Selective extraction techniques in exploration for volcanogenic sulphide deposits, Eastern Black Sea region, Turkey

Selective extraction techniques employing 0.05 M EDTA, 1 M hydroxylamine hydrochloride (Hxl) in acetic acid and 0.157 M ammonium oxalate in oxalic acid were used to assess the mode of occurrence of the trace elements in the various geochemical sample media and to increase the anomaly contrast over the concealed massive ore bodies in the the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey.In hematitized pumice tuffs, an exhalate horizon overlying the Madenköy massive sulphide ore body, the trace elements such as As, Cu, Zn, Pb and Mo are partly associated with sulphides and partly occur in clays, and Fe- and Mn-oxides.The extraction data on stream sediments suggest that a hot nitric acid attack is the best digestion procedure for detecting mechanical dispersion trains in regional geochemical programmes. Comparison of the extractabilities of metals in soils from mineralized areas with those from the background Sirtköy soils by the different extraction procedures demonstrates that EDTA, and to lesser extent Hxl are the best extraction procedures for increasing the anomaly/background ratio. These two extraction procedures were found to also enhance Zn and Pb anomalies over the cover rocks of the Madenköy massive ore body relative to the largely exposed stockwork-impregnation zones.Among the EDTA, Hxl and ammonium oxalate extractions, only the last procedure extracted considerable amounts of As from the soil samples. Vapor-phase analysis suggests that mercury occurs mainly in sulphide form which is leachable only by ammonium oxalate solution that also leaches adsorbed mercury. The EDTA and the Hxl solutions only extracted adsorbed mercury. These three extractants have no effect on either mercuric oxide or mercuric sulphate. Arsenic, a very useful pathfinder in this region, can only be partly extracted from the pumice tuff and soil samples by ammonium oxalate solution.