Association of silver with mercury, arsenic, antimony, and carbonaceous material at the Huancavelica District, Peru

Noble, Donald C.; Vidal, E C Cesar

doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.85.7.1645

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…For example, in the Carlin gold deposit, Western U.S.A., Radtke and Scheiner (1970) reported that three forms of organic matter are associated with gold: (1) an activated carbon component; (2) a mixture of high-molecular-weight hydrocarbons usually associated with the activated carbon components; and (3) an organic acid, similar to "humic acid", containing functional groups capable of interacting with gold organic compounds. Another Carlin-type gold deposit reported in Peru is also rich in organic matters (Noble and Vidal, 1990). The situation is the same in the Carlin-type gold deposits in the P.R.…”

Section: Chapter Iv: Solid Hydrocarbon Concentrations and Their Relatmentioning

confidence: 61%

Le lien genetique entre la mineralisation en or et en mercure et l evolution petrolifere

Lu¹

1994

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The Danzhai gold-mercury deposit is situated in the eastern region of Guizhou province, southwest of P. R. China.The Danzhai deposit is one of the gold-mercury-antimony-barite deposits in the Sandou-Danzhai ore belt, which is controlled by regional fault system Fi. The host rocks are Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician carbonates. Wall rock alteration is dominated by silicification and carbonatization. The major mineral assemblages consist of cinnabar, arsenopyrite, stibnite, pyrite and realgar, orpiment as well as barite. Chemical analyses show that gold is positively correlated with arsenic so that the gold may be mainly associated with arsenic minerals. The Au/Ag ratio is always greater than 1 in the gold ore. Hydrocarbons, particularly bitumen, are abundant in both the host rocks and the ore. The geological characteristics of the Danzhai gold-mercury deposit is quite similar to that of Carlin gold deposit in the western U.S.A except the Danzhai deposit is rich in organic matter and not associated with igneous rocks.A number of gold-mercury-antimony-barite deposits are distributed in or around the Majiang-Danzhai oil trap, and all of these deposits are present under the ancient interface between petroleum and oilfield brine (-500 m). Field observation shows that a variety of forms of hydrocarbon occur not only in the host carbonates but in the ore deposit as well. Patch-like bitumen, veinlet bitumen as well as stylolite-like bitumen host sulfide minerals such as arsenopyrite and cinnabar while metal sulfides such as cinnabar and gangue minerals also host bitumen. Besides bitumen, paraffin wax is also found in the deposit. An organic petrography study demonstrates that the bitumen in the minerals from the deposit is identical to the bitumen in the former Majiang-Danzhai oil trap. The bitumen is actually pyrobitumen, with a high reflectance, a mosaic texture, and an anisotropic nature but without fluorescence. The reflectance of bitumen from the deposit is high, varying from 2 to 3.8%, and the temperature calculated from this reflectance ranges from 150 to 210°C, indicating that the petroleum in the Majiang-Danzhai oil trap reached the thermal natural gas stage.

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Section: Chapter Iv: Solid Hydrocarbon Concentrations and Their Relatmentioning

confidence: 61%

Le lien genetique entre la mineralisation en or et en mercure et l evolution petrolifere

Lu¹

1994

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“…The geochemical signature at Azogues is much like the geochemical signature at Almadén and Huancavelica (Rytuba, 1986;Noble & Vidal, 1990) and includes As (9 -75 ppm), Sb (10 -54 ppm), and other elements of interest such as Ag (0.3 -2.4 ppm) and Pb (12 -220 ppm). Background elemental concentration for sandstones is also provided on …”

Section: Icp Data From Azoguesmentioning

confidence: 92%

ICP Analyses from the Cinnabar-Mercury Occurrence at Azogues (Loma Guashon), Ecuador: Ancient Industrial Uses and Human Health Implications

Brooks¹

2018

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ICP (Inductively Coupled Plasma) analyses of the Cretaceous marine sandstones at the Azogues (Loma Guashon), Ecuador cinnabar-mercury occurrence gave 11 -113 ppm Hg. However, the ancient Azogues mines have been well documented previously, for example: 1) a 1799 hand drawn map "Plan del Cerro Mineral de Azogue" shows numerous adits; 2) during Colonial time, Cuenca founder, Gil Ramirez Davalos was owner of the mercury mines; 3) in the late 1800s, Teodoro Wolf described well-worked adits at Guashon and samples with 0.5% Hg; and more recently, 4) the Metallogenic Map of Ecuador shows the mercury occurrence at Azogues. Mineral resource assessment of the Azogues occurrence is important to regional archaeological studies of resource availability and ancient use of cinnabar as a pigment and as a source of mercury for gold amalgamation before the arrival of the Europeans, and possibly later, for silver amalgamation, during Colonial time.

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“…Gold values are 0.01 -0.07 ppm, but may increase with depth (Table 1). These elements are all above background and indicate further study focused on silver and gold in association with mercury (Turekian & Wedepohl, 1961;Noble & Vidal, 1990). Specifically, the high arsenic is a pathfinder for gold and the high mercury content is an indicator of Pb-Zn-Ag ore (Rose et al, 1979).…”

Section: Map Compilationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enigma of Alluvial Gold Mining in Pre-Contact Peru—The Present Is Key to the Past

Brooks¹

2023

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Peru has produced metals for thousands of years and is the leading gold producer in Latin America today; however, the indigenous mining technology used to produce industrial amounts of gold in pre-contact Peru has thus far been undescribed. Industrial amounts of gold are produced in only two ways: 1) gravity separation/mercury (amalgamation), and 2) cyanide. Therefore, an understanding of present-day gold mining methods is key to understanding gold mining in the past. For example, in 2018, Peru's large-scale open-pit gold mines produced 123,767 kg of gold using cyanide and 18,875 kg of gold were produced from small-scale alluvial gold mines that used gravity separation and mercury. Since cyanide was not used until the 1880s, mercury amalgamation must be critiqued as the mining technology that produced prodigious amounts of gold from alluvial sources in pre-contact Peru.

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Association of silver with mercury, arsenic, antimony, and carbonaceous material at the Huancavelica District, Peru

Cited by 10 publications

References 0 publications

Le lien genetique entre la mineralisation en or et en mercure et l evolution petrolifere

Le lien genetique entre la mineralisation en or et en mercure et l evolution petrolifere

ICP Analyses from the Cinnabar-Mercury Occurrence at Azogues (Loma Guashon), Ecuador: Ancient Industrial Uses and Human Health Implications

Enigma of Alluvial Gold Mining in Pre-Contact Peru—The Present Is Key to the Past

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