Mining Institute, Perm Federal Research Center, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Perm, Russia:

A. F. Smetannikov, Head of Industrial Mineralogy Sector, Candidate of Geologo-Mineralogical Sciences, tm-djucha@mi-perm.ru
A. S. Borisov, Post-Graduate Student
D. V. Onosov, Engineer

Geokarta-Perm, Perm, Russia:

B. S. Suslov, Chief Geologist

The article discusses the prospects of discovering gold deposits associated with organic matter of the sapropel type in terrigene-carbonate sediments of the Devonian age on the western slope of the Urals. A comparison is made with the analogous Carlin-type deposits and Russo–Kazakhstan deposits composed by ore impregnated with sulfides containing submicroscopic gold. The studies of gold in the Devonian terrigene-carbonate sediments have established that gold is mostly associated with organic matter both in carbonate and terrigene rocks, and in the weathering crusts. It is established that the organic matter in these rocks is close in composition with the organic matter of the water insoluble residue of the Upper Kama deposit salt rocks. It is shown that the traditional methods of analysis reveal fairly low concentrations of gold, which do not allow allocation of commercially significant objects. The methods of assaying with scorification and with mass spectrometry and blending with chlorides produce gold recovery 2–5 times higher. Blending of the material under analysis with chlorides is carried out until interaction with lead oxide. Then, the material is mixed with lead oxide and melted. Chlorides play double role in the process: they prevent from transition of noble metals to fumes and contribute to transformation of noble metals to the analyzed form. The sampling intervals characterized by high contents made it possible to assess the prospects of the Olkhovsky site of the Pashiyskaya area on the western slope of the Urals as a deposit of gold. The purpose of this study is to develop a methodology for the identification of organic matter associated with gold and assessment of the role of gold associated with organic matter in the overall balance of gold in terrigene–carbonate sediments in terms of the study site (Olkhovsky).

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