New ore minerals from the Kingash ultramafic massif, Northwestern Eastern Sayan

Abstract

The paper discusses earlier poorly studied mineralized rocks of the Kingash ultramafic complex in the Kan Block of the Eastern Sayan, including the large Cu–Ni–PGE deposit of the same name. Despite many researchers' increased interest in the Kingash massif, a number of questions related to the petrology, formation mechanism, and localization of Cu–Ni–PGE ore remain controversial. Along with already known ore minerals, we have identified and described a number of new mineral species: argentite, Fe-enriched sperrylite, a bismuth variety of merenskyite, gersdorffite, cobaltite, and thorianite. The ore minerals are distinguished by a higher relative amount of Fe, and this makes the Kingash deposits close to other Paleoproterozoic Cu–Ni deposits, e.g., the Jinchuan in China, Pechenga in Russia, Ungava in Canada, Mt. Scholl in Australia, etc