Arsenide systems form in continental rifts where deep-seated, oxidized, metal-rich, metamorphic basement brines ascend to shallow levels. Native elements (Ag, Bi, As), Ni-, Co- and Fe-mono-, di and sulf-arsenides precipitate by reduction as hydrocarbons, graphite, or sulfide minerals are oxidized to form carbonates and barite.
Color on map:
Deposit types
Name
Commodities
Critical minerals
Five element veins
Ag, As, Co, Ni, Bi, U, Sb
Co, Bi, U, As, Sb
References
Kissin, S.A., 1992, Five-element (Ni-Co-As-Ag-Bi) veins: Geoscience Canada, v. 19, p. 113-124. Markl, G., Burisch, M., and Neumann, U., 2016, Natural fracking and the genesis of five-element veins: Mineralium Deposita, v. 51, no. 6, p. 703-712. [Also available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-016-0662-z.] Burisch, M., Gerdes, A., Walter, B.F., Neumann, U., Fettel, M., and Markl, G., 2017, Methane and the origin of five-element veins--Mineralogy, age, fluid inclusion chemistry and ore forming processes in the Odenwald, SW Germany: Ore Geology Reviews, v. 81, p. 42-61, accessed April 18, 2020, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2016.10.033. Scharrer, M., Kreissl, S., and Markl, G., 2019, The mineralogical variability of hydrothermal native element-arsenide (five-element) associations and the role of physicochemical and kinetic factors concerning sulfur and arsenic: Ore Geology Reviews, v. 113, p. 103025, accessed April 18, 2020, at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2019.103025.
Source: Hofstra, A.H., and Kreiner, D.C., 2020, Systems-Deposits-Commodities-Critical Minerals Table for the Earth Mapping Resources Initiative: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2020-1042, 24 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20201042.
