4.5.7. Silver-Bearing Minerals

The Izok Lake deposit is a significant Ag resource [70], and the previous study of local tills around the deposit by [17,18] and McClenaghan et al. [11] identified Ag as a pathfinder element in the <63 μm matrix fraction of till [71]. Chalcopyrite in the Izok Lake deposit is known to be Ag-rich, containing up to 200–550 ppm Ag [70]. Because the lower detection limits for most elements using EDS are ~1000 ppm, the concentrations of Ag in chalcopyrite grains identified in our study will only be detectable in concentrations >1000 ppm. None were found to contain such high amounts of Ag which explains the lack of Ag-bearing minerals identified in this study.
