Known and potential types of gold mineralization in the Muruntau gold district

The conducted assessment of structural features of Muruntau district's gold deposits together with clarification of their mineral composition has revealed that besides the well-known and mined mineralization in sandstone/shale strata, mineralization of Carlin type, represented by "invisible" micron and nano-sized gold particles in carbonate sedimentary rocks, may be revealed in the mineralized zones. It is shown that gold-bearing zones of silicification concordant to hosting rocks at the super-large Muruntau deposit are metasomatically altered carbonate sedimentary rocks. One of the criteria for the original carbonate nature of the concordant silicification zones is the predominance of carbon dioxide in the gas-liquid inclusions of the ore matrix. The highest probability for discovering Carlin-type mineralization is f the Kokpatas-Okzhetpes trend in the northern part of the Muruntau district. Further studies of ore zones and the presence of invisible nano-sized gold can stimulate the improvement of ore processing flowsheets and increase the gold recovery at the processing mills of the district.