A Review of the Behaviour of Platinum Group Elements within Natural Magmatic Sulfide Ore Systems

Abstract

The largest and most significant type of geological deposit of platinum group elements (PGEs) is that associated with magmatic base metal sulfide minerals in layered mafic or ultramafic igneous intrusions. The common association of PGEs with sulfide minerals is a result of processes of magmatic and sulfide liquid segregation and fractionation. The mineralogical nature of the ores is dependent on a number of factors during sulfide liquid fractionation. The most significant of these with regard to the mineralogy of the two most important metals, platinum and palladium, is the presence and concentration of semimetals such as bismuth and tellurium within the mineralising sulfide liquid. Whereas rhodium, iridium, osmium and ruthenium are almost always present in solid solution within the resultant base metal sulfide minerals; should sufficient semimetals be present, Pd and especially Pt will form discrete minerals (such as platinum bismuthides) around the margins of, and possibly away from, the sulfides.