Occurrence of Native Platinum and PGE-bearing Pyrite in the Porphyry-Skarn-Epithermal Ore Complex at Recsk, Hungary

Abstract

In this short report we present the first detection of a platinum group element (PGE) mineral and Cu-bearing native platinum in a hydrothermal breccia pipe in the intermediate sulfidation mineralization of the Recsk ore complex in Hungary. Trace element analyses of pyrite provide further insights into the enrichment of PGE in the mineralized complex.
The occurrence of native platinum is associated with one of the highest observed Pt contents in pyrite, as well as with other ore minerals such as Sn- and Pt-bearing native copper, pure native copper, and Ag-bearing tenorite. Crocoite and vanadinite were identified by SEM-EDS as secondary minerals possibly from the same paragenesis. Our new results suggest that the Recsk complex might contain economic PGE resources.