Characteristics and prospecting significance of natural heavy minerals for Carlin-type gold deposits in southwestern Guizhou

Southwestern Guizhou is the most important mineralization concentration area of Southwest China low temperature metallogenic domain with micro-disseminated gold deposits. However, due to the extremely small particles of gold, it is difficult for gold to form natural heavy mineral anomalies, and hence the natural gold method cannot be applied in the direct search for such micrograined type gold deposits. The authors made a systematic study of the characteristics of natural heavy minerals in southwestern Guizhou. During the implementation of the mineral resource potential assessment project in Guizhou Province by the Natural Heavy Mineral Research Group, the authors found that anomalies of such natural heavy minerals as micro-fine grained pyrite (auriferous mineral), arsenic minerals (associated minerals) , antimony minerals and mercury minerals are helpful to finding this type of gold indirectly.