Precious metal mineralogy of the Murtykty gold deposit, South Urals

Ore mineralogy of the Murtykty gold deposit is presented in the paper and main attention is paid to the mode of occurrence of precious metals. Ores are pyrite-bearing quartz-chlorite (±sericite, ±carbonate of the dolomite-ankerite series) metasomatites with variable ratios between rock-forming minerals. Pyrite is the major sulfde; sphalerite, galena and chalcopyrite are secondary in abundance. Rare minerals include pyrrhotite, arsenopyrite, altaite, coloradoite, hessite, petzite, calaverite, volynskite, rucklidgeite, and native gold. The Ag content of native gold ranges from 6.11 to 35.32 wt. %. Signifcant amount of Au and Ag occurs in a telluride form: hessite Ag2Te, petzite Ag3AuTe2, calaverite AuTe2, and volynskite AgBiTe2. The refractory features of sulfde ores are caused by diverse modes of occurrences of precious metal.