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A preliminary geological and geochemical study of the Xiangquan thallium deposit, eastern China: the world’s first thallium-only mine

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Summary

Here we report the first example of a thallium-only deposit, which was discovered in the northeast margin of the Yangtze block, eastern China, in the transition zone between the Yangtze Block, North China Block and Dabie orogenic belt. Ore from the Xiangquan deposit will be mined, ore-dressed and smelted independently for thallium. The ore deposit is hosted in Lower Ordovician micrite, calcilutite and marl within the Dalongwang Mountain Xiao Mountain anticline. The ore zones are fold and fault controlled. Thallium occurs mainly in pyrite but minor amounts form as lorandite (TlAsS2) and hutchinsonite (TlFeS2). Fluid inclusion studies of two stages of fluorite intimately associated with ore-forming pyrite yielded homogenization temperatures of 120 to 220 °C with a salinity of 1.5 to 6.0 equivalent wt.% NaCl. Thallium was originally derived by hydrothermal emanations onto the sea floor and deposited in calcareous sediments. Subsequently in the Early Cretaceous (Yanshanian period) these source beds were reworked to form thallium enriched minerals in hydrothermal veins.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources and Environment Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, P.R. China

    T. F. Zhou, Y. Fan, F. Yuan & S. C. Yue

  2. Academy of Geological Survey of Anhui Province, P.R. China

    M. A. Wu & M. J. Hou

  3. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Quebec, Montreal, Canada

    G. Voicu

  4. 327 Geological Team, Geological Bureau of Anhui Province, P.R. China

    Q. H. Hu & Q. M. Zhang

Authors
  1. T. F. Zhou
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  2. Y. Fan
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  3. F. Yuan
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  4. M. A. Wu
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  5. M. J. Hou
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  6. G. Voicu
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  7. Q. H. Hu
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  8. Q. M. Zhang
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  9. S. C. Yue
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Zhou, T., Fan, Y., Yuan, F. et al. A preliminary geological and geochemical study of the Xiangquan thallium deposit, eastern China: the world’s first thallium-only mine. Mineralogy and Petrology 85, 243–251 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-005-0088-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-005-0088-2

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