Fine and ultrafine gold in placers of northeastern Russia

The main features of the migration and accumulation of fine and ultrafine gold during the evolution of placer-forming processes in northeastern Russia are discussed. The results of loose sediment sampling (over 2000 samples) with a screw separator and strake facilities have been taken into consideration. The approximate grades and potential resources of gold were estimated for various genetic types of placers. The most favorable conditions for the mobilization and accumulation of fine and ultrafine gold in the placers of northeastern Russia prevailed during the Paleogene to Miocene stage of the evolution of orogenic morphostructures, when the residual (illuvial and alluvial) placers were formed. During the Pliocene to Quaternary stage, the tectonic activation caused the reworking of placers by slope and fluvial processes and resulted in the formation of new hillside and alluvial placers. At this stage, the dispersal of fine gold fractions prevailed over accumulation. Under conditions of the periglacial lithogenesis of the Pliocene to Quaternary tectonic activation, the formation of new placers with fine and ultrafine gold derived from primary sources was suppressed due to the low rate of metal release in the process of physical weathering. In terms of the economic importance of placers with fine and ultrafine gold, residual, eluvial, or hillside placers, as well as alluvial stratal placers located in low-order (and partly medium-order) stream valleys, are the most attractive in northeastern Russia. The primary sources of such placers comprise gold-bearing porphry copper, gold-sulfide-quartz, and other hydrothermal deposits with similar placer-forming capability, as well as gold-quartz stockworks. The grade of fine and ultrafine gold in such placers may be as high as a few g/m³. The placers located in the constratal alluvium of graben-type valleys and the bar and floodplain placers in the areas with stockwork-like orebodies containing fine (<0.25 mm) gold are regarded as prospective objects.     

Unconventional gold placers of the China tectonic depression (Vitim Plateau,East Siberia)

Holocene shallow (0.5–4.5 m, rarely more) and Pliocene–Pleistocene deep (> 25 m) placers occur within the China tectonic depression. The shallow placers are associated with the formation of the present-day drainage valleys of the China River under permafrost conditions, and the deep ones are localized within the preglacial paleovalleys of the river basin. An integrated geological and geochemical study was carried out at ten shallow commercial placers, eight of which are classified as poorly studied and “unconventional.” Placers are considered “unconventional” based on their technological characteristics (commercial gold is small (? 0.25 to + 0.1 mm), thin (? 0.1 mm), and micron-sized or “bound” (invisible)), geomorphologic conditions of formation, confinement to the oxidized zone of active permafrost, significant portion of fine hydrogenic gold, and several other minor features.The formation of shallow “unconventional” placers is controlled by the conditions of active permafrost. Under aerobic conditions, suprapermafrost waters form an oxidized zone, in which iron hydroxides impart a yellowish reddish color to water-bearing rocks. Long-lived geochemical barriers (biogenic, reduction, electrochemical, sorption, and others), including gravitational differentiation, play an important role in the concentration of small and thin gold.Alluvial deposits in Meso-Cenozoic tectonic depressions, such as the China basin, are the most promising in terms of “unconventional” placers. The main factors favoring the formation of these localities and the criteria for their assessment are large feeding sources of gold (mainly carbonaceous and sulfide) mineralization, endogenic and exogenic dispersion aureoles with thin and invisible gold; increased thickness of the suprapermafrost active layer and its temporal and spatial stability, contributing to the formation and functioning of oxidized horizons with the accumulation of ferric hydroxide and hydrogenic gold; specific morphologic varieties of hydrogenic gold, which are the fundamental criterion for primary gold mineralization with migratable metal; fine-clastic clay-rich composition of recent alluvial or alluvial-talus sediments, produced by water reworking of ancient gold-bearing weathering crusts; and development of broad floodplains filled with Holocene sediments and their junction with talus-solifluction erosional slopes.     

