Geochemistry, Mineralogy, and Genetic Features of the Belogorskoe Magnetite Deposit (Sikhote-Alin)

New data favor the view previously substantiated by geological, geochemical and isotopic data that the orebodies of the Belogorskoe deposit are the Triassic erosion products of the laterite weathering crust after gabbroids, which were metamorphosed and partially regenerated in the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene. The source for the formation of the Belogorskoe deposit was shown to be the products of exogenic destruction of rocks, the isotopic and geochemical characteristics of which are close to those of Cambrian gabbroids of the Vladimiro-Aleksandrovsky massif (southern part of the Okrainsko-Sergeevsky terrane). It has been found that the Belogorskoe deposit consists of rocks and ores, the primary (magmatic) REE distribution in which was variably modified as a result of interaction between sediments (protoliths) and seawater (presumably during the Late Jurassic–Early Cretaceous accretion), as well as between their metamorphosed analogues and hydrothermal solutions (in the Late Cretaceous–Paleogene). The influence of gabbroids (as a source of material) on the chemical and mineral composition of the Belogorskoe deposit agrees with the data reported in a paper on the enrichment of orebodies in such elements as Fe and Mn characteristic of ultramafic rocks and the presence of Au–Ag–Pd–Pt, Ni–Co, and Bi mineralization in them. The orebodies of the Belogorskoe deposit contain accessory minerals and mineral varieties that are rare in nature and poorly studied. They include an unusually Th-rich variety of zircon, baddeleyite, gudmundite, a large group of bismuth compounds, including Bi2Te, (Ag,Pb)BiS2, as well as coloradoite, lafossaite, sanbornite, perovskite, and the compound InPO4. There is also a large group of rare and unusual noble metal compounds: copper gold, platinum gold, jonassonite, disordered solid solutions of Cu, Ag and Au (Au-based), Pt–Pd, Pt–Ag intermetallides, and other rare minerals and mineral varieties.