| Invisible gold in the high-sulphur Tertiary coals of Northeast India (2008) | |||||||||||||
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| During an investigation of some high-sulphur coals from Meghalaya, Northeast India, with respect to their trace metal content, we recorded the occurrence of gold in iron sulphides (pyrites/marcasite) associated with such coals. A maximum of 6 mg/l gold has been recorded in the pyrite concentrates. Gold is lattice-bound and occurs in ‘elemental form’, forming solid solutions within iron sulphides. It is inferred that the iron sulphides are mostly syngenetic with coal and gold is concentrated in iron pyrites by biological activity during their precipitation and by inorganic adsorption process during recrystallization in a reducing environment. | |||||||||||||
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