The behaviour of platinum group elements in the surficial environment at Ferguson Lake, N.W.T., Rottenstone Lake, Sask. and Sudbury, Ont., Canada

Abstract

A multidisciplinary geochemical study of the distribution, dispersion, and glacial dispersal, of the pge and associated elements has been undertaken within soil, till, humus, vegetation and water at Ferguson Lake, Northwest Territories, Rottenstone Lake, Saskatchewan and Sudbury, Ontario. As the pge generally are present at low levels in surficial materials, development work on analytical techniques was an essential part of this study. At Ferguson Lake, the spatial distribution patterns of Au, Pt and Pd in till clearly indicate the exposed gossan zones, as expected, but also indicate a possible extension of the zone beneath a peat bog- and till-covered area. Down-ice dispersal of Au, Pt and Pd is limited to one to two hundred metres, in the <63 μm component of the till samples collected from frost boils. In vegetation the pge enrichment extends for several hundred metres down-ice and is best defined by Pd in birch twigs. Detectable, although extremely low, levels of Pt (2.8 ppt) and Pd (2.0 ppt) are present in waters in the vicinity of the gossanous zones at Ferguson Lake. At Rottenstone Lake, moderate to high concentrations of pge, Au, and base metals were found in ashed twigs of black spruce and the hmc of the tills for a distance of less than two hundred metres down-ice of the mineralization. Low Pd and Au concentrations were present in ashed spruce twigs about one kilometre down-ice of the mineralization, where only the hmc of the tills yielded anomalous concentrations of Pt and Au. There appears to be only limited dispersal of the pge and Au. These data indicate that only the hmc and the spruce twigs are of value in detecting Pt and Au in this area. Palladium presents a different picture, being detectable in only some of the soils, absent in the tills and hmc, yet appreciably enriched in the twig ash. The inference is that Pd is moving in solution and is being somewhat adsorbed in the soil but is much more significantly being taken up by the plant roots. At the Sudbury areas the pge, hosted in the Ni-Cu mineralization, are best reflected by elevated levels in the ashed humus of almost all elements examined. There is only minimal response in pge and Au to the mineralization from any of the fractions of the soil; whereas the <2 μm fraction of the B-horizon soil reflects the mineralization by elevated levels of As, Sb, Se, Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Pb and Zn. Only hmc from the tills show elevated pge, Au and variable enhancement in As, Sb, Se and the base metals. The < 2 μm portion of the tills tends to be highest in As, Se, Cr and the base metals. This ongoing study shows that surficial materials and vegetation are effective in identifying areas of concealed pge mineralization. Various pathfinder elements, primarily Cu and Ni, but perhaps also As, Se, Sb and the other base metals, in the < 2 μm B-horizon soils and tills, may be informative in a preliminary evaluation of the pge potential of an area, prior to undertaking the more expensive precious-metal analyses. Humus and vegetation both appear extremely effective, and most cost efficient, and heavy-mineral concentrates ( hmc) appear effective, for identifying areas with pge potential, whereas hmc from tills appear most effective for zeroing in on the site of the pge mineralization.