NANOSTRUCTURAL FEATURES OF NON-STOICHIOMETRIC PINK BORNITE (VOLKOVSKOE DEPOSIT, MIDDLE URALS)

The paper presents for the first time the structural features of the low-copper bornite at the nanoscale and atomic resolution level. On the example of the Volkovsky type of copper mineralization is shown that the pink variety of the non-stoichiometric bornite has polyphase composition, contains tight intergrowths of high-temperature phases – cubic bornite and tetragonal chalcocite (chalcocite-Q), representing products of solid solution decomposition at the nanoscale. Native copper nanoinclusions within bornite have been discovered for the first time. The results demonstrate high informative studies of the copper mineralization at the nanoscale and importance of the further investigations of non-stoichiometric bornites for solid solution phase composition, genetic reconstructions at the modern level and to increase the efficiency of copper sulfide deposits mining