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Notizen: Summary The World's three largest producers of fluorite from carbonatite-related fluorspar ore deposits are located at Okorusu (Namibia), Amba Dongar (India), and Mato Preto (Brazil). Beneficiation problems involving fluorite concentrates from those three deposits share similar characteristics that are directly related to the mineralogy and textures of the ores. The most important of these beneficiation problems involves their phosphorus, silica, and lime contents. Because the fluorite-depositing hydrothermal fluids were partly or largely derived from carbonatite sources, and carbonatites typically are rich in phosphorus, carbonatite-related fluorite deposits would be expected to be characterized by significant amounts of phosphorus mineral in the form of apatite. In the beneficiation products from those ore deposits, apatite occurs as free particles and especially as particles locked with fluorite. The presence of apatite in fluorite concentrates may contribute significant amounts of phosphorus, a deleterious constituent in fluorspar concentrates used in the steelmaking industry. Fluorite concentrates from some carbonatite-related fluorspar deposits are characterized by significant amounts of silica. The silica occurs especially in the form of quartz, potash feldspar, and sericite. Quartz occurs in both free particles and in particles where it is locked with fluorite. Quartz was deposited late in the paragenetic sequence and typically fills small vugs between the fluorite crystals. Potash feldspar formed during early potassic fenitization associated with the magmatic carbonatite emplacement. Potassic feldspar forms intricate intergrowths with fluorite that result in locked feldspar-fluorite particles in the fluorspar concentrates. The potash feldspar is intensely altered to sericite. Fluorite deposits that occur within a carbonatite host, such as those deposits at Amba Dongar and some deposits at Mato Preto, may have the grades of their fluorite concentrate diluted by the presence of calcite. The calcite commonly is present as binary locked calcite-fluorite particles in those fluorspar concentrates. Although the beneficiation problems concerning fluorite concentrates from carbonatite-related fluorspar deposits may be effectively studied by petrographic and ore microscopic techniques, cathodoluminescence microscopy has been found to be uniquely suited to rapid mineral recognition and the study of those minerals involved in fluorspar beneficiation problems.

Notizen: Abstract Previous studies of galena and sphalerite from Paleozoic MVT deposits in the Viburnum Trend, southeast Missouri documented large variations in δ34S values throughout the ore-forming event. The present study of Cu-Fe-sulfides reveals a similar δ34S variation that reflects two end-member sulfur reservoirs whose relative importance varied both temporally and spatially. More 34S-enriched sulfides (δ34S approaching 25‰) indicate introduction of sulfur from basinal sedimentary sources, whereas more 32S-enriched sulfides (δ34S 〈 5‰) may reflect fluids moving through underlying granitic basement. Two areas containing Precambrian, igneous-hosted FeCu mineralization in southeast Missouri (West and Central Domes of Boss-Bixby) were investigated to elucidate their relationship to Cu-rich MVT orebodies hosted nearby within the overlying Cambrian Bonneterre Dolomite. Mineralization at Boss-Bixby is composed of an early phase of iron oxide deposition followed by Cu-Fe-sulfides. The Central Dome is faulted and its mineralization is more fracture-controlled than the typically podiform ores of the West Dome. The δ34S values of West Dome sulfides are 0.9 to 6.5‰ and pyrite-chalcopyrite indicate a temperature of 525° ± 50 °C. These data indicate an igneous source of sulfur during Precambrian ore deposition. In contrast, δ34S values of Central Dome sulfides are 9.4 to 20.0‰ and pyrite-chalcopyrite indicate temperatures of 275° ± 50 °C. Similar δ34S values are obtained for chalcopyrite from the overlying MVT deposits. We speculate that deeply circulating, basin-derived MVT fluids mobilized sulfur and copper from the underlying igneous basement and redeposited them in overlying Curich MVT orebodies, as well as overprinting earlier Precambrian sulfides of the Central Dome with a later, Paleozoic MVT sulfur isotope signature. Many models for MVT fluid circulation in the Midcontinent region of North America assume that igneous basement rocks are an impermeable boundary, but in southeast Missouri, evidence exists for structurally controlled MVT fluid movement 〉 600 m vertically through underlying Precambrian igneous rocks. Such basement involvement has been suggested for other carbonate-hosted base-metal districts (e.g. Irish base metal deposits) and should be considered an integral part of the ore-forming process in southeast Missouri.