REE patterns of hydrothermally altered rocks, fluid inclusions, and stable oxygen isotopes of quartz were studied at the Natalka gold deposit. Metasomatic rocks formed under decompression reveal gradual depletion in LREE and HREE relative to siltstone of the protolith. The HREE patterns of metasomatic rocks formed under decompression are uniform; an insignificant removal of LREE can be noted. The progressive extraction of REE with increasing alteration of rocks could have been due to the effect of magmatogenic or meteoric fluid. Because a Ce anomaly is absent, the participation of oxidized meteoric water was limited. The inverse correlation between the total REE content and the Eu anomaly value in altered rocks indicates a substantial role of magmatogenic fluid. The REE patterns of altered rocks formed under compression show that the role of metamorphic fluid was not great. All metasomatic rocks are enriched in LREE, so that the enrichment of fluid in LREE as well may be suggested. Three fluid compositions were captured as fluid inclusions: (1) H₂O-CO₂-NaCl-MgCl₂ with a salinity of 1.0–4.9 wt % NaCl equiv, (2) CO₂-CH₄, and (3) H₂O-NaCl-MgCl₂ with a salinity of 7.0–5.6 wt % NaCl equiv. Compositions (1) and (2) coexisted in the mineral-forming system at 250–350°C and 1.1–2.4 kbar as products of phase separation under conditions of decreasing P and T. The interaction of this fluid with host rocks resulted in the formation of extensive halos of beresitized rocks with sulfide disseminations. The precipitation of arsenopyrite and pyrite led to the substantial depletion of mineral-forming fluid in H₂S and destabilization of the Au(HS)²⁻ complex. The fluid with the third composition arose due to the boiling of the H₂O-CO₂-CH₄-NaCl-MgCl₂ liquid and was responsible for metasomatic alteration of host rocks. The late mineral assemblages were deposited from this fluid at the initial stage of ore formation. The high methane concentrations in the ore-forming fluid were likely caused by interaction of hydrothermal ore-bearing solutions with carbonaceous host rocks. The δ¹⁸O values of quartz from quartz-scheelite-pyrite-arsenopyrite and sulfide-sulfosalt mineral assemblages vary from +11.6 to +14.1‰ and +11.2 to +13.5‰, respectively. The parental fluids of the early and late mineral assemblages probably were derived from a magmatic source and were characterized by $ \delta ^{18} O_{H_2 O} $ = +6.3 to +8.8‰ at 350°C and +3.6 to +5.9‰ at 280°C, respectively. The narrow interval of oxygen isotopic compositions shows that this source was homogeneous. The data obtained allow us to suggest that the deposit formation was related to magmatic activity, including the direct supply of ore components from a magma chamber and mobilization of these components in the processes of dehydration and decarbonation during contact and regional metamorphism.

Petrochemical characteristics of igneous, sedimentary, and metasomatic rocks; chemical and isotopic compositions of minerals and fluids; and PT parameters of mineral formation at the Nezhdaninsky deposit are reported. A model of hydrothermal system formation is developed on this basis. In addition to decreasing Ba/Rb and Li/Mg ratios in the course of the hydrothermal process, resulting in the formation of ore-bearing metasomatic rocks, increasing K/Ba and diminishing K/Cs ratios indicate the probable participation of magmatic fluid in the ore deposition. The agreement of the K/Rb and K/Ba ratios with the values typical of the main trend of igneous rocks (MT) implies that the K, Rb, and Ba contents were distributed in the ore-forming hydrothermal fluid according to the ratios in the source magmatic chamber. The K/Rb ratios in metasomatic rocks correspond to the MT and approach the pegmatitic-hydrothermal trend and the composition of orthomagmatic fluid of Mo-W greisen. Similar REE patterns of igneous and terrigenous rocks do not allow the REE source to be constrained unequivocally. The lithological control of lithophile element distribution testifies to the supply of host rock components to the hydrothermal system. All studied rocks and minerals are enriched in LREE. The REE total and the contribution of HREE decrease from preore to synore metasomatic rocks, from preore to regenerated carbonates, and from older to younger scheelite. A similar tendency is noted in granitoids of the Kurum pluton. The δ¹⁸O values of quartz range from +10.3 to +12.6‰ in Au-Mo-W zones, from +15.9 to +16.4‰ in metasomatic rocks, from +14.8 to +16.6‰ in gold-ore veins, and from +13.5 to +16.9‰ in silver-base-metal ore mineralization. The estimates of $\delta ^{18} O_{H_2 O} $ suggest that water was supplied from a magmatic source (δ¹⁸O = +(5.5−9.0‰)) and as a product of sedimentary rock dehydration. High-temperature (up to 390°C) and highly concentrated (up to 31 wt % NaCl equiv) fluids participated in the mineral formation. The phase separation of the fluid into H₂O-CO₂ liquid and predominantly carbon dioxide gas was combined with mixing of a high-temperature and relatively highly concentrated chloride solution with a low-temperature and poorly mineralized fluid. The redox conditions varied from equilibrium with CH₄-bearing fluid at the gold-molybdenum-tungsten stage to equilibrium with CO₂-bearing fluid during the gold-ore stage.

