The Internal Structure of Placer Gold of the North-East of the Siberian Platform as a Reliable Search Sign of Primary Sources

Abstract

Typomorphic features of placer gold are carriers of the most important information necessary for the reconstruction of the history of the formation of placer and ore occurrences of gold and can be used as mineralogical criteria in the search for primary sources of placers. The study of these features is relevant for placer areas with unidentified gold sources, which include the territory of the north-east of the Siberian Platform. The internal structure of native gold is one of the most informative typomorphic features is. We studied the internal gold structures of modern placers and conglomerates of the Early Permian age in the north-east of the Siberian Platform. The purpose of the work: to identify the features of the internal structure of placer gold, depending on the chemical composition and the degree of its transformations, as well as the possibility of their use as a prospecting indicator. Structural etching of native gold was performed using the reagent: HCl + HNO3 + FeCl3 × 6H2O + CrO3 + thiurea + water. As a result of the research, it was found that the well-rounded high-grade gold of modern placers has undergone repeated redeposition through intermediate sources. The discovery of slightly rounded gold with an internal structure without signs of exogenous transformation indicates that it entered the modern alluvium from a nearby primary source. This was a prerequisite for setting up ore gold exploration, resulting in identification of apocarbonate hydrothermal-metasomatic formations with disseminated gold-sulfide mineralization were identified. Thus, the features of the internal structures of placer gold in combination with other typomorphic features are additional indications of determining the sources of formation of gold-bearing placers.