Transient non-soluble noble metal transport in hydrothermal ore systems Cano, Néstor González Jiménez, José María Camprubí, Antoni Morales-Casique, Eric González-Partida, Eduardo The transport of noble metals (Au, Ag) by metal-rich melts in hydrothermal ore systems is now acknowledged as a complementary mechanism to complexing ligands in solution. However, it is unclear where/when both mechanisms coexist and whether metal-rich melts can be physically transported by hydrothermal fluids. Here we show evidence for a suspension-like transport of nano-to-micron-sized metal-rich sulfide-sulfosalt melts within epithermal fluids at <400 °C, forming irregular and bleb-like polymineral inclusions of AgAu-Cu-Pb(-Fe-Zn)-As-Sb-S-Se upon cooling. These polymineral inclusions, 5 nm to 40 µm in size, are cogenetic with fluid inclusions in quartz. Numerical modeling based on particle fluidization and settling theory shows hydrothermal fluids can mechanically transport metal-rich sulfide-sulfosalt nanomicromelts at fluid flow rates <10–1 m/s. The chemical similarity between nanoand micron-scale polymineral inclusions suggests the coalescence of nanomelt precursors during transient transport from their source(s) to deposition sites, playing a key role in noble metal mineralization. 2025-11-26T12:39:50Z 2025-11-26T12:39:50Z 2025-03-13 journal article Cano, N., González-Jiménez, J.M., Camprubí, A. et al. Transient non-soluble noble metal transport in hydrothermal ore systems. Nat Commun 16, 2521 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57740-7 https://hdl.handle.net/10481/108368 10.1038/s41467-025-57740-7 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional Springer Nature