The Kankberg Au-Te mine is located in the eastern Skellefte field, a paleoproterozoic VMS district in northern Sweden. Brownfield exploration resulted in the discovery of new ore bodies that lie structurally above the present-day mine. These differ from the rest of the deposit in alteration style and sulfide content. Thin sections from two ore lenses were studied using optical microscopy and a QEMSCAN-device in order to understand the host setting of gold-, silver- and tellurium-minerals. Gangue is predominantly sericite - chlorite - quartz that fully overprinted the primary mineralogy. Pyrite and pyrrhotite are the main sulfide phases. Electrum and tellurides occur in two main host settings: (1) Quartz veins with a pyrrhotite - biotite - chlorite assemblage are host to telluride-only mineralization. (2) (Semi-) massive sulfide veins host both electrum and tellurides that overgrow pyrite or form free grains in the silicate gangue. In some few cases, Au and tellurides were found to form inclusions in pyrite grains. Subsequent bench scale flotation tests recovered ~ 68% Au, 62% Ag and 75% Te at concentrate grades of ~ 38, 55 and 1500 g/t, respectively, and proved high rejection of silicate gangue.