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Mineralogical characterization of tellurium-bearing minerals at the Perserverance VMS deposit, Quebec, Canada
Kasprowicz, Filip A.
Kasprowicz, Filip A.
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2023
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Abstract
The Perseverance volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) deposit is a past producing Zn deposit of the Matagami camp, located in the Neoarchean Abitibi greenstone belt of Quebec, Canada. Matagami and the deposits within are known to be significantly enriched in tellurium, a critical element necessary for production of advanced photovoltaic panels. However, little is known on the occurrence, distribution, and deportment of tellurium at Perseverance. The goal of this study is to characterize the mineralogy of tellurium and telluride minerals within the Perseverance VMS deposit to better understand their occurrence at Perseverance and in the VMS environment in general.
Scanning electron microscopy based automated mineralogy, field-emission scanning electron microscopy imaging and semi-quantitative analysis, and electron probe microanalysis were used to characterize the tellurium occurrence at Perseverance including mineral chemistry, grain size distribution, spatial relationships, modal abundance, and a conservative estimate of the tellurium grade.
Seventeen different tellurium-bearing minerals were identified, including altaite, cervelleite, frohbergite, hessite, kochkarite, lingbaoite, mattagamite, melonite, montbrayite, pilsenite, poubaite, rucklidgeite, tellurantimony, tellurium, tellurobismuthite, tsumoite, volynskite, and native tellurium. Tellurium minerals occur as discrete free grains, inclusions, fracture fills, along grain boundaries, and as large composite aggregates. Grains vary in size from submicron inclusions to coarse aggregates, with over 50 volume% of the tellurides being hosted in grains 15 µm to 150 µm across. A conservative grade calculation based on automated mineralogy data revealed average Te concentrations of 42.5 ppm in high-grade ore samples, with the highest grade sample measuring 305 ppm Te. Tellurium minerals are most frequently associated with sphalerite and pyrite, and to a lesser extent with alteration minerals chlorite, talc, dolomite, and quartz. The close association with ore minerals such as sphalerite is promising for future Te production at similar deposits.
Metamorphic overprinting of the Perseverance deposit to greenschist facies is interpreted to have a role in the formation and coarsening of tellurium mineral grains. Sulfides in the deposit are recrystallized and may have purged significant quantities of tellurium and other trace elements from their crystal structure, resulting in the formation of discrete tellurium mineralization and the coarsening of any primary tellurium minerals which might have precipitated during primary ore formation.
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