ALKALI ELEMENTS AS INDICATORS OF GOLD AND SILVER IN THE ENDOGENE HALOES OF GOLD AND SILVER DEPOSITS IN NORTHEASTERN USSR

Abstract

The problem of prospecting for and evaluating (hidden) subsurface ores is a very urgent one. Among the broad range of methods used in finding such ores are geochemical techniques, specifically the study of endogene haloes, their composition and structure, and identification of various indicators of orebody zoning. In recent years, much successful geochemical prospecting has been done on the basis of haloes of what one would call 'nontraditional' elements. Authors attempt to define the mineralogical and geochemical zoning in gold-silver deposits in various tectonic zones of the Okhotsk-Chukotka volcanic belt showed that, in addition to the concentrations of the ore elements themselves in the haloes, those of the alkali metals, i.e., potassium, sodium, rubidium, lithium and cesium are indicative of the ore presence. The behavior of the alkali metals depends on the physicochemical conditions of wall-rock alteration, since their distribution is induced by the zoning of the metasomatic wall rocks.