Native gold in complex Ti–Zr placers of the southern West Siberian Plain

Typomorphic features of native gold and its contents in complex Ti–Zr placers in the southern West Siberian Plain are reported. Three of the placers are of littoral-marine genesis, and two formed under conditions of an alluvial piedmont plain. Native gold from the studied Ti–Zr placers occurs mainly as flattened thin (?0.1 mm) particles which underwent mechanical action. It is marked by wide fineness variation and the abundance of a very fine (990–1000‰) variety. Most likely, this is chemically transformed clastogenic metal. The gold content of the productive bed (5–30 mg/m³ native gold and 8–140 ppb bulk gold) is consistent with the dispersion of heavy ore and accessory minerals during mechanical migration in water flows simultaneously with their concentration on geochemical barriers. The native-gold content of complex Ti–Zr placers shows a higher negative correlation with the primary source–placer distance than those of Ti and Zr minerals and a positive correlation with the degree of hydrodynamic reworking (gravity concentration) of transit terrigenous material. On the southern framing of the West Siberian Plain, some regions of northern Kazakhstan are promising for gold of complex Ti–Zr placers as well as fine- and thin-gold placers, gold-bearing weathering crusts, and primary gold deposits.     

Geochemical and morphological characteristics of gold particles from recent river deposits and the fossil placers of the Witwatersrand

A relationship has been established between morphological features and fineness of gold particles and the distance over which they have been transported in recent alluvial placer deposits, such as the rivers of the Barberton Mountain Land, South Africa and the river Rhine in Germany. It was possible to show that most gold particles from the Witwatersrand conglomerates retained their detrital morphology and by comparing them with particles from recent alluvial gold deposits it was possible to estimate the distance of transport for the Witwatersrand gold, which in most cases ranged from 10 km to 30 km. Gold particles in recent placers show a characteristic increase in fineness with increasing distance of transport because of the leaching of the silver from them. The Witwatersrand gold particles on the other hand, have retained their primary fineness, because leaching of silver in the oxygen-deficient Precambrian atmosphere was not feasible chemically.     

Dynamic classification of alluvial gold placers in the northeast of Russia

The comprehensive study of alluvial gold placers, fluvial sediments, and river valleys allowed division of these placers into subtypes, categories, and varieties on the basis of genetic principles. The comparison of observation results with reconstructions of placer-forming fluvial processes demonstrates the distinct dependence of all basic properties of placers on the dynamics of their formation, i.e., on the hydraulic size of gold grains, the dimensions of streams, and the phase of the elementary erosion cycle (PEC). Four PECs are distinguished: erosion, abrasion, equilibrium, and aggradation. A lithodynamic alluvial complex (LDAC) of the same name corresponds to each PEC. Any fractions of free gold can be transported by streams, and the mode of transportation depends on the PEC. Placers of eight dynamic categories, brush, erosion, perluvial, apron, bar, equilibrium, aggradational, and gravitational, are syngenetic to certain lithofacies belonging to different LDACs. The first four categories are combined into the channel-line subtype, which embraces all traditional placers. The nontraditional bar and equilibrium (beach subtype) and aggradational and gravitational categories (representing two subtypes of the same name (?)) are so far poorly studied but may be regarded as highly promising. The size, morphology, thickness, structure, and localization of placers; average and modal values of size and roundness of gold grains; degree of their sorting and concentration; three-dimensional distribution of gold; composition of alluvium; relationships of placers with alluvium and the gutter, river valleys of various sizes, and types of morphostructures; and other features are distinct for placers pertaining to specific categories and make up natural groups individualized for each category. The correlation of placer properties in each category makes these properties predictable at the early stages of geological exploration and enhances the efficiency of forecasting and prospecting. In high-grade gold clusters, closely spaced placers group into composite deposits. The subdivision of these placers into categories makes it possible to apply rational methods and tools of exploration and mining of placers; to estimate the character, volume, and location of previous losses of gold; and to select targets for their remining. The dynamic analysis of recently formed and ancient placers is helpful for implementation of panning and interpretation of the results obtained in the context of prospecting for gold. The proposed classification may be used not only in the study of stream gold but also in the exploration of some other placer deposits.     

