Forms of Arsenic Concentration in Sulfide-Free Endogenic Pb–Zn–Sb Ores of the Pelagonian Massif, Republic of North Macedonia

Abstract

The chemical composition, substitutions, and zoning of minerals that concentrate arsenic in specific sulfide-free ore-bearing metasomatic rocks at the contact of the Early Paleozoic metarhyolites and aporhyolite schists with dolomite marbles and baryte schists in the Pelagonian massif, near the village of Nežilivo, Republic of North Macedonia, have been studied. These metasomatic rocks are enriched in chalcophile elements (Zn, As, Sb, Pb, Cu), which occur in oxides and oxysalts. Partitioning mechanisms of various constituents (Mg, Zn, Cu, Ca, Pb, Y, Ln, F, OH) between associated arsenates, As-bearing phosphates and mottramite, are discussed.