Abstract:In the nine types of gold deposits so far discovered in western part of Sichuan Province,there are relatively abundant tetrahedrite_group minerals in three types of hydrothermal golddeposits:Ⅰ—carbonate rock series_hosted type;Ⅱ—ophiolitic melange rock series_hosted type;andⅢ—slightly metamorphosed fine-grained clastic rock series-hosted type. Being products of main ore-forming stages, the tetrahedrite-group minerals occur in irregular grained, veined or stockwork forms, which are combined with pyrite, chalcopyrite, galena, sphalerite, and goldsilver series minerals to constitute the gold ore. The electron microprobe analyses indicate that the tetrahedrite-group minerals include antimony-tetrahedrite and tennatite. The data show that Sb-As is of complete isomorphous replacement in the tetrahedrite-group mineral series.Tetrahedrite minerals in different types of gold deposits have different characteristic parameters. Tetrahedrite_group minerals in TypeⅠgold deposits are characterized by lower arsenic, higher silver and antimony, and intermediate iron and zinc, those in TypeⅡdeposits have antimony and iron content and lower silver, arsenic and zinc, and those in TypeⅢdeposits are enriched in zinc and arsenic, and depleted in silver, iron and antimony. Relatively enriched silver, iron, antimony are typical feature of tetrahedrite-group minerals in TypeⅣdeposits. The characteristics of gold mineralization may be reflected by the major and particular mponents of tetrahedrite-group minerals. There exists vertical change in chemical composition of minerals downward from zinc and antimony-rich tetrahedrite to iron and arsenic-rich tetrahedrite, accompanied with the decreasing trend of silver content in the TypeⅠdeposits.Their occurrence and zonal features are very important for the exploration of gold deposits in western Sichuan and similar regions.