Azerbaijan State Oil and Industry University, Baku, Azerbaijan

Z. Dzh. Efendieva, Professor, Doctor of Sciences, zarifa.afandiyeva@asoiu.edu.az
G. S. Guseinov, Associate Professor, Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences

Curtin University: West Australian School of Mines, Canberra, Australia
A. F. Mammadli, Doctoral Student

A question of the present interest in modern geological science is typomorphism of native gold. Native gold is not only a commercial value object but also a mineral indicator of formation conditions of a deposit. The chemical composition (gold fineness, impurity elements) of native gold is analyzed. This information is required in the studies of mineral zonality and in determining stages of ore emplacement at the gold-bearing Kedabek copper sulphide deposit. Gold fineness study is complicated by high variability of gold content within the deposit and even within individual ore bodies. For this reason, the authors had to analyze each gold grain to specify the data on gold fineness at the test deposit. Gold grains were sampled at different depths and properly treated. Gold fineness was determined at the Physicochemical Laboratory of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, and the impurity elements in the composition of native gold were analyzed. The found impurity elements in native gold have a high practical significance. The typomorphic features of native gold, including the content and amount of impurity elements, are used in estimation of an erosional truncation level and an exposure degree of ore bodies. The local native gold contains Ag and some impurity elements, namely, Сu, Fe, Sb, As, Bi, Zn, Pb, Мо and Hg. The research findings afford ground to assume a certain influence of the Kedabek deep fault on the formation of the test deposit. The data on the content and amount of impurity elements in native gold allow presuming formation of the Kedabek ore at shallow depths.

1. Punishko O. A., Evdokimov A. V. The features of chemical composition of native gold according to the data from technological studies. Izvestiya Sibirskogo otdeleniya RAEN. Geologiya, poiski i razvedka rudnykh mestorozhdeniy. 2009. No. 1(34). pp. 77–80.
2. Yang Z., Hu G., Zhao X. New 40Ar/ 39Ar data of gold mineralization in the Ailaoshan Gold Belt, Yunnan Province, China. Acta Geologica Sinica. 2020. Vol. 94, Iss. 1. pp. 210–211.
3. Zhao L., Zhang S., Lu W., Jiao J. Gold occurrence and mineralization in the Paleozoic Heijianshan Fe–Cu (–Au) deposit, Eastern Tianshan. Ore Geology Reviews. 2024. Vol. 168. ID 106056.
4. Yessengarayev Ye. K., Baimbetov B. S., Surimbayev B. N. Studies on heap leaching of gold with the addition of sodium acetate as an intensifying reagent. Non-Ferrous Metals. 2020. No. 2. pp. 25–30.
5. Evdokimov S. I., Gerasimenko T. E. Pilot tests of gravity-flotation technology for processing industrial waste from alluvial gold mining. Tsvetnye Metally. 2021. No. 8. pp. 7–15.
6. Khrunina N. P. Improvement of a treatment processes of high-clayey goldbearing placers. Eurasian Mining. 2020. No. 2. pp. 28–32.
7. Nikolaeva L. A., Yablokova S. V. Typomorhic features of native gold and their applications in exploration. Rudy i metally. 2007. No. 6. pp. 41–57.
8. Valiev N. G., Guseynov G. S., Efendieva Z. J. Some typomorphous features of native gold of the dagkesaman polymetallic pyrite deposit and their practical significance. Izvestiya Tulskogo gosudarstvennogo univetsiteta. Nauki o Zemle. 2023. No. 1. pp. 348–359.
9. Petrovskaya N. V. Native gold: General characteristic, typomorphism, genesis. Moscow : Nauka, 1973. 347 p.
10. Baba-Zade V. M., Musaev Sh. D., Nasibov T. N. Gold of Azerbaijan. Baku, 2003. 423 p.
11. Kalandarov B. G. Gold and silver content of complex ore formations in the Lesser Caucasus. Vestnik Bakinskogo universiteta. 2004. No. 4. pp. 90–106.
12. Efendieva Z. J. Metallic minerals of Azerbaijan. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2019. No. 1. pp. 85–89.
13. Efendieva Z. Dzh., Osmanov M. B. The reworking of the Kedabek coper gold pyrite deposit by opencast method. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2012. No. 4. pp. 36–37.
14. Badalova R. P., Badalov S. T. Gold fineness at endogenous deposits and mineralizations in Uzbekistan. Doklady of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Earth Science Sections. 1967. Vol. 173, No. 4. pp. 914–916.
15. Lantsev I. P., Denisova L. K. Regulatory Notice No. 141-S. Spectral methods. Impurity elements in gold. Moscow : VIMS, 1976. 44 p.
16. Gaskov I. V. Major impurity elements in native gold and their association with gold mineralization settings in deposits of Asian fold belts. Russian Geology and Geophysics. 2017. Vol. 58, No. 9. pp. 1080–1092.
17. Samusikov V. P. Trace elements in native gold as criteria for the identification of the formation type and erosion level of gold ore deposits. Doklady Earth Sciences. 2003. Vol. 391, No. 5. pp. 742–746.
18. Guseynov G. S. Distribution of gold and silver in Dagkesaman gold-polymetallic deposit (Lesser Caucasus). Otechestvennaya geologiya. 2015. No. 1. pp. 24–29.

