A Study on the Occurrence of Gold in Unoxidized Carlin-Type Ores in China Using AEM, SEM-EDX and SXRF

Abstract

The knowledge about the occurrence of gold is essential both to the explanation for the genesis of gold mineralization in its deposits and to the evaluation and exploration or even smelt process of its ores. It has been well known that the gold occurrence in the Carlin-type ores still remains a difficult question to be answered because of the tiny scale of its locality and its very low content.This paper reports the results of our analysis on some gold bearing minerals in the Carlin-type ores discovered during recent years in China with combined use of analytical electron microscopy (AEM), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X ray spectrometry (SEM-EDX) and synchrotron X ray flourescence analysis (SXRF) techniques as following:(1) Some gold occurred as submicron size grains in the ores (see Photo 1-4 and Figure 1-3) with grain size generally less than 0.2 micron.(2) It has been found by AEM and SEM-EDX observation and SXRF analysis that gold occurred as micrograins embedded in the boundaries of clay or quartz minerals rather than, as said, entered the lattice or adhered as a covering film to the surface of clay minerals (see Figure 4).