The morphology, mineralogy, and behavior of u "fine-grained" gold from placer deposits of Alberta: sampling and implications for mineral exploration

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 1662-1672 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Giusti
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Exploration ◽  
Sampling Procedure ◽  
Stream Sediments ◽  
Shape Factors ◽  
Athabasca River ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The North ◽  
Placer Deposits ◽  
Routine Sampling ◽  
And Behavior

The morphology of a large number of gold grains from stream sediments of the North Saskatchewan River and the Athabasca River was studied, together with the partitioning of the placer gold between various size fractions.Two major morphological varieties of gold were observed: (1) flaky, scaly gold, with folded and hammered edges, and with crystals or crystal faces still visible on the surface; and (2) "sandwiched," droplike particles, sometimes toroidal. About 5% of both types of gold were found to be coated with "new," secondary gold.The size of the majority of the gold grains studied varies between 0.500 and 0.010 mm. The most frequent size range in the North Saskatchewan River is 0.125–0.250 mm, whereas in the Athabasca River it is 0.063–0.125 mm. An important fraction of the gold from both rivers is smaller than 0.063 mm.The average Corey shape factor (CSF) of the gravity-recovered gold increases as the particle size decreases, whereas the gold grains lost to the tailings indicate very low average shape factors (i.e., high degree of flattening). This apparent increase in CSF for the smallest fractions recovered when using mechanical techniques is due to the fact that the flaky gold particles are more difficult to recover than the more spherical ones. Moreover, the presence of a gold-rich rim on all the gold grains increases their hydrophobicity.The sampling procedure to be adopted in Alberta and, more generally, in glaciated terrains is discussed. In particular, the use of the −63 μm fraction for routine sampling of stream sediments is suggested.

Bismuth-bearing assemblages from the Northern Pennine Orefield

1996 ◽  
Vol 60 (399) ◽  
pp. 317-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Ixer ◽  
B. Young ◽  
C. J. Stanley
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Quartz Veins ◽  
The North ◽  
Data Form ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Native Bismuth ◽  
Monoclinic Pyrrhotite ◽  
Early Phases ◽  
And Tungsten

AbstractBismuthinite-bearing quartz veins from the Alston Block of the North Pennine Orefield are all close to, or above, the Rookhope and Tynehead cupolas of the buried Weardale Granite. They are uniform in composition and paragenesis and are earlier than the main fluorite-baryte-galena-sphalerite mineralization of the orefield. Rhythmical crystallization of quartz, chalcopyrite and minor pyrite is followed by fluorite-quartz-chalcopyrite-minor sphalerite-altered pyrrhotite mineralization. Early tin-bearing (up to 0.29 wt.% Sn) chalcopyrite encloses trace amounts of bismuthinite (Bi2S3), synchysite (CaREE(CO3)F2), argentopentlandite (Ag(FeNi)8S8) (close to being stoichiometric), pyrrhotite, cubanite and cosalite (Pb2Bi2S5), while early pyrite carries monoclinic pyrrhotite (close to Fe7S8) and tungsten-bearing cassiterite (up to 1.03 wt.% WO3). Bismuthinite is macroscopically visible and is associated with native bismuth and small, fine-grained, spherical aggregates that qualitative analysis suggests may be cosalite crystals. Synchysite and more rarely monazite, xenotime and adularia are intergrown with bismuthinite. These mineralogical data form part of the basis for an increasing awareness of the contribution of the Weardale Granite to the early phases of mineralization in the Alston Block.

scholarly journals I.—Microscopic Structure of Irish Granites. No. 2. Granite of Aillemore, Co. Mayo

1874 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Edward Hull
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Microscopic Structure ◽  
South Side ◽  
North West ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Lower Silurian ◽  
The North ◽  
Geological Map ◽  
Vertical Walls ◽  
Dark Green

This granite forms an isolated mass, rising into two eminences a few miles south of Louisburg, called Corvock Brack (1287 feet) and Knockaskeheen (1288 feet). It is a greyish granite—generally fine—grained—consisting of quartz, two felspars,—one orthoclase, the other triclinic, probably oligoclase—and dark green mica. In some places there are patches in which the felspar assumes the appearance of “graphic granite.” Numerous boulders of this granite are strewn over the district to the north-west, and on the south side of Knockaskeheen; the rock is traversed by regular joints ranging N. 10 W., along which it splits off into nearly vertical walls. The position of the granite is shown on Griffith's Geological Map of Ireland, and it is surrounded by schistose beds, generally metamorphosed, and probably of Lower Silurian age. The granite itself is of older date than the Upper Llandovery beds, which lie to the southward.