Low temperature recrystallisation of alluvial gold in paleoplacer deposits

Detrital gold particles in paleoplacer deposits develop recrystallised rims, with associated expulsion of Ag, leading to the formation of Ag-poor rims which have been recognised in most placer gold particles around the world. Recrystallisation is facilitated by accumulation of strain energy as the gold particles are deformed, particularly on particle margins, during transportation in a fluvial system. The recrystallisation process ensues after sedimentary deposition and can occur at low temperatures (<40 °C) over long geological time scales (millions of years). In the Otago placer goldfield of southern New Zealand, paleoplacers of varying ages contain gold with varying transport distances and these display differing degrees of rim formation. Narrow (1–10 µm) recrystallised rims with 0–3 wt% Ag formed on gold particles that had been transported <10 km from their source and preserved in Eocene sediments. Relict, coarse grained (∼100 µm) gold particle cores have 3–10 wt% Ag, which is representative of the source gold in nearby basement rocks. Gold in the Miocene paleoplacers was recycled from the Eocene deposits and transported >20 km from their source. The gold particles now have wider recrystallised rims (up to 100 µm), so that some particles have essentially no relict cores preserved. Gold in Cretaceous paleoplacers have wide (∼100 µm) recrystallised low-Ag rims, even in locally-derived particles, partly as a result of diagenetic effects not seen in the younger placers. Gold particles in all the paleoplacers have delicate gold overgrowths that are readily removed during recycling, but are replaced by groundwater dissolution and reprecipitation on a time scale of <1 Ma. The recrystallisation that leads to Ag-poor rim formation is primarily related to the amount of deformation imposed on particles during sedimentary transport, and is therefore broadly linked to transport distance, but is also partly controlled by the age of the paleoplacer on time scales of tens of millions of years. Gold particles that have been derived directly from basement sources can retain their original composition for long distances (tens to hundreds of kilometres) in a river system, with only minor recrystallised rim development. Gold particles that have been recycled through paleoplacer deposits can lose this link to source composition after relatively short transport distances because of extensive recrystallisation.     

Some geological-morphological features of the formation of gold-bearing placers in the Amur region

The intensity of placer formation is controlled by many factors, mainly by the erosion level of orebearing structures. Their deep erosion and long-term denudation resulted in the formation of numerous, often large placers with fine gold, which lost their relation with bedrocks and were derived mainly by rewashing of loose deposits from the depressions adjacent to the ore-bearing orogens. These placers are developed in many gold-bearing areas: Dambuki, Sutara, Erik, and others. Rich placers with coarse gold of high fineness were formed via erosion of gold mineralization that was previously metamorphosed by post-ore granitoids (Niman and Kerbi regions, Central Sikhote Alin).     

River drainage reorientation during placer gold accumulation, southern New Zealand

Many alluvial placer deposits around the world occur in river systems that have been affected by tectonic events, causing drainage reorientation and severance of links between placers and their sources. This study documents tectonic rejuvenation of topography in the Otago giant placer goldfield, New Zealand, which has resulted in numerous river capture and drainage reorientation events. These events have induced changes to gold transport directions and numerous stages of separation of detrital gold from primary sources. Goldfield-wide reconstructions of drainage patterns through time are as yet only possible for Miocene–Recent, and numerous earlier drainage changes back to Cretaceous primary orogenic mineralisation are probable. Variations in basement lithologies permit auriferous gravel provenance determinations, facilitating paleodrainage pattern reconstruction and documentation of river capture events. River capture events and timing of these events for gold-bearing paleodrainages have also been documented using genetic divergences of populations of freshwater galaxiid fish that were isolated by drainage reorientation. Gold-bearing quartz pebble conglomerates had a southeastward drainage in the Miocene. This was disrupted in the Pliocene by mountain range uplift and gold placer recycling, with deposition of lithic conglomerates containing only minor gold placers. The most dramatic changes in gold transport directions occurred through the Quaternary, as antiformal ranges grew across the pre-existing drainages. Miocene and Pliocene placers were recycled with numerous local (1–10 km scale) changes in river directions and numerous capture events. Large axial rivers were segmented into a more complex drainage pattern, and on-going river capture resulted in growth of the main Clutha River catchment at the expense of neighbouring catchments. The most productive placers developed in the Clutha River in late Quaternary when increased discharge from captured mountain catchments enhanced gold transport and concentration. Similar river drainage reorientation has occurred in other placer fields around the world, but the lack of preserved evidence inhibits documentation of most such changes.     

Alluvial gold placers directly related to primary sources: An important forecast criterion

Two extreme groups of alluvial gold placers (lost and preserved “live” relation to the primary sources) are distinguished by the character of this relation and mineralogical-geochemical peculiarities. The content of the invisible gold in the first ones is close to the regional background (first mg/t) in contrast to its anomalous (exceeding the local background for several orders of magnitude) amount in placers of the second type. The invisible gold composes the geochemical dispersion flows combined with the placer. The placers of this type are important forecast criterion of the assessment of the nearby areas for the primary gold.     

