sPhysicochemical conditions of fluid–wall rock interaction at amphibolite-facies conditions in two Archean hydrothermal gold deposits in the Mt. York District, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (7) ◽  
pp. 993-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Neumayr ◽  
J.R. Ridley ◽  
D.I. Groves
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Gold Mineralization ◽  
Wall Rock ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Rock Interaction ◽  
Wall Rock Alteration ◽  
Geochemical Analyses ◽  
Pilbara Craton

Synamphibolite facies Archean gold mineralization in the Mt. York District, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, is hosted in metamorphosed banded iron formation (Main Hill–Breccia Hill prospect), amphibolites, and ultramafic schists (Zakanaka prospect). Mineralization at Main Hill occurs in quartz breccias with sulfide matrices and in altered wall rock adjacent to quartz–biotite–amphibole ± clinopyroxene veins. Alteration associated with quartz veins is zoned, with biotite—pyrrhotite vein selvedges and a distal calcic-amphibole, arsenopyrite–lôllingite zone. Hydrothermal biotite and actinolite have highest Mg/(Mg + Fe) ratios where associated with abundant sulfarsenides in the distal alteratin zone. Whole-rock geochemical analyses and calculated metasomatic reactions indicate the addition of K, Al, S, As, Au, Ag, and Ni during hydrothermal alteration. Mineralization at Zakanaka is characterized by a broad wall rock alteration halo of biotite–amphibole, and zoned quartz–calc silicate veins proximal to ore. Wall rock adjacent to the veins contains pyrrhotite, pyrite, and gold. The alteration is explained by K-metasomatism distal to mineralization and K and Ca metasomatism proximal to mineralization. Balanced metasomatic reactions and mass-balance calculations indicate addition of K and depletion of Na, Ca, Mg, and Fe in distal alteration zones and addition of K, Ca, Mg, Fe, and Ti in proximal zones. Gold precipitation at both prospects occurred through loss of S, and possibly As, from the ore fluid during sulfidation reactions with Fe-rich amphiboles and biotites to form Mg-enriched equivalents and sulfarsenides. Changes in the oxidation state of the ore fluid may have enhanced gold precipitation, though pH changes are unlikely to have been important. The controls on mineralization are thus similar to those at many lower temperature, mesothermal deposits. The lack of consistently increasing Mg ratios of calc-silicate phases with increasing intensity of alteration and sulfidation at Main Hill may be the result of coupled substitutions in amphiboles and biotites during infiltration of a fluid with high-S, but low-As, activities.

Chapter 9: Orogenic Gold Deposits of the Kibali District, Neoarchean Moto Belt, Northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo

2020 ◽  
pp. 185-201
Author(s):  
Andrew Allibone ◽  
Carlos Vargas ◽  
Etienne Mwandale ◽  
Justus Kwibisa ◽  
Richard Jongens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Gold Mineralization ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Lithostratigraphic Units ◽  
Host Rocks

Abstract The Kibali district in the Democratic Republic of Congo hosts the large Karagba-Chaffeur-Durba (KCD) deposit and smaller satellite deposits that together contained 20 million ounces (Moz) of gold when mining recommenced in 2013. An additional 3 Moz of gold was probably mined from the district before 2013. Gold deposits in the Kibali district are located along the KZ trend, a series of folds, contractional shear zones, and altered lithostratigraphic units that coincide with the margin of an earlier 2630 to 2625 Ma intraorogenic basin within the Neoarchean Moto belt. Fluids first responsible for barren carbonate-quartz-sericite alteration, and later for siderite and/or ankerite (±quartz, magnetite, pyrite, and/or chlorite) alteration with associated auriferous pyrite ± rare arsenopyrite veinlets, infiltrated and replaced the siliciclastic, banded iron formation (BIF), and chert host rocks via fold axes, shear zones, and reactive BIF horizons. The complex shape and gentle northeast plunge of the lodes across the Kibali district reflect the shape and plunge of coincident folds that formed during early barren alteration. Many other folded BIF horizons across the wider Moto belt remain barren or only weakly mineralized, suggesting deep extensional structures that may have developed in the vicinity of the KZ trend during basin opening and prior to gold mineralization, were important fluid pathways during later contractional deformation and mineralization.

scholarly journals Origin of chromitites in the Esker Intrusive Complex, Ring of Fire Intrusive Suite, as revealed by chromite trace element chemistry and simple crystallization models

