Unnamed Pt(Cu_0.67Sn_0.33) from the Bolshoy Khailyk River, Western Sayans, Russia, and a Review of Related Compounds and Solid Solutions

Abstract

We describe a potentially new species of a platinum cupride–stannide mineral (PCSM) of composition Pt(Cu0.67Sn0.33). It occurs in a placer deposit in the River Bolshoy Khailyk, southern Krasnoyarskiy kray, Russia. A synthetic equivalent of PCSM was obtained and characterized. The PCSM occurs as anhedral or subhedral grains up to 15 μm × 30 μm in association with various platinum-group minerals, Rh–Co-rich pentlandite and magnetite, all hosted by a placer grain of Cu–Au–Pt alloy. Synchrotron micro-Laue diffraction studies indicate that the PCSM mineral is tetragonal and belongs to the inferred space-group P4/mmm (#123). Its unit-cell parameters are a = 2.838 (3) Å, c = 3.650 (4) Å, and V = 29.40 (10) Å3, and Z = 1. The c:a ratio calculated from the unit-cell parameters is 1.286. These characteristics are in good agreement with those obtained for specimens of synthetic Pt(Cu0.67Sn0.33). A review on related minerals and unnamed phases is provided to outline compositional variations and extents of solid solutions in the relevant systems PtNi–PtFe–PtCu, PdCu–PdHg–PdAu, PdHg–PtHg, and AuCu–PtCu. The PCSM-bearing mineralization appears to be related genetically with an ophiolitic source-rock of the Aktovrakskiy complex of the western Sayans. The unnamed phase likely crystallized from microvolumes of a highly fractionated melt rich in Cu and Sn.

Keywords

• ternary Pt–Cu–Sn phase
• intermetallic compounds and alloys
• platinum-group minerals
• PGE–Cu–Au mineralization
• ophiolite complexes
• placer deposits