Abstract
The Oktyabrsk PGE-Cu-Ni deposit is one of the largest resources in the Norilsk–Talnakh ore district, Russia, and it is viewed as an ore giant on a global scale. It contains three types of ores: massive, disseminated and veinlet-disseminated. The two former ore types were formed by a liquation process, whereas the latter was associated with fluid-induced selective metasomatic replacement of metamorphosed wall rocks. One of the major ore minerals in all ore types is chalcopyrite. In this study, we determined concentrations of trace elements in this mineral using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. It appeared that standard geochemical tools, such as plotting the data in the form of diagrams of normalized concentrations, binary and ternary plots, do not allow one to distinguish chalcopyrite from visually and genetically different ore types. In contrast, more advanced statistical methods such as cluster analysis show different groupings of elements for each ore type. Based on the element clustering, a classification tree was suggested, which allowed for the differentiation of massive, disseminated and veinlet-disseminated ore types of the Oktyabrsk deposit by Se, Te, Cd and Pb concentrations in chalcopyrite with a success rate of 86%. The general feature is that chalcopyrite of veinlet-disseminated ore is poorer in these elements compared to chalcopyrite of the two other ore types. Chalcopyrite of massive ore is poorer in Se and Te when compared to chalcopyrite of disseminated ore.
Highlights
Chalcopyrite is the main ore mineral of copper, which is found in a wide number of deposits of various genesis on a global scale [1]
Trace element concentrations in chalcopyrite of massive, disseminated and ores of the Oktyabrsk deposit of the Norilsk–Talnakh ore district are characterized by a large range of veinlet-disseminated ores of the Oktyabrsk deposit of the Norilsk–Talnakh ore district are values
Conventional methods of representation of the trace concentrations or constructing binary and ternary diagrams do not allow for the separation of different element data such as plotting normalized concentrations or constructing binary and ternary ore types by trace element data in chalcopyrite
Summary
Chalcopyrite is the main ore mineral of copper, which is found in a wide number of deposits of various genesis on a global scale [1]. The proposed genetic classifications in these studies were based on a limited number of elements, such as Zn, Cd and Se. In this study, we use laser ablation inductively coupled. Minerals 2020, 10, 716 plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) to determine a wide range of trace elements (Ti, Mn, Co, Ni, Zn, Se, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sn, Te, Tl, Bi, Pb) in chalcopyrite from three major types of ore distinguished at the Oktyabrsk deposit in the Norilsk–Talnakh ore district, Russia, namely: massive, disseminated and veinlet-disseminated. Using standard statistical approaches (calculation of the mean, median, the spread of the data, binary plots) and previously proposed classification schemes based on binary and ternary plots do not allow for the differentiation of the ore types by trace element abundances in chalcopyrite
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