A description of gold-quartz formation deposits in the Priamur gold province is presented. Prevalence of gold-quartz deposits defines metallogenic profile of the province and presence of numerous rich placers. Deposits are attributed to frontal, middle and near-bottom parts of the ore pipe. Frontal part of the ore pipe contains a major part of the deposits. They are small and consist of scattered quartz, feldspar-quartz and carbonate-quartz veins. The ore is characterized by erratic percentage of gold, bonanzas can be found. Gold is free, ranging from fine to big grains and small nuggets. It is associated with arsenopyrite, galenite, sometimes with antimonite. Among trace elements can be copper, mercury, antimony and arsenic. Prevalence of frontal deposits in the province points to significant prospects of finding a rich deep mineralization in the middle part of ore pipe. Middle part of the ore pipe contains intermediate and small deposits. Ore bodies are often represented by veined and veinlet-disseminated zones, sometimes zones of metasomatites. For gold-quartz ores, free native gold can commonly be found, usually of fine and very fine grain size. Among ore minerals, apart from arsenopyrite, pyrite and galenite, scheelite is frequently observed. Small deposits of near-bottom ore pipe are quite rare. Ore bodies are represented by quartz veins and zones of metasomatites. Gold is mostly free, of fine and super fine grain size. The prevailing trace element is mercury. Attribution of gold-quartz deposits to a certain part of ore pipe can facilitate more precise estimation of their pros pects. In its own turn, this will allow to choose more favorable objects for further evaluation.
The article discusses ore and placer gold deposits of the Priamur province formed as a result of the Late Mesozoic collisions of geoblocks of the south-eastern framing of the Siberian craton and the Amur composite massif. Metallogenic zoning of the province displaying metallogenic zones and ore-placer sites is described. The article shows that the Priamur province is one of the main gold-bearing provinces of Russia with the level of gold ore (about 180 tons) and placer (about 1132 tons) gold. The predominance of placer gold in gold mining indicates significant opportunities to identify new gold deposits.
