Mineral systems and the thermodynamics of selenites and selenates in the oxidation zone of sulfide ores – a review

Abstract

Contemporary mineralogy and geochemistry are concerned with understanding and deciphering processes that occur near the surface of the Earth. These processes are especially important for resolving ecological challenges and developing principles of good environmental management. Selenium oxysalts, selenites and selenates, are relatively rare as minerals; there are presently only 34 known mineral species. Thirty-one “pure” selenites, which contain only selenite anionic groups, are known to occur naturally. The other three minerals each contain two anionic groups: selenate and selenite (schmiederite), selenate and sulphate (olsacherite), and selenate and iodate (carlosruizite). This work is intended to provide a classification of natural selenium oxysalts based on their chemical composition. Selenites belong to a particular mineral system, whose components are chemical elements required to construct the crystal structure of a mineral (species-defining constituents). The number of components represents the minimum number of independent elements necessary to define the composition of the system. All selenites and selenates are divided into two groups: anhydrous selenites (I) and hydrous selenites and selenates (II). The paper also presents systematized data published on the thermodynamics of selenites, which are formed in the weathering zone of sulfide and selenide ores, and determines approaches to the quantitative physicochemical modeling of formation conditions. The Eh–pH diagrams of the Me–Se–H2O systems (Me = Cu, Co, Ni, Fe, Zn, Ca, Al) were calculated and plotted for the average contents of these elements in aqueous weathering solutions in sulfide deposit oxidation zones.