19. Petrovskaya N. V. Gold mineralogy: Current condition and prospects. Mineralogy of Native Elements : Collected Works. Vladivostok : DVNTs AN SSSR, 1980. pp. 3–9.
20. Taylor R. D., Monecke T., Reynolds T. J., Monecke J. Paragenesis of an orogenic gold deposit: New insights on mineralizing processes at the Grass Valley District, California. Economic Geology. 2021. Vol. 116, No. 2. pp. 323–356.
21. Chukhareva N. S., Belogub E. V., Ryzhkova Yu. A., Blinov I. A., Rassomakhin M. A. et al. Features of morphology and chemical composition of native gold from the Murtykty deposit, South Urals. Mineralogiya. 2021. Vol. 7, No. 1. pp. 54–65.
22. Ankusheva N. N., Kuzhuget R. V. Gold composition and conditions of Southern Ak-Dag gold-sulfide-quartz ore occurrence formation (Western Tuva). Litosfera. 2020. Vol. 20, No. 5. pp. 706–716.
23. Murzin V. V. Chemical composition of native gold as an indicator of its crystallization: An example of the Ural deposits. Metallogeny of Ancient and Modern Oceans–2010. Ore Potential of Spreading and Island and Structures : XVI Scientific Youth School Proceedings. Miass : GI UrO RAN, 2010. pp. 155–159.
24. Lidong D., Heping L., Siyuan W., Junhao W. Geochemical characteristics of gold polymetallic deposits as exemplified by the Laozuoshan Deposit, Heilongjiang, China. Chinese Journal of Geochemistry. 2003. Vol. 22, No. 1. pp. 89–96.
25. Aprelkov S. E., Kharchenko Yu. I. Gold-polymetallic and gold–silver ore occurrences of Southern Kamchatka. International Geology Review. 1971. Vol. 13, Iss 5. pp. 740–743.
26. Kim A. A., Lantsev I. P. Chemical composition of native gold at the central Aldan deposits. Mineralogy of Native Elements : Collected Works. Vladivostok : DVNTs AN SSR, 1980. pp. 114–118.
27. Mammadli A., Barakos G., Islam M. A., Mischo H., Hitch M. Development of a smart computational tool for the evaluation of co- and by-products in mining projects using Chovdar Gold Ore Deposit in Azerbaijan as a case study. Mining. 2022. Vol. 2, Iss. 3. pp. 487–510.
28. Mazurov A. K., Nikolaeva A. N., Rudmin M. A., Yakich T. Yu., Ruban A. S. et al. Gold in the ore of the gold–pyrite deposit Abyz (Central Kazakhstan). Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Assets Engineering. 2021. Vol. 332, No. 11. pp. 78–88.
29. De La Nuez Colon D., Santa Cruz Pacheco M. Gold and gold-bearing volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits of the Central Cuba. Izvestiya vuzov. Geologiya i razvedka. 2020. No. 3. pp. 27–37.
30. Guseinov G. S., Efendiyeva Z. J. Gold content of the Daghkesaman pyrite–polymetallic ore deposit (Lesser Caucasus). Gornyi Zhurnal. 2024. No. 4. pp. 89–94.