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Platinum-group element sulpharsenides and Pd bismuthotellurides in the metamorphosed Ni-Cu deposit at Las Aguilas (Province of San Luis, Argentina)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 July 2018

Fernando Gervilla ,
Alejandro Sáncnez-Anguita ,
Rogelio D. Acevedo ,
Purificación Fenoll Hach-Ali  and
Andres Paniagua
Fernando Gervilla
Affiliation:
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra and Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrología (Universidad de Granada-CSIC). Avda. Fuentenueva, s/n, 18002 Granada, Spain
Alejandro Sáncnez-Anguita
Affiliation:
APLITEG S.L. Colonia de San Sebastian, 6-6° 18007 Granada, Spain
Rogelio D. Acevedo
Affiliation:
Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas, CONICET, 9410 Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Purificación Fenoll Hach-Ali
Affiliation:
Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra and Departamento de Mineralogía y Petrologia (Universidad de Granada-CSIC). Avda. Fuentenueva, s/n, 18002 Granada, Spain
Andres Paniagua
Affiliation:
Departamento de Geología, Universidad de Oviedo, Arias de Velasco s/n, 33005 Oviedo, Spain
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Abstract

The Las Aguilas Ni-Cu-PGE deposit is associated with a sequence of basic-ultrabasic rocks made up of dunite, harzurgite, norite and amphibolite. These igneous (partially metamorphosed) rocks, and their host granulites, gneisses and migmatites of probable Precambrian age, are highly folded. The sulphide ore, consisting of pyrrhotite, pentlandite and chalcopyrite, occurs in the cores of both antiform and synform structures, within dunite, harzburgite and mainly along shear zones in bronzitite, replacing small mylonitic subgrains. The platinum-group mineral assemblage is dominated by Pd bismuthotellurides (Pt-free merenskyite, palladian bismuthian melonite and michenerite), with minor sperrylite, and PGE-sulpharsenides. The latter often occur as single, zoned crystals frequently showing cores of irarsite; outside these are concentric zones of cobaltian hollingworthite, rhodian nickelian cobaltite and Fe-rich nickelian cobaltite.

Mineralogical, textural and chemical evidence indicate that the sperrylite and platinum-group element sulpharsenides were formed during a primary magmatic event associated with the fractionation of a basaltic melt, which was contaminated by the assimilation of metamorphic crustal rocks. PGE sulpharsenides crystallized from As-bearing, residual magmatic liquids that collected PGE and segregated after the crystallization of the monosulfide solid solution. During high-grade metamorphism, sulpharsenides were remobilized as solid crystals in the liquated sulfides suffering partial dissolution and fracturing. On the other hand, there is no evidence of a primary concentration of Pd-bismuthotelluride minerals, and their present spatial distribution is only the consequence of their formation under high- to medium-grade metamorphism, down to temperatures of below 500°C. Pd bismuthotellurides crystallize even in fractures of sulpharsenides, attached to the boundaries of highly dissolved sulpharsenide crystals, and intergrown with molybdenite.

Keywords

cobaltian hollingworthiterhodian nickelian cobaltitePd bismuthotelluridesNi-Cu oresmetamorphic reworkingSierras PampeanasArgentina
Type
Mineralogy
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 61 , Issue 409 , December 1997 , pp. 861 - 877
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 1997

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