Synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence analysis on altered mineral muscovite in gold deposit

Synchrotron radiation X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF) microprobe was used to ananlyse altered mineral muscovite and its surrounding feldspar in Yuerya gold deposit. The major, minor and trace elements of the two minerals were detected and analyzed. SRXRF analysis showed that the Yuerya muscovite had a complex chemical composition, containing K, Fe, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Co, Cu, Zn and many trace or ultra-trace elements. Since muscovite resulted from the alteration of hydrothermal ore fluid acting on feldspar (plagioclase), the difference of chemical composition between the two minerals shows the components of ore fluid, which are characterized by the enrichment of alkaline and alkaline-earth metal elements K, Ca and ore-associated elements Fe, Cu, Zn. And gold, silver and platinum, invisible under microscope, were detected in some areas of muscovite, but not found in feldspar. Espe- cially platinum, a mantle material, is rarely seen in the earth crust but now found in the gold deposit of magmatic sources; its appearance approves the idea of mantle flux participating in the gold mineralization, which suggests that the tectonic event controlling gold mineralization in the Yuerya district is a mantle phenomenon.