| Description |
At the suggestion of United States Smelting, Refining and Mining Company, an investigation has been conducted to determine trace elements present in the larger quantities of pyrite which occur at the U. S. and Lark Mine, Lark, Utah. Samples were collected from three levels of the U. S. section of the mine in and near a particular ore body. On two levels ore was apparent. On the Lower level no ore was visible. Polished sections were made of the samples and the mineral relationships were studied. Pyrite was separated and analyzed spectrochemically for its copper, lead, and arsenic content. Qualitative data were obtained for all other elements which could be detected with the methods used. The analyses were made on a 1.5 meter, 24,000 line per inch, grating, abney mount spectrograph. Iron contained in the pyrite was used as an internal standard. Two types of pyrite were observed in the polished sections: A fractured pyrite which contained no inclusions of lead or zinc sulfide, and euhedral pyrite which occasionally did contain inclusions of sphalerite and galena. the trace element content of pyrite shows some promise of indicating the channelways along which the ore forming solutions passed. Copper and lead values increase slighity as this channel is approached. Arsenic values very erratically as the channel is approached. No significant changes in the qualitative trace element content of the pyrite with relation to the ore shoot are apparent. |