Typomorphic features of placer gold of Vagran cluster (the Northern Urals) and search indicators for primary bedrock gold deposits

The Vagran placer cluster is located on the eastern slope of Northern Urals. During > 100 years of gold mining history approximately 40 tons of gold have been extracted from the placer deposits.Bedrocks of the region consist of high metamorphic Upper Proterozoic and Paleozoic terrigeneous, terrigeneous-volcanogenic and igneous rocks. Gold placer deposits are mostly alluvial genesis deposits and of Quaternary to Oligocene (?) age. The alluvial deposits consist of gravel with pebbles, boulders, and sandy clay covered by sandy silt and a soil layer. The thickness of the alluvial sequence is usually 5–10 m and reaches 18 m in the main watercourses of the third order. Nearly all of the alluvial sediments are gold bearing but concentrations of economic importance prevail in the bottom part of the sequence above the bedrock.There are four different types of gold particles: (I) rounded and well-rounded particles of high fineness and homogeneous inner structure, (II) rounded to sub-rounded high fineness particles with a pure gold rim developed over a core, (III) crystallomorphic (idiomorphic) high fineness with a homogeneous inner structure, and (IV) irregular angular and subangular particles of medium fineness with a significant content of Ag (10–40 wt.%) and elevated Hg (up to 1.15 wt.%).The first type is prevalent and comprises up to 65% of the total gold particles; it is uniformly distributed throughout the territory. There are features with initially complicated dendritic and laminar shaped particles which were rounded during transportation. The second and third types have a propensity for zones of the inherited erosion–tectonic depressions. Apparently, types I, II and III are related with orogenic mesothermal gold-sulfide-quartz mineralization; the differences of these types depend on the primary zonation of ore bodies and supergenic transformation of the alloys. They were connected with middle-depth ore bodies of an orogenic gold-sulfide-quartz formation. The fourth type is evident of nearby transportation from primary sources and a short duration of supergenic influence. It is controlled by a zone of NW-SE orientation, diagonal to the main structures of Ural Fold Belt.The plot of Au content vs coefficient of heterogeneity (ratio of the Au content in the core and in the rim of the grains) is the distinguishing factor between the four types of gold grains both by primary hypogenetic characteristics and supergenetic features.No corresponding lode occurrence of gold-sulfide-quartz mineralization has been identified to date in this region. Placer gold concentrations are related to the intermediate hosts of the Mesozoic-Cenozoic surfaces of the Ural peneplain uplift in the Oligocene and eroded in Miocene-Quaternary time. This factor determines the widespread distribution of placer gold in the territory of the Vagran cluster.The large, Carlin-type Vorontsovsk gold deposit is located 60 km south-east from the Vagran area. It has a shallow erosional level, small size of native gold, and its distal location from the placer deposits makes it an unlikely primary source for the Vagran placers. However, mineralization of this type of deposit is noted within the cluster.Gold of the fourth type nearly resembles the gold of the Vorontsovsk deposit and, apparently, the source is related to the same hydrothermal mineralization event. ICP MS analyses of the quartz-sulfide lodes in the floor of gold-bearing valleys revealed a gold content of 2.0–6.9 g/t in the zone of type IV distribution. Therefore, gold of the fourth type can be used as an indicator for the exploration of primary bedrock mineralization. The geological setting and typomorphic features of this placer gold shows that the primary gold mineralization is similar to the Vorontsovsk deposit and within the zone of distribution of the placer gold of the fourth type.     

