First data on distribution of REE, Li, Rb, Cs, Sr, and Ba in native gold from deposits of the main gold-bearing provinces of Russia

Abstract

Seventy chemical elements were analyzed in more than 350 samples of native gold from deposits of some goldbearing provinces of Russia by the ICP Ms method. Analyses were performed in the Section of Analytical Investigations, Central Exploration and Research Institute for Nonferrous and Precious Met� als, on the Elan 6100 apparatus (Perkin Elmer), ana� lyst I.V. Grigor'eva. Samples of pure native gold with a weight of ~5 mg were used for analysis. The control was performed by repeated analysis of selected sample duplicates and demonstrated good convergence of the results. Samples were distinguished into three types of deposits from the whole data massif: gold-polysul� fide-quartz, lowsulfide gold-quartz, and gold-silver (1). These types included ore objects and placers with established or assumed sources of ore material. The relationships between ore and placer objects in the samples are different. Gold-silver deposits of the Okhotsk-Chukotsk volcanogenic belt (OCVB) and Kamchatka comprise only ore objects, because up to now placers, the formation of which is related to this type of deposits, with rare exceptions, are not known. Placers with deposits of the gold-polysulfide-quartz type as an assumed source of gold are included in the sample for the Sikhote-Alin province. The presence of REEs (from La to Lu) and rare alkaline (Li, Rb, Cs) and alkalineearth (Sr, Ba) ele� ments was established as stable admixtures in native gold for the first time. Their average concentrations in gold from deposits of the types considered from ten goldbearing provinces of Russia are presented in the table.