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Garnierite in nickel deposits of the Urals

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Abstract

Oxide-silicate ore deposits containing approximately 10% of Ni reserves of Russia are located in the Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, and Orenburg districts of the Urals. Garnierite is among the most important industrial minerals of supergene nickel deposits. We studied this mineral in metasomatites and ores of the Cheremshan, Sinar, Elov, Sakhara, and Buruktal deposits based on the chemical, thermal, and X-ray phase analysis data. It is shown for the first time that garnierites of the Ural province are composed of both exogenous and hydrothermal mineral associations. The spatial distribution of minerals suggests that the hydrothermal association is a lateral and vertical (depth) continuation of mineralization in the Uralian supergene deposits. This conclusion widens significantly the scope of prospecting for new mineralized sectors in old deposits and the possibility of discovery of new deposits.

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Correspondence to I. V. Talovina.

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Original Russian Text © I.V. Talovina, V.G. Lazarenkov, S.O. Ryzhkova, V.L. Ugol’kov, N.I. Vorontsova, 2008, published in Litologiya i Poleznye Iskopaemye, 2008, No. 6, pp. 650–658.

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Talovina, I.V., Lazarenkov, V.G., Ryzhkova, S.O. et al. Garnierite in nickel deposits of the Urals. Lithol Miner Resour 43, 588–595 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0024490208060060

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