内蒙古虎拉林地区砂金与岩金的关系

虎拉林地区砂、岩金矿的空间位置关系十分密切。在虎拉林河上中下游及虎拉林岩金矿分别采取样品，结果表明虎拉林河砂金粒度大，分选较差，磨圆度差；砂金形态总体上以粒状为主；溶蚀系数均值小于1。微量元素含量特征表明砂金的主要物质来源是近源，与岩金矿关系密切且具有继承性。虎拉林岩金矿床的矿石中自然金颗粒粗大，矿体的上部遭到剥蚀，虎拉林河砂金主要来源于虎拉林岩金矿床，砂金可作为岩金的找矿标志。自然金化学-结晶温度图表明砂金的原生Au源为中低温热液矿床。     

河南省砂金矿床地质特征

河南省砂金矿床广泛分布于黄河、长江两大水系的支流中,具代表性的有淅川寺湾及嵩县高都川两矿床,其成因类型分属于河床-河漫滩型与阶地型两大类。矿体展布形态与全新统地层分布状态一致,为近水平沿现代河流边部赋存的长条带状。在地质找矿方面,在两大水系交汇处、河流地形的缓坡以及河流的内湾一侧均为寻找砂金矿床的有利区段。     

Native gold and companion minerals in the Cenozoic sediments of the Ural Foredeep

Clastic gold in the Cenozoic sediments of the Ural Foredeep is referred to the apron and aureole dynamic types of alluvial placers, which are formed at a distance of 10–30 km from their sources. The gold grains vary appreciably in size and chemical composition of individuals and are characterized by good round-ness and high degree of alluvial refining. It is suggested that endogenic gold occurrences in mountainous regions of the Polar and Subpolar Urals were the main sources of clastic gold grains.     

Genesis of gold-bearing placers and their possible sources (Eastern Siberian Platform)

Typomorphic features of placer gold in the eastern Siberian Platform were studied to determine its genesis. It was established that this region contains abundant alluvial bar placers, which were formed mainly by the erosion of gold reservoirs of different ages. Discovery of gold with the points of eolian reworking in the Quaternary sediments allows us to predict the eolian gold placers in individual areas of the northeastern and central parts of the eastern Siberian Platform. Identification of two types of gold on the basis of typomorphic features in the Cenozoic deposits indicates that placer gold was mainly derived from the Precambrian sources spatially confined to the exposure of ancient basement, as well as from local ore occurrences related to the Mesozoic tectonomagmatic activation. Thus, two main stages of ore formation (Precambrian and Mesozoic), were substantiated for the first time in the eastern Siberian Platform.     

Microscopic gold in marine and oceanic sediments

The present-day contribution of coastal-marine placers into the bulk gold production is insignificant. As usual, only gold of coarse- and medium-grained classes is recovered while the fine-grained and dispersed gold are disposed into tailings. During the sedimentation, such a floating gold is removed far from the wave-surf zone. Despite the common belief about poor prospects of the Black Sea shelf for modern gold placers, we have proved the expediency to study the distribution of floating microscopic gold in Holocene marine sediments and carried out the respective works. Using the special concentrating methods, we enabled to detect the gold in most of the 830 samples collected. Geomorphological, lithological, hydrodynamic, and other factors controlling the gold potential were determined. In some cases, the gold content exceeds the minimal economic grade in continental placers. The prospective sites for further investigation were outlined. It was established that the polygenic microscopic gold can be divided into at least clastic, authigenic, and clastic-authigenic types. According to our data, the alluvial, lagoonal-marine, liman, and other sediments at the adjacent land also contain substantial amounts of microscopic gold. The pre10987nary study of oceanic bottom sediments near the Antarctic Peninsula and within the Argentine Basin proved the possibility of microscopic gold to accumulate under various facies conditions. The microscopic gold, mainly of clastic type, was detected here in 82% of samples. The obtained results testify to the global-scale deposition of floating microscopic gold in sedimentation basins of various age and may serve as a basis for the further comprehensive tackling of the problem in different regions.     

Native gold in Cu- and Ni-bearing pyroxenite-cortlandite intrusions and placers of the Dambuki ore cluster,the Amur region

The Dambuki ore cluster of the Upper Amur region is characterized by numerous and high-grade gold placers. A few small primary deposits and occurrences of gold-quartz type were formerly considered to be the main source of placers. However, the study of widespread Early Cretaceous Cu- and Ni-bearing ultramafic intrusions has shown that gold occurring in primary Cu-Ni ores and products of their weathering practically does not differ from placer gold in morphology, fineness, or geochemical features. In both cases, elements typical of Cu-Ni ore (Cu, Fe, Pd, Ni, etc.) are detected as impurities of gold particles. These data indicate that the Au-and Pt-bearing Cu-Ni ore mineralization may be the main source of placer gold. This ore mineralization is genetically related to small pyroxenite-cortlandite sills and dikes, abundant in the Dambuki ore cluster. The primary gold-quartz deposits and occurrences also contributed to the placers, but their part was rather small.     

