Au-Ag-Pd-Pt mineralization in sedimentary rocks associated with Triassic carbonaceous silicites of Sikhote-Alin

Abstract

Subject.The paper is devoted to the study of the gold-silver-palladium-platinum mineralization of the streaky systems in the sedimentary rocks associated within the Triassic carbonaceous silicites of the Taukhinsky and Samarkinsky terranes of the Sikhote-Alin.Materials and methods.In the process of investigations we studied the metamorphosed carbonaceous siliceous-clay rocks and systems of the mineralized fractures in the Triassic siliceous-clay and siliceous (including jaspers) rocks of Shirokopadninskaya, Vysokogorskaya and Gornaya areas, as well as in the sandstones (unclarified age) of Gornaya area. The samples for the analytical study were taken with the lump way. To estimate the content of precious metals in the rocks, cut by the systems of the mineralized fractures, we used the fire assay and atomic-absorption methods. The analyses of minerals (in polished sections) have been done using the JXA-5A and JXA8100 microanalysers.Results.The gold-silver-palladium-platinum mineralization in the siliceous and clay-siliceous rocks, as well as in the sandstones is restricted to the systems of the mineralized fractures and by many features are analogous to the precious-metal mineralization of the black-shale formations. It is represented by native forms, disordered solid solutions, and intermetallic compounds of different metals. The specificity of the Au-Ag-Pd-Pt mineralization is a wide distribution of copper gold, Ni-, Cu-, and Pbbearing gold, and Zn-bearing platinum. Native elements and intermetallic compounds, including those of precious metals, are not rarely associated with the organic matter testifying to the active participation of carbon and, probably, hydrogen that provided the high- and ultra-reduction character of the processes of mineral formation.Conclusions.The presence of the mineral forms of different maximum reduced metals is caused by the influence of the organic matter of the Triassic carbonaceous silicites. This consisted in the removal of the most volatile components, and first of all the poorly bound water and hydrocarbons from the carbonaceous rocks through the contact metamorphism related with the injection of the granitoid intrusions of Cretaceous plutonic and volcanoplutonic belts.