Minerals of antimony: a newly found occurrence in the Karkonosze granitoid pluton and a review for Lower Silesia, Poland, with general background

Abstract

The article describes assemblages of ore minerals of the size of tenths to a few millimetres, which occurred in small quartz veinlets and nests in 10 previously unknown sites. This mineralization was found in the north-eastern part of the Karkonosze granitoid pluton at the southern slope of the Wysoki Grzbiet (High Ridge) in Izera Mts. The studies concerned mainly 18 Sb minerals: antimony, Sb-bearing domeykite, getchellite, stibnite, willyamite, berthierite, boulangerite, bournonite, chalcostibite, falkmanite, famatinite, geocronite, robinsonite, semseyite, tetrahedrite-(Fe), cervantite, kermesite and schafarzikite; seven of them have been found in Poland for the first time. The parageneses, morphological features, XRD data and chemical composition of the Sb minerals are presented. Fluid inclusions in quartz adhering to the Sb minerals had generally homogenization temperature (Th) 108–341°C and total salinity ΣS 4.6–10.1 wt. %. The inclusion fluids were of the NaCO3-Ca(HCO3)2-NaCl-KCl type with minor F and S, and occasional CO2 presence. The parent granitoid contains Sb in trace amounts (0.18–0.36 ppm) and the rock was possibly a source of this (and other) element(s) for the ore minerals. Migration of meso-epithermal solutions with Sb etc. was probably stimulated by local reduction of pressure during the formation of fissures and cracks in granite, next filled by quartz with ore minerals. The features of the historical process of the recognition of Sb ores and previous studies of the minerals investigated in this research are included in the presentation and discussion. Special attention was paid to the listing of the occurrences of Sb minerals in Lower Silesia with appropriate references.