Possibility of the discovery of eolian gold placers in Tuva

Issue of the influence of eolian processes on the formation of gold placers in the Tuva region is considered. It has been revealed that the formation of placers is related not only to hydrodynamic processes but also to eolian processes, which are reflected in the formation of relief, redistribution of metal, and reworking of the useful component. Study of typomorphic features of the eolian gold and regularities of its redistribution revealed the possibility of discovery of a new type of placer gold (eolian and heterogeneous placers).     

Alluvial gold in Kalimantan, Indonesia: A colloidal origin?

Extensive placer gold deposits occur in Quaternary palaeochannels in the Ampalit and Cempaga Buang drainage basins near Kasongan, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Broad interfluvial Pleistocene terraces surrounding the drainages also contain significant amounts of placer gold. The “channel” and “terrace” gold deposits together cover an area in excess of 180 km².Exploration for gold at Ampalit followed traditional alluvial methods, and assumed that mechanical and gravitational factors were the principal mechanisms affecting gold accumulation and concentration. Gold was considered to be physically reworked from terraces and redeposited in the present drainage channels or underlying, laterally displaced, palaeochannels. However, a comparison of gold grains from the Ampalit drainage channel and adjacent terraces indicates that gold grains in the drainage channels are possibly of colloidal origin and not mechanically transported to their present domain.The morphology of gold grains from the Ampalit drainage is compared with grains from adjacent terraces, using scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The latter procedure allows for nondestructive analysis to give true three dimensional surface topography down to nanometre resolution. Evidence from force microscopy supports a colloidal origin for gold aggregates.The average purity of gold produced from the Ampalit dredging operation is 970 fine (970/1000) and the majority of examined gold grains extracted from beneath the drainage channel have a purity of 998 fine. This unusually high degree of purity suggests a selective dissolution/aggregation mechanism. We propose that gold is transported downward and laterally in groundwater percolating through the terrace sands and gravels to the current drainage as a humic acid-stabilised colloid. As the pregnant groundwater migrates toward the present drainage channels, it encounters a sleep chemical gradient and the colloid aggregates. The aggregation process occurs near clay zones within palaeochannel sands and gravels beneath the present river sediments. Here the colloidal aggregates form small grains (usually <1 mm) of extremely high purity.Today, the inherently unstable gold deposits at Ampalit are in a state of both aggregation and dissolution. Identification of low energy zones, location of point bar lags in palaeo and recent drainage channels, and the extrapolation of areas of low energy are not solely valid as exploration guides for gold accumulation in this environment. Exploration methods that also recognise ground water migration and composition, and the geochemical controls of dissolution and aggregation, will improve the ability to identify ore accumulations, thus contributing to improved economics of mining these deposits.     

The significance of Gobi desert surfaces for dust emissions in China: an experimental study

A series of experiments to determine the direct emission of dust-sized particles from Gobi surfaces by clean wind (wind without sand), and the potential for aeolian abrasion of Gobi surfaces and beds of gravel and mobile sand to produce fine (<100 μm) and dust-sized (<10 μm, PM₁₀) particles under sand-laden winds were conducted. Parent material was obtained from Gobi areas of the Ala Shan Plateau, the region with high dust emissions in arid China. The fine particles produced by aeolian processes were collected using sand traps and sieved the captured materials to exclude particles >100 μm in diameter and then PM₁₀ by sedimentation was acquired. The Gobi surface provided most of the emitted fine particles during the initial dust emission processes, but subsequently, release of the clay coatings of particles by abrasion becomes the dominant source of fine materials. Under sand-laden winds, PM₁₀ production rates produced by aeolian abrasion of Gobi surfaces ranged between 0.002 and 0.244% of blown materials. After removal of sand, silt, or clay with low resistance to erosion from the Gobi surfaces by the wind, the PM₁₀ production rates caused by aeolian abrasion were similar to those from gravel and sand beds. The results also indicated that after the dust-sized particles with low resistance to erosion were removed, the production of dust-sized particles was unrelated to wind velocity. Under aeolian processes, Gobi deserts in this region therefore play a major role in dust emissions from arid and semiarid China.