Mineralogy of palladium, platinum, rhenium and gold in the sulfidic ores of shinkolobwe, Katanga, Congo

摘要

The Shinkolobwe Mine (Katanga, Congo) has been mined since 1926 for Ra U Co Ni Cu Mo Ag and Au, and for Pd Pt and Re extracted from slurries. The mineralogy of the last three elements was unknown until recently, and Au was assumed to be exclusively in the native state. It has been found by SEM/EMP that Pd occurs as merenskyite, and as a minor component in all other sulfides, selenides and tellurides. Pt is generally below detection limits, except in localized merenskyite nests. Au occurs as calaverite and in the native state. Re is present as an undetermined Re-Mo-sulfo-selenide associated with molybdenite. Since rare-element-containing individuals are found at short millimetric distances from others of the same species devoid of these rare elements, the origin of the hydrothermal/epithermal ore is attributed to a tectonically-induced heating of the strata-bound ore bodies of Roan age.