Characterization of secondary native selenium in the Yutangba Se deposit, Western Hubei, China

Secondary native Se minerals that are appreciably coarser grained and vary morphologically than primary native Se minerals were observed in the abandoned dumps of the No. 3 and No. 4 orebodies of the Yutangba Se deposit, western Hubei Province, China. The secondary native Se minerals exhibit three crystal forms, namely prismatic, tabular, and granular. Based on geochemical and mineralogical data, the secondary native Se minerals are interpreted to have resulted from natural oxidation of selenide minerals in the primary Se ores, or from vaporization of Se caused by burning of "stone coal" (a highly carbonaceous mudstone) during the production of lime. The occurrence of secondary native Se minerals in the deposit would be helpful not only to further study on mineralogy, ore geochemistry and environmental geochemistry of Se, but also to improve the technology of reclaiming Se from the black rock series.