POSSIBLE MECHANISM OF THE GENERATION OF MUSTARD GOLD IN THE INTERACTION OF AUROSTIBITE WITH CHLORIDE SOLUTIONS, AS INDICATED BY ELECTROCHEMICAL INVESTIGATIONS

Abstract

Aurostibite occurs in many gold-antimony deposits in paragenesis with gold, stibnite, berthierite and antimony oxide, and it sometimes accounts for up to 10% of the total amount of gold in the ores. Electrochemical investigations of the interactions of AuSb2 with solutions similar in composition to natural solutions appears an effective way of solving this problem. We synthesized aurostibite, whose purity and homogeneity were confirmed by X-ray phase analysis and microprobe analysis. We used the voltammetric method with a rotating disk electrode, which enabled us to simulate a wide range of redox conditions at the mineral solution interface and to study the effect of convection on the solution process. It is quite probable that the generation of mustard gold in nature involves solution and replacement of intermetallic compounds such as gold telluride and similar gold minerals.