Quartz Trace Element Characteristics and Indication for Exploration in Orogenic Gold Deposits Using Machine Learning

This study examines the trace elements in quartz from orogenic gold deposits to assess their use as indicators for gold mineralization. Orogenic gold deposits， representing over 40% of the global gold resource， are significant for exploration. Quartz， a common mineral in these deposits， contains abundant trace elements such as Al， Ca， Na， P， and K. Auriferous quartz shows higher levels of Mg， Sr， Zn， and Cu， while barren quartz contains more Li， Se， and Sn. Using a Random Forest machine learning model， the study classifies quartz samples but finds limited success in identifying gold mineralization， with accuracies of 86% and 80% for unbalanced and balanced datasets， respectively. Key elements like Ti， Sr， Ge， Al， and Li， primarily controlled by temperature and pH， play significant roles in the model. However， gold solubility is not strongly affected by temperature changes， and CO₂ in the fluids stabilizes pH， limiting quartz’s ability to serve as a reliable indicator of gold mineralization. Although quartz trace elements may help differentiate types of ore deposits， they are less effective for detecting gold in orogenic deposits. Binary and ternary diagrams remain useful tools for general classification.