New mineralogical, thermobarometric, isotopic, and geochemical data provide evidence for long and complex formation history of the Sarylakh and Sentachan Au-Sb deposits conditioned by regional geodynamics and various types of ore mineralization, differing in age and source of ore matter combined in the same ore-localizing structural units. The deposits are situated in the Taryn metallogenic zone of the East Yakutian metallogenic belt in the central Verkhoyansk-Kolyma Fold Region. They are controlled by the regional Adycha-Taryn Fault Zone that separates the Kular-Nera Terrane and the western part of the Verkhoyansk Fold-Thrust Belt. The fault extends along the strike of the northwest-trending linear folds and is deep-rooted and repeatedly reactivated. The orebodies are mineralized crush zones accompanied by sulfidated (up to 100 m wide) quartz-sericite metasomatic rocks and replacing dickite-pyrophyllite alteration near stibnite veinlets. Two stages of low-sulfide gold-quartz and stibnite mineralization are distinguished. The formation conditions of the early milk white quartz in orebodies with stibnite mineralization at the Sarylakh and Sentachan deposits are similar: temperature interval 340–280°C, salt concentration in fluids 6.8–1.6 wt % NaCl equiv, fluid pressure 3430–1050 bar, and sodic bicarbonate fluid composition. The ranges of fluid salinity overlapped at both deposits. In the late regenerated quartz that attends stibnite mineralization, fluid inclusions contain an aqueous solution with salinity of 3.2 wt % NaCl equiv and are homogenized into liquid at 304–189°C. Syngenetic gas inclusions contain nitrogen 0.19 g/cm³ in density. The pressure of 300 bar is estimated at 189°C. The composition of the captured fluid is characterized as K-Ca bicarbonatesulfate. The sulfur isotopic composition has been analyzed in pyrite and arsenopyrite from ore and metasomatic zones, as well as in coarse-, medium-, and fine-grained stibnite varieties subjected to dynamometamorphism. The following δ³⁴S values, ‰ have been established at the Sarylakh deposit: −2.0 to −0.9 in arsenopyrite, −5.5 to −1.1 in pyrite, and −5.5 to −3.6 in stibnite. At the Sentachan deposit: −0.8 to +1.0 in arsenopyrite, +0.5 to +2.6 in pyrite, and −3.9 to +0.6 in stibnite. Sulfides from the Sentachan deposit is somewhat enriched in ³⁴S. The ¹⁸O of milk white quartz at the Sarylakh deposit varies from +14.8 to 17.0‰ and from +16.4 to + 19.3‰ at the Sentachan. The δ¹⁸O of regenerated quartz is +16.5‰ at the Sarylakh and +17.6 to +19.8‰ at the Sentachan. The δ¹⁸O of carbonates varies from +15.0 to 16.3% at the Sarylakh and from +16.7 to +18.2‰ at the Sentachan. The δ¹³C of carbonates ranges from −9.5 to −12.1‰ and −7.8 to −8.5‰, respectively. The calculated $ \delta ^{18} O_{H_2 O} $ of the early fluid in equilibrium with quartz and dolomite at 300δC are +7.9 to +10.1‰ for the Sarylakh deposit and +9.5 to +12.4‰ for the Sentachan deposit (+4.9 and 6.0‰ at 200°C for the late fluid, respectively). Most estimates fall into the interval characteristic of magmatic water (°¹⁸O = +5.5 to +9.5‰).

The Chertovo Koryto gold deposit (80 t Au at 1.84 g/t) in the Lena world-class province, Siberia, is hosted in a metamorphosed sequence of the Paleoproterozoic Mikhailovsk Formation that comprises the oldest black shale strata of the Baikal-Patom region. The mineralisation is confined to the thrust zone complicated with a conjugate anticline fold, zones of shearing and dislocation. The structural position of the mineralisation is similar to that at the giant Sukhoi Log deposit in the neighbouring Mama-Bodaibo zone. In the latter, the isotope age data suggest that Khomolkho black shales, hosts to Sukhoi Log mineralisation, are of Ediacaran age and underwent prograde metamorphism during early Paleozoic. The geochemical composition of the terrigenous rocks that host Sukhoi Log, Chertovo Koryto, and a number of other deposits at the various stratigraphic levels throughout the Proterozoic sequence have much in common. They do not show elevated metal contents above the common black shale abundances, except for Au and As, which is at variance with the accepted view on diagenetic enrichment of black shales in the Lena province. The occurrence of sagenitic rutile in quartz and chlorite pseudomorphs after biotite and other petrographic observations provide evidence on a retrograde nature of the metamorphic mineral assemblages in the Mikhailovsk rocks. The sulphides are pyrrhotite and arsenopyrite with very minor pyrite at Chertovo Koryto, whereas pyrite is the predominant sulphide in the Sukhoi Log ore. Fluid inclusion data on both deposits emphasise a high-temperature nature of the mineralisation albeit revealing great contrast in the fluid composition. Sukhoi Log mineralisation was formed at mixing between low-salinity aqueous solutions and dense gaseous carbonic fluids, which facilitated effective gold scavenging and precipitation, as demonstrated by thermodynamic simulation. The precursory devolatilisation of the Mikhailovsk sediments at the prograde stage results in the paucity of gaseous carbonic fluid during retrograde metamorphism and mineralisation. The similarity in the styles and chemical parameters of mineralisation, and the predominant structural control of ore localisation within the same Precambrian regional tectonic unit support an idea that orogenic gold mineralisation in the Lena province was produced during a single early Paleozoic event