Rare earth elements in the ores of epithermal gold-silver and silver deposits, Russia’s northeast

Abstract

Relations between mineralization and magmatic rocks and sources of ore-forming fluids are presently among the most important problems in endogenous ore formation. Geochemical methods provide a valuable insight into these problems. The estimation of ore potential and search for reliable criteria for the determination of sources of ore elements are based mainly on the study and comparison of the ore-element compositions of rocks and ores. In this study, we attempted to solve these problems by a nontraditional way, studying REE distribution in ores and comparing it with the behavior of these elements in igneous rocks. The distribution of REEs in ores was studied by the example of epithermal deposits and occurrences of gold‐silver (Au‐Ag), silver‐base metal (Ag‐Pb), and tin‐silver (Sn‐Ag) associations. All the objects are located within the largest ore-bearing structures in the central part of the Okhotsk‐Chukchi volcanic belt (OCVB): the Turomchin (Dal’nee and Kvartsevaya Sopka Au‐Ag deposits and Al’dygich occurrence) and Arman (Katamken Au‐Ag deposit) ring volcanic structures and the Dukat volcanoplutonic uplift (Dukat Au − Ag deposit, Mechta and Tidit Ag‐Pb deposits, Malyi Ken Sn‐Ag deposit, and Final’noe occurrence). The geology, mineralogy, and geochemistry of the deposits and occurrences were reported in [1‐10 etc.]. However, there is no information on REE distribution in epithermal Au‐Ag, Ag‐Pb, and Sn‐Ag ores, both in the Russian and international literature. This is the first such investigation.