Overburden geochemical signature of the Lac des Iles platinum group element deposit, northwestern Ontario, Canada

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1151-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Mineral Exploration ◽  
Shallow Groundwater ◽  
Soil System ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Rock Fragments ◽  
The North ◽  
Northwestern Ontario ◽  
Airborne Contamination ◽  
The Many ◽  
Lac Des Iles

Many previously published studies of the behaviour of Pt and Pd in till and soils have been done in areas of complex stratigraphy or very thin overburden cover, making the interpretation of soil results difficult because of the many variables associated with these settings. At the Lac des Iles mine site in northwestern Ontario, there are excellent exposures of the overburden in a series of exploration trenches. Glacial dispersal trains can be observed in till (C horizon) geochemistry (e.g., Ni, Cr, Cu, and Co). Regional geochemical dispersal trains of elements, such as Ni, Cr, Mg, and Co associated with the North Lac des Iles intrusion, can be detected for about 4 km beyond the western margin of the Mine Block intrusion. Entire dispersal trains range from 5 to 7 km in length and about 1 to 2 km in width. The dispersal of North Lac des Iles intrusion rock fragments tends to mask the response of the Mine Block intrusion. Dispersal trains of Pt and Pd are not well defined and tend to be very short, <1 km in length, due to the initial low concentrations of these elements in C-horizon till samples from the Lac Des Iles area. An exception to this is the Pd dispersal train originating from the high-grade zone that is up to 3 km long. Pd, Pt, Ni, and Cu appear to be moving both within and out of the soil system downslope into surface and shallow groundwater. It is suggested that these elements, to varying degrees, are moving in solution. Airborne contamination from mine operations of the humus has adversely affected the ability to determine the effectiveness of humus sampling for mineral exploration at Lac des Iles. The airborne contamination likely influences the geochemical results from surface water, shallow groundwater, and near-surface organic bog samples, particularly for the elements Pd and Pt.

A Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Megetra (Coleoptera: Meloidae) with Ecological and Behavioral Notes

1965 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 561-580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard B. Selander
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
New Mexico ◽  
Intraspecific Variation ◽  
North American ◽  
Taxonomic Revision ◽  
Seasonal Distribution ◽  
The State ◽  
Northern Arizona ◽  
The North ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract>Three species are recognized in the North American genus Megetra LeConte. The most distinctive of these anatomically and ecologically is M. cancellata (Brandt and Erichson), which ranges discontinuously from Arizona and New Mexico to the state of Hidalgo in México and occurs in limited sympatry with both of its congeners. Megetra vittata (LeConte) ranges from northern Arizona to western Texas. It appears to be strictly allopatric with, and similar ecologically to, M. punctata, new species, which ranges from southern Arizona and New Mexico to Durango, México. Specific diagnoses are made on the basis of characters of adult and, for M. cancellata and M. punctata, larval anatomy. Intraspecific variation in several adult characters is analyzed. Notes on the seasonal distribution, habitat, and behavior of the adult beetles are included.

Mineralization of the South Pennine Orefield, UK—A Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.D. Ford ◽  
N.E. Worley
Keyword(s):  
Wall Rock ◽  
Hydraulic Gradient ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
East Midlands ◽  
Ore Minerals ◽  
Placer Deposits ◽  
Fractured Limestone ◽  
Host Rocks

This review of the South Pennine Orefield (SPO) draws together the findings from many years of underground field observations and petrographical study. Mineralization is of the Mississippi Valley-type (MVT) and is concentrated within an area of some 200 km2, mainly along the eastern margins of a large inlier, the Derbyshire High, in Carboniferous platform carbonate host rocks. The inlier covers some 390 km2, forms an up-dip promontory of a larger structure, the East Midlands Shelf, and is surrounded by shales and sandstones of the Millstone Grit and Pennine Coal Measures groups. Mineralization probably began during the late Westphalian (Moscovian, Mid Pennsylvanian), when subsidence due to thermal sag resulted in the limestone being buried to depths of c. 4 km beneath younger strata. A palaeohydraulic reconstruction is presented from analysis of mineralized palaeokarst features, which are interpreted as representing hypogenic or deep-seated karst formed by the interstratal circulation of hydrothermal water in a mostly confined hydrodynamic setting. It is reasoned that Variscan inversion of N–S faults to the east of the SPO resulted in erosion of Namurian and Westphalian (Upper Mississippian–Middle Pennsylvanian) rocks and created a hydraulic gradient inclined towards the south-west. Acidic F-Ba-Pb-Zn enriched fluid evolved in the Namurian basinal rocks and migrated into fractured limestone. The resultant wall-rock dissolution along existing wrench faults led to the formation of a maze of stratiform mineral deposits (flats) and more irregular spongework-shaped structures (pipes). The presence of hydrocarbon accumulations in the limestones and evidence from fluid inclusions indicates that the mineralizing fluids were chloride/fluoride-rich and compositionally typical of oilfield brine. Isotope evidence demonstrates a sulphate evaporite source of sulphur, mainly from the Chadian (Visean, Middle Mississippian) Middleton Anhydrite Formation. By the late Cenozoic, karstification of exposed carbonate rocks began and the current pattern of epigenic karst drainage started to develop as the regional hydraulic gradient reversed, assuming its present eastward inclined attitude. The mineralized hypogenic karst was overprinted by later drainage systems as the hydraulic gradient changed, and placer deposits were formed from the erosion of existing mineralization. This was accompanied by circulation of meteoric water and resulted in the supergene weathering of the sulphide ore minerals. Eastward underflow of meteoric groundwater also exploited the same mineralization flow paths. There is evidence that pre-mineralization hypogenic karst was also significant in the formation of orebodies in the North Pennine Orefield and the Halkyn–Minera Orefield of NE Wales.

