Mineralogical and Geochemical Peculiarities and Gold Content of Pyrite and Arsenopyrite of the Southern Ashaly Gold Deposit (East Kazakhstan)

Greku E.D. Kalinin Y.A. Serdyukov A.N. Naumov E.A. Borovikov A.A. Ragozin A.L. Gladkov A.S.
February 2026 Pleiades Publishing

Geology of Ore Deposits
2026 #68 Issue 1 162 - 182 pp.

Abstract: The paper provides a brief geological description of the Southern Ashaly mineral deposit within which ores of the gold-sulfide and gold-low-sulfide-quartz types were recognized. Two ore mineralization stages were established, that incorporate four substages: the pyrite, pyrite-arsenopyrite, sulfide, and polymetallic ones. The morphological and mineralogical-geochemical features of the major, minor, and rare ore minerals were studied in detail. The following successive pyrite generations including six varieties are distinguished: diagenetic (Py-I), metamorphic (Py-II), and hydrothermal (Py-III). The Py-I variety is enriched in V, Ti, Mo, Sn, Sb, W, Pb and Bi, with the spherical (Py-Ib) variety enriched in V, Mn, Ti, Mo, Sn, Sb, REEs, W, Pb, and Bi and depleted in Ni, Cu, As, Ag, and Au relative to the spherical-streaky (Py-Ic) variety. Py-II is depleted in Zn, Cu, Pb, Ag, Mo and enriched in Au, As relative to Py-I. Py-III is enriched in As relative to other generations. Native gold of two generations is formed at the pyrite, pyrite-arsenopyrite (early) and sulfide (late) substages with an average gold fineness of 884 and 998 ‰, respectively. An elevated Au and Ag concentrations (g/t) were found in Py-Ib—4.14 and 10.4; Py-Ic—26.4 and 13.4; Py-IIcore—484.1 and 39, Py-IIa—85 and 14.5; Py-IIb—56 and 1; Py-III—0.5 and 1.7; and in arsenopyrite-I, 230 and 20, respectively. The temperature of transformation of the carbonaceous matter in rocks of the Bukon Formation and temperature of formation of gold-sulfide ores type varies from 384 to 241°C, which corresponds to the greenschist-zeolite facies of metamorphism.

East Kazakhstan , LA-ICP-MS analytical technique , ore mineralogy , trace element composition of pyrite and arsenopyrite , West Kalba gold-bearing belt

Text of the article Перейти на текст статьи

Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russian Federation
K-PLACER LLP, Semey, 071400, Kazakhstan
Institute of the Earth’s Crust, SB RAS, Irkutsk, 664033, Russian Federation
Central Research Institute of Geological Prospecting for Base and Precious Metals, Moscow, 117545, Russian Federation

Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy
K-PLACER LLP
Institute of the Earth’s Crust
Central Research Institute of Geological Prospecting for Base and Precious Metals

10 лет помогаем публиковать статьи Международный издатель

Книга Публикация научной статьи Волощук 2026 Book Publication of a scientific article 2026