LETTER Platinum-group elements in ores from the Kalmakyr porphyry Cu–Au–Mo deposit, Uzbekistan: bulk geochemical and laser ablation ICP-MS data Jan Pašava & Anna Vymazalová & Jan Košler & Rustam I. Koneev & Alexander V. Jukov & Rustam A. Khalmatov Received: 8 December 2009 / Accepted: 20 April 2010 / Published online: 8 May 2010 # Springer-Verlag 2010 Abstract We studied primary ore samples from Kalmakyr, a giant Cu–Au–Mo porphyry deposit in eastern Uzbekistan. Disseminated and stockwork-type high-grade Cu–Au–Mo mineralization showed average concentrations of 55 ppb Pd, 5.5 ppb Pt, 0.95 ppb Rh, 0.49 ppb Ir, and 4.1 ppm Au (n =8). This type of mineralization is characterized by the presence of pyrite, chalcopyrite, molybdenite, and gold. A peak Pd content of 292 ppb was determined in a base- metal-rich quartz vein in granodiorite porphyry, which contains galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, and gold. Palladium correlates with Cu, Ag, Se, and S. Mineralogical and laser ablation ICP-MS study confirmed that Pd is homogeneously distributed in chalcopyrite, which contains up to 110 ppm Pd, and tetrahedrite, containing up to 20 ppm Pd. An assessment of the Pd and Pt budget at Kalmakyr showed the potential of approximately 17 t of Pd and 1.7 t of Pt. Keywords Cu–Au–Mo porphyry deposit . Platinum-group elements . Kalmakyr . Uzbekistan Introduction Alkaline porphyry deposits represent significant gold resources owing to their large size. Anomalous platinum- group element (PGE) concentrations have been reported from a number of porphyry copper deposits worldwide, e.g., Copper Mountain and Galore Creek in the Cordillera of British Columbia; Allard Stock, La Plata Mountains and Copper King in USA; Majdanpek, Veliki Krivelj and Bor in Serbia; Elacite in Bulgaria (Tarkian et al. 2003); Skouries in Greece; Mamut in Malaysia; Ok Tedi and Panguna in Papua New Guinea; Santo Tomas II in Philippines (Tarkian and Koopmann 1995); Bozshakol in Kazachstan; Sora, Aksug and Zhireken in Russia; Erdenetiun-Obo in Mongo- lia and others (see summary paper of Economu-Eliopoulos 2005). Tarkian and Stribrny (1999) reported the results from a PGE study in sulfides and flotation concentrates from 33 porphyry copper deposits, where seven deposits revealed relatively high Pd contents (130–1,900 ppb) that were associated with high Au contents (1–28 ppm). They also identified the presence of platinum-group minerals (PGM) which occurred as inclusions in chalcopyrite. Palladium is recovered as a by-product during the processing and refining of gold ores at a number of gold deposits, including the giant Cu–Au–Mo porphyry deposit of Kalmakyr in Uzbekistan. However, PGE data on porphyry systems from Uzbekistan are very limited (Turesebekov et al. 2005; Tarkian and Stribrny 1999). In this paper, we present, for the first time, results from a geochemical and laser ablation ICP-MS study of PGE Editorial handling: B. Lehmann J. Pašava (*) : A. Vymazalová Czech Geological Survey, Geologická 6, 152 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic e-mail: jan.pasava@geology.cz J. Košler Department of Earth Science and Centre for Geobiology, University of Bergen, Allegaten 41, N-5020 Bergen, Norway R. I. Koneev : A. V. Jukov : R. A. Khalmatov Department of Mineralogy, National University of Uzbekistan, Vuzgorodok, 700174 Tashkent, Uzbekistan Miner Deposita (2010) 45:411–418 DOI 10.1007/s00126-010-0286-7