Mineralogy, geochemistry, and formation conditions of the Sentyabr’sky prospect—the first economic occurrence of Au-Te mineralization in the Chukchi Peninsula—was studied. Gold occurs in native form and as telluride compound (petzite). Petzite and hessite are the major ore minerals of the gold-telluride assemblage; native gold is superimposed on them. Altaite, coloradoite, and paratellurite have been also identified. The study of fluid inclusions in sphalerite and quartz associated with ore minerals shows that the Au-Te mineralization of the Sentyabr’sky prospect and the low-sulfide Au-Ag ore of the adjacent Dvoinoi deposit were formed from different fluids and under different conditions. The multistage hydrothermal process developed in the frames of long-living porphyry-epithermal system functioned in the Ilirnei district. The Au-Te mineralization at the Sentyabr’sky prospect is related to alkaline magmatism. The high-salinity (above 5 wt % NaCl equiv) fluid inclusions in hydrothermal quartz can be indicators of such mineralization. Mineralogy and geochemistry of ore at the Sentyabr’sky prospect provide evidence for its deposition at the middle level of porphyry-epithermal system and testify to prospectivity of deep levels.
Mineralogical, fluid inclusion, and geochemical studies of precious metal mineralization within the Baimka trend in the western Chukchi Peninsula have been preformed. Porphyry copper–molybdenum–gold deposits and prospects of the Baimka trend are spatially related to monzonitic rocks of the Early Cretaceous Egdygkych Complex. Four types of precious metal-bearing assemblages have been identified: (1) chalcopyrite + bornite + quartz with high-fineness native gold enclosed in bornite, (2) low-Mn dolomite + quartz + sulfide (chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, tennantite-tetrahedrite) ± tourmaline with low-fineness native gold and hessite, (3) rhodochrosite + high-Mn dolomite + quartz + sulfide (chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, tennantite- tetrahedrite) with low-fineness native gold, electrum, acanthite, Ag and Au–Ag tellurides, and Ag sulfosalts, and (4) calcite + quartz + sulfide (chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena) with low-fineness native gold, Ag sulfides and selenides, and Ag-bearing sulfosalts. Study of fluid inclusions from quartz, sphalerite, and fluorite have revealed that hydrothermal ores within the Baimka trend precipitated from fluids with strongly variable salinity at temperatures and pressures ranging from 594 to 104°C and from 1200 to 170 bar, respectively. An indicator of vertical AgPbZn/CuBiMo geochemical zoning is proposed. The value range of this indicator makes it possible to estimate the erosion level of the porphyry–epithermal system. The erosion level of the Baimka deposits and prospects deepens in the following order: Vesenny deposit → Pryamoi prospect → Nakhodka prospect → Peschanka deposit → III Vesenny prospect.
The mineral composition of the Talatui gold deposit has been studied with modern methods. Previously unknown minerals (ilmenite, siegenite, glaucodot, wittichenite, matildite, hessite, pilsenite,...