis is tentatively related with cooling of a fluid phase in the late- to post-magmatic stage.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00710-004-0049-1

Affiliations: 1: Department of Applied Geosciences and Geophysics, 011011011011011011University of Leoben, Austria, 2: Institute of Geology and Geochemistry, Ural-branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ekaterinburg, Russia, 3: Department of Earth Sciences, 011011011011011011University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Itlay,

Publication date: 2004-09-01