scholarly journals Types of river sources of the thin-grained aluminosilicaclastics for the Jurassic and lower cretaceous deposits of the West Siberian megabasin

2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-61
Author(s):  
A. V. Maslov
Keyword(s):  
Lower Cretaceous ◽  
The Urals ◽  
River Systems ◽  
The West ◽  
Rock Composition ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The North ◽  
Catchment Areas ◽  
Cretaceous Deposits ◽  
West Siberian Basin

Background. The lithogeochemical features of fine-grained detrital rocks (mudstones, shales, and fine-grained siltstones) allow, with a certain degree of success, the main parameters of the formation of sedimentary sequences to be reconstructed. These parameters include (primarily in terms of their REE and Th systematics) the types of river systems supplying thin terrigenous suspension in the sedimentation area: the rivers of the 1st category – large rivers with a catchment area of more than 100,000 km2; 2nd category – rivers feeding on the products of erosion of sedimentary deposits; 3rd category – rivers draining mainly igneous and metamorphic rocks; and 4th category – rivers carrying erosion products of volcanic associations.Aim. To reveal, based on the analysis of interrelationships between such parameters as (La/Yb)N, Eu/Eu* and the Th content, the types of river systems that fed the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous deposits of the Shaim oil and gas region (OGR) (Sherkalinsky, Tyumen, Abalak and Mulymya formations) and the region of the North Pokachevsky field of the Shirotnoe Priobye region (Sherkalinsky, Tyumen and Bazhenov formations, Lower Cretaceous deposits).Materials and methods. The ICP MS data for almost 100 samples of mudstones and fine-grained clayey siltstones were used to analyse the features of distribution of lanthanides and Th in the Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous clayey rocks of the Shaim OGR and the area of the North Pokachevsky deposits. Individual and average composition points for formations, members and layers were plotted on the (La/Yb)N-Eu/Eu*, (La/Yb)N–Th diagrams developed by us with classification areas of the composition of fine suspended material of modern rivers of different categories.Results and conclusion. The results presented in the article showed that during the formation of the deposits of the Shaim OGR in the Early and Middle Jurassic, erosion affected either mainly sedimentary formations or paleo-catchment areas that were very variegated in their rock composition. In the Late Jurassic, the source area was, most likely, a volcanic province, composed mainly of igneous rocks of the basic composition, and located within the Urals. This conclusion suggested that the transfer of clastic material from the Urals to the Urals part of the West Siberian basin “revived” much earlier than the Hauterivian. The Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous section of the vicinity of the North Pokachevsky field was almost entirely composed of thin aluminosilicaclastics formed due to the erosion of volcanic formations. These volcanic formations were located, as followed from the materials of earlier performed paleogeographic reconstructions, probably within the Altai-Sayan region or Northern Kazakhstan. Thus, the supply of detrital material in the considered territories of the West Siberian basin had a number of significant differences in the Jurassic and early Cretaceous.

scholarly journals Age and origin of the Cannon Point syenite, Essex County, New York: southernmost expression of Monteregian Hills magmatism?

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 379-392
Author(s):  
David G. Bailey ◽  
Marian Lupulescu ◽  
Jeffrey Chiarenzelli ◽  
Jonathan P. Traylor
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York State ◽  
Alkali Feldspar ◽  
Crustal Material ◽  
Lake Champlain ◽  
Essex County ◽  
York State ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
The North ◽  
Basement Faults

Two syenite sills intrude the local Paleozoic strata of eastern New York State and are exposed along the western shore of Lake Champlain. The sills are fine-grained, alkali feldspar syenites and quartz syenites, with phenocrysts of sanidine and albite. The two sills are compositionally distinct, with crossing rare earth element profiles and different incompatible element ratios, which eliminates the possibility of a simple petrogenetic relationship. Zircon extracted from the upper sill yields a U–Pb age of 131.1 ± 1.7 Ma, making the sills the youngest known igneous rocks in New York State. This age is similar to that of the earliest intrusions in the Monteregian Hills of Quebec, >100 km to the north. Sr and Nd radiogenic isotope ratios are also similar to those observed in some of the syenitic rocks of the eastern Monteregian Hills. The Cannon Point syenites have compositions typical of A-type, within-plate granitoids. They exhibit unusually high Ta and Nb concentrations, resulting in distinct trace element signatures that are similar to those of the silicic rocks of the Valles Caldera, a large, rift-related magmatic system. We suggest that the Cannon Point syenites were melts derived primarily by anatexis of old, primitive, lower crustal material in response to Mesozoic rifting and to the intrusion of mantle-derived magmas. The sills indicate that the effects of continental rifting were spatially and temporally extensive, resulting in the reactivation of basement faults in the Lake Champlain Valley hundreds of kilometers west of the active rift boundary, and crustal melting >50 Ma after the initiation of rifting.

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