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J M Brenan ◽  
K Woods ◽  
J E Mungall ◽  
R Weston
Keyword(s):  
Partition Coefficients ◽  
Fluid Dynamic ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Wall Rock ◽  
Major And Trace Elements ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Intrusive Complex ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Magma Flow ◽  
Intrusive Suite

To better constrain the origin of the chromitites associated with the Esker Intrusive Complex (EIC) of the Ring of Fire Intrusive Suite (RoFIS), a total of 50 chromite-bearing samples from the Black Thor, Big Daddy, Blackbird, and Black Label chromite deposits have been analysed for major and trace elements. The samples represent three textural groups, as defined by the relative abundance of cumulate silicate phases and chromite. To provide deposit-specific partition coefficients for modeling, we also report on the results of laboratory experiments to measure olivine- and chromite-melt partitioning of V and Ga, which are two elements readily detectable in the chromites analysed. Comparison of the Cr/Cr+Al and Fe/Fe+Mg of the EIC chromites and compositions from previous experimental studies indicates overlap in Cr/Cr+Al between the natural samples and experiments done at >1400oC, but significant offset of the natural samples to higher Fe/Fe+Mg. This is interpreted to be the result of subsolidus Fe-Mg exchange between chromite and the silicate matrix. However, little change in Cr/Cr+Al from magmatic values, owing to the lack of an exchangeable reservoir for these elements. A comparison of the composition of the EIC chromites and a subset of samples from other tectonic settings reveals a strong similarity to chromites from the similarly-aged Munro Township komatiites. Partition coefficients for V and Ga are consistent with past results in that both elements are compatible in chromite (DV = 2-4; DGa ~ 3), and incompatible in olivine (DV = 0.01-0.14; DGa ~ 0.02), with values for V increasing with decreasing fO2. Simple fractional crystallization models that use these partition coefficients are developed that monitor the change in element behaviour based on the relative proportions of olivine to chromite in the crystallizing assemblage; from 'normal' cotectic proportions involving predominantly olivine, to chromite-only crystallization. Comparison of models to the natural chromite V-Ga array suggests that the overall positive correlation between these two elements is consistent with chromite formed from a Munro Township-like komatiitic magma crystallizing olivine and chromite in 'normal' cotectic proportions, with no evidence of the strong depletion in these elements expected for chromite-only crystallization. The V-Ga array can be explained if the initial magma responsible for chromite formation is slightly reduced with respect to the FMQ oxygen buffer (~FMQ- 0.5), and has assimilated up to ~20% of wall-rock banded iron formation or granodiorite. Despite the evidence for contamination, results indicate that the EIC chromitites crystallized from 'normal' cotectic proportions of olivine to chromite, and therefore no specific causative link is made between contamination and chromitite formation. Instead, the development of near- monomineralic chromite layers likely involves the preferential removal of olivine relative to chromite by physical segregation during magma flow. As suggested for some other chromitite-forming systems, the specific fluid dynamic regime during magma emplacement may therefore be responsible for crystal sorting and chromite accumulation.

scholarly journals Archean to Paleoproterozoic seawater halogen ratios recorded by fluid inclusions in chert and hydrothermal quartz

2020 ◽  
Vol 105 (9) ◽  
pp. 1317-1325
Author(s):  
Ray Burgess ◽  
Sarah L. Goldsmith ◽  
Hirochika Sumino ◽  
Jamie D. Gilmour ◽  
Bernard Marty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Fluid Inclusions ◽  
Hydrothermal Systems ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Hydrothermal Quartz ◽  
Ocean Salinity ◽  
Halide System ◽  
Chemical Sediment ◽  
Substantial Change

Abstract Past changes in the halogen composition of seawater are anticipated based on the differing behavior of chlorine and bromine that are strongly partitioned into seawater, relative to iodine, which is extremely depleted in modern seawater and enriched in marine sediments due to biological uptake. Here we assess the use of chert, a chemical sediment that precipitated throughout the Precambrian, as a proxy for halide ratios in ancient seawater. We determine a set of criteria that can be used to assess the primary nature of halogens and show that ancient seawater Br/Cl and I/Cl ratios can be resolved in chert samples from the 2.5 Ga Dales Gorge Member of the Brockman Banded Iