RT Journal Article
T1 Distribution of critical metals in evolving pyrite from massive sulfide ores of the Iberian Pyrite Belt
A1 Yesares Ortiz, María Dolores
A1 Piña, Rubén
A1 González Jiménez, José M.
A1 Sáez Ramos, Reinaldo
A1 Ruiz de Almodóvar Sel, Gabriel
A1 Fanlo, Isabel
A1 Pons, J. M.
A1 Vega, Raquel
AB With >90 known deposits containing original reserves of >2400 Mt of sulfide ore, the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) isthe largest volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) province on Earth. In these evolving mineral systems, texturallydifferent pyrite exhibits characteristic mineralogy and trace element fingerprints. Pyrite (Py-1), which is wellpreserved in the polymetallic ores that crystallized at the earliest stage of VMS deposit formation, consists ofkernels of pyrite framboids surrounded by concentric colloform bands and ended by faceted outlines. It is rich insome metals like Pb, Zn, Sb and As (mostly hosted as nano-to-micron-sized particles, including galena, tetrahedriteand arsenopyrite) but depleted in Cu, Co and Bi. In contrast, pyrite from the pyritic and Cu-rich oreoverprinted by late fluids exhibits spongy-looking (Py-2) or homogenous (Py-3) cores surrounded by externalfacets with crystallographic continuity across the whole single grains due to re-crystallization. Py-2 is depleted inmost trace elements with the exception of Au and Bi, which occur both in solid solutions and as nano-to-micronsizedinclusions. Py-3 has the highest Cu, Ag, Co and Ni (mainly associated to nano-to-micron-sized particles oftennantite, chalcopyrite and gersdorffite) and the lowest Au contents in the form of native gold. The progressiveincrease in metal contents from inner to outer parts of Py-1 matches with the onset of the economic metalendowment of VMS deposits in the IPB, whereas Py-2 and Py-3 are associated with metal shoot processes that ledto both leached and high-grade ores, very likely when mafic rocks were emplaced into the footwall of thedeposits
PB Elsevier
SN 0169-1368
SN 1872-7360 (electrónico)
YR 2023
FD 2023
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22248
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/22248
LA eng
NO Yesares, L., Piña, R., González-Jiménez, J. M., Sáez, R., Ruíz de Almodóvar, G., Fanlo, I., Manuel Pons, J., & Vega, R. (2023). Distribution of critical metals in evolving pyrite from massive sulfide ores of the Iberian Pyrite Belt. In Ore Geology Reviews (Vol. 153, p. 105275). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oregeorev.2022.105275
NO This research is a contribution to the projects CGL2016-79204-R,PID2019-111715GB-I00 which are supported by the Spanish Government,and 18/IF/6347 granted by Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). Theauthors thank Cambridge Minerals for access to drill core, samplingassistance and the ongoing collaboration. We are also grateful to TeodosioDonaire for his constructive suggestions in petrogenetic aspects ofvolcanogenic rocks in the IPB as well as Dany Savard and Audrey Lavoieof LabMaTer, UQAC, for their assistance during the laser ablation analyses.Authors would also like to acknowledge the use of Servicio Generalde Apoyo a la Investigaci´on-SAI, Universidad de Zaragoza.
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026