EXOTIC MINERAL ASSEMBLAGES OF GOLD DEPOSITS IN THE RUSSIAN EAST

Abstract

The role and implications of exotic mineral assemblages in gold deposits of the Russian East are considered. Exotic assemblages are those comprising minerals not typical for gold parageneses. Amidst them there occur chalcogenides of tin (canfieldite, stannite, and others), bismuth, molybdenum, mercury, W and Sn oxides (huebnerite and cassiterite), wolframite, scheelite and molybdoscheelite, molybdenite, stromeyerite, rhodochrosite, rhodonite, aquamarine, and a series of other minerals. The presence of nontypical minerals in ores of gold deposits is indicative of remobilization of ore substance from host rocks and, probably, old deposits, presumed to be at a depth. In other deposits, the formation of exotic minerals in ores proceeds during telescoped superposition due to rejuvenation of hydrothermal activity. Exotic mineral assemblages in ores of different deposits are shown to carry important information on metallogenic specialization of ore districts and provinces, as well as on the presence of multistage ore mineralization.