Oxygen, boron, chromium and niobium enrichment in native Au and Ag grains: A case study from the Linglong gold deposit, Jiaodong, eastern China

Quartz vein-type gold mineralization in the Linglong deposit constitutes one of the important sources of gold in China. Here we report the first finding of anomalous enrichment of boron (B), oxygen (O), chromium (Cr) and niobium (Nb) in native gold and Ag–Te grains from the Linglong deposit. The oxygen content of gold and silver grains ranges up to 75.83 at.%, boron up to 97.85 at.%, chromium up to 26.23 at.%, and tellurium up to 33.4 at.%. The Au precipitation is mainly linked to pyrite precipitation under reducing conditions. The HFSE enrichment including chromium (Cr) and niobium (Nb) in the gold and silver grains indicate that the ore-forming fluids were derived from high temperature magmas sourced from depth. The enrichment of low temperature Te in the native gold and silver grains, combined with the typical features of fluid ‘boiling’ as inferred from fluid inclusion studies indicate that the ore-fluids derived from depth upwelled rapidly, and metal precipitation occurred through decompression at shallower levels. Our results suggest good prospect for gold and silver at depth in Linglong.

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► First finding of anomalous B, O, Cr and Nb in native gold and silver grains.
► HFSE enrichment in the grains suggest derivation from high temperature magmas.
► Fluid inclusions show decompression and ‘boiling’.