Types of Tellurium Mineralization of Gold Deposits of the Aldan Shield (Southern Yakutia, Russia)

Abstract

The published and original data on the tellurium mineralization of gold ore deposits of the Aldan Shield are systematized and generalized. The gold content is related to hydrothermal-metasomatic processes caused by Mesozoic igneous activity of the region. The formation of tellurides occurred at the very late stages of the generation of gold mineralization of all existing types of metasomatic formations. 29 tellurium minerals, including 16 tellurides, 5 sulfotellurides and 8 tellurates have been identified. Tellurium minerals of two systems predominate: Au-Bi-Te and Au-Ag-Te. Gold is not only in an invisible state in sulfides and in the form of native gold of different fineness, but also is part of a variety of compounds: montbrayite, calaverite, sylvanite, krennerite and petzite. In the gold deposits of the Aldan Shield, three mineral types are distinguished: Au-Ag-Te, Au-Bi-Te, and also a mixed one, which combines the mineralization of both systems. The decrease in the fineness of native gold is consistent with the sequence and temperatures of the formation of Te minerals and associated mineral paragenesis from the epithermal–mesothermal Au-Bi-Te to epithermal Au-Ag-Te. The conducted studies allowed us to determine a wide variety of mineral species and significantly expand the area of distribution of Au-Te mineralization that indicates its large-scale regional occurrence in the Aldan Shield.

Mineralogy and geochemistry of tellurium in the some mining sites of Transbaikalia

“…A significant number of minerals with mixed cationic and anionic composition has been diagnosed. The cations present lead, copper, iron, calcium, magnesium, bismuth, manganese, uranyl, titanium, nickel, aluminum, thallium [4]. These data are consistent with the fact that thallium is sometimes fixed together with tellurium and selenium in the noncoherent tailings material of the abandoned Sherlovogorsky and Khapcheranginsky mining plants which developed tin-polymetallic deposits in southeastern Transbaikalia.…”

Editorial for Special Issue “Mineralogy of Noble Metals and ‘Invisible’ Speciations of These Elements in Natural Systems, Volume II”

“…A number of articles [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] are devoted to the study of gold mineralization at different deposits and the characterization of the physicochemical conditions of its formation.…”

“…Kondratieva et al [6] studied tellurium mineralization from gold deposits of the Aldan shield (Southern Yakutia, Russia). Twenty-nine tellurium minerals, including 16 tellurides, 5 sulfotellurides, and 8 tellurates, have been identified from new results of this study and previously published results.…”