In the Noril’sk ore field, maucherite, Ni
11As
8, occurs in magmatic pentlandite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite ores transformed into pyrite-millerite-chalcopyrite and millerite-bornite
ores under conditions of prehnite-pumplellyite and zeolite facies of metamorphism. Maucherite spatially associated with aggregates
of Pd and Pt minerals, probably, as a pseudomorph after mayakite, PdNiAs, contains up to 1.5 wt % Pd. Maucherite is relatively
abundant in metamorphic-hydrothermal apophyllite-anhydrite-calcite veins hosted in metaore. In these veins, maucherite occurs
as finely split and long-prismatic crystals, their intergrowths, and as a constituent of complexly zoned antimonide-sulfoarsenide-arsenide
nodules. Maucherite from veins contains up to 0.6 wt % S and Sb, whereas Pd, Pt, and Au are below the detection limit of an
electron microprobe.
Original Russian Text © Yu.D. Gritsenko, E.M. Spiridonov, 2007, published in Zapiski Rossiiskogo Mineralogicheskogo Obshchestva,
2007, No. 3, pp. 79–85.