We present here new data on the low-sulfide mineralisation in the upper endocontact of the Noril'sk 1 intrusion. Twenty four mineral species of platinum-group elements and their solid solutions, as well as numerous unnamed phases, including an Sb analogue of vincentite, As and Sn analogues of mertieite-I and a Sn analogue of mertieite-II have been found. It is shown that the features of the mineral association: (1) the atypical trend of TiO2 and Fe2+ in chromian spinel; (2) the composition of the Pt–Fe alloys with a Fe/Fe + Pt range of 0.26–0.37 (logfO2 ≈ – (9–10); and (3) crystallisation of high-temperature sperrylite from silicate melt (at >800°C and logfS2 < –10.5), which is possible under fO2 of FMQ to FMQ-2 in mafic magma, are due to the reducing conditions of their formation and evolution. Droplet-like inclusions of silicate-oxide minerals in сhromian spinels and sulfides in platinum-group minerals are interpreted to be trapped droplets of co-existing sulfide melt. The captured sulfide melt has evolved in the direction of increasing the fugacity of sulfur: troilite + pentlandite (Fe>Ni) – in sperrylite (paragenesis I) to monoclinic pyrrhotite + pentlandite (Ni≈Fe) + chalcopyrite – in Pt–Fe alloys (paragenesis II). Paragenesis from the sulfide aggregates in the silicate matrix are more fractionated: pyrrhotite + pyrrhotite (Ni>Fe) + chalcopyrite (III) and pyrite + pentlandite (Ni>>Fe) + millerite (IV). Pd arsenides and antimonides crystallised later than sperrylite and isoferroplatinum, as a result of the evolution of a sulfide melt with an increased activity of the element ligands (Te, Sn, Sb and As).

Ilvaite is sparsely disseminated in a serpentinized plagioclase wehrlite of the Asama igneous complex that underwent the Sambagawa regional metamorphism of pumpellyite-actinolite to greenschist facies. Ilvaite in the Asama complex is monoclinic (a = 13.019(5), b = 8.808(2), c = 5.850(4) Å, β = 90.19(4)°), and its composition is similar to the ideal end-member composition (). Ilvaite occurs in mats of serpentine (chrysotile); it probably formed during serpentinization, which might have accompanied the Sambagawa metamorphism. The associated secondary minerals include salitic clinopyroxene, magnetite and andradite. The ilvaite-free mineral assemblage that formed during the serpentinization is usually serpentine-clinopyroxene-magnetite, which is widespread in the complex. The phase relations between coexisting minerals suggest that the conditions during the formation of the ilvaite-bearing assemblage were reducing when compared to those of the assemblage serpentine-clinopyroxene-magnetite. The reducing conditions during the ilvaite formation were presumably brought about by hydrogen gas that1 was generated during the serpentinization of olivine.