Skarn-like calc-silicate rocks are reported in spatial association with the Archean Cu–Zn–Ag massive sulphide deposits at the Manitouwadge mining camp, Ontario. Calc-silicates in the footwall of the Willroy mine occur as matrix to breccia fragments of garnetiferous quartzo-feldspathic gneiss and as lenses within garnetiferous quartzo-feldspathic gneiss and are composed of clinopyroxene, garnet, calcic amphiboles, wollastonite, plagioclase, K-feldspar, epidote, quartz, calcite, magnetite, and minor sulphides. Calc-silicates within the main orebody of the Geco mine are characterized by clinopyroxene, calcic amphiboles (Cl–K-rich hastingsitic and ferro-edenitic hornblende, ferro-edenite (up to 4.7 wt.% Cl); and ferroactinolite (6.7 wt.% MnO)), garnet, epidote (including an epidote rich in rare-earth elements and Cl), calcite, quartz, and abundant sulphides. Calc-silicates within the basal 4/2 Copper Zone of the Geco mine contain garnet, gahnite, sphalerite, ferroactinolite (8.5 wt.% MnO), epidote, quartz, biotite, plagioclase, chlorite, muscovite, K-feldspar, and pyrosmalite (with Mn/(Mn + Fe) ratio ranging from 0.21 to 0.61, and up to 3.9 wt.% Cl). The calc-silicates probably represent metasomatic remobilization of dispersed Ca (and Cl) from sea-floor hydrothermal alteration of mafic to intermediate volcanic rocks and are only indirectly related to the hypothesized syngenetic ore-forming processes for the associated base metal sulphide deposits. The calc-silicates formed initially at about 600 °C and 3–5 kbar (1 kbar = 100 MPa) in a mildly reducing environment (from 1 log unit above to 1 log unit below the fayalite–magnetite–quartz buffer) during the upper-amphibolite- to granulite-facies regional metamorphism and were altered subsequently at lower temperatures (<500 °C).
Archean Polymetallic Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide Deposits Within the Cameron and Beaulieu River Volcanic Belts
