Minerals from Macedonia. XX. Geological Setting, Lithologies, and Identification of the Minerals from Ržanovo Fe-Ni Deposit

Abstract: The Ržanovo deposit lies within the western ophiolite belt of the Vardar zone. Its main geological units are discussed in terms of their mineralogy, petrology and petrological evolution. Minerals observed include: magnetite, hematite, clinochlore, talc, sepiolite, magnesioriebeckite, lizardite, dolomite, phlogopite, stilpnomelane, quartz, albite, pyrite, maghemite, pyrrhotine, digenite and millerite. Some minerals had non-distinct morphologies and ambiguous characteristics, preventing identification on the basis of physical properties alone. Thus, some of the minerals (magnetite, hematite, talc, dolomite, olivine, calcite, aragonite and brucite) as well as some serpentine minerals (antigorite and chrysotile) were identified by vibrational spectroscopy. Difficulties in identification by IR spectroscopy and Raman were considered to be the result of contamination (i.e., inclusions of other minerals in the analyzed crystals)