Abstract
The Konos Hill and Pagoni Rachi porphyry-epithermal prospects in northeastern Greece are characterized by abundant pyrite that displays important textural and geochemical variations between the various ore stages. It is commonly fine-grained and anhedral in the porphyry-related mineralization (M- and D-type veins), while it forms idiomorphic, medium- to coarse-grained crystals in the late, epithermal style veins (E-type). Porphyry-style pyrite from both prospects is characterized by an enrichment in Co, Se, Cu, and minor Zn, and a depletion in other trace elements, like Bi, Mo, Ag, etc. Pyrite in epithermal-style mineralization is mostly characterized by the presence of As, Bi, Pb, Ni, and Se. Gold in pyrite from all mineralization stages occurs as a non-stoichiometric substituting element, and its abundance correlates with As content. Arsenic in pyrite from Konos Hill records an increase from the porphyry stage to the epithermal stage (along with gold); however, at Pagoni Rachi, the highest Au and As contents are recorded in D-type pyrite and in the epithermal stage. The composition of the studied pyrite marks changes in the physico-chemical conditions of the ore-forming fluids and generally follows the geochemical trends from other porphyry-epithermal systems elsewhere. However, a notable enrichment of Se in the porphyry-style pyrite here is a prominent feature compared to other deposits and can be considered as an exploration tool towards Au-enriched mineralized areas.
Highlights
Pyrite is the most common sulfide mineral in the Earth’s crust and is generally common in most ore deposit types [1,2,3,4]
Vein terminology used hereafter in this paper is based on Arancibia and Clark [75] for magnetite (E-type) veins (M-type) veins, Gustafson and Hunt [76] and Seedorff et al [22] for A, D-type veins, and Masterman et al [77], Voudouris et al [65], and Monecke et al [78] for E-type veins
Pyrite is a common constituent of the Konos Hill prospect and is the dominant mineral in D-type veins, which form stockworks, and is associated with sericitic alteration of the host granodiorite porphyry (Figure 3a–c)
Summary
Pyrite is the most common sulfide mineral in the Earth’s crust and is generally common in most ore deposit types [1,2,3,4]. Pyrite has attracted attention as a potential vector to identify fertile ore zones, as it may contain a large budget of trace elements including Au, Ag, Cu, Pb, Zn, Co, Ni, As, Sb, Se, Te, Hg, Tl, Bi, and PGE, some of which can reach concentrations of up to a few weight-percent [2,3,5,6,7]. In such cases, pyrite may contain an economically exploitable source for these metals [8,9,10]. Arsenic is one of the most incorporated elements into pyrite, reaching concentrations in the range of major elements (almost up to 10 wt.%, e.g., [15,16]) and is commonly associated with gold mineralization [3,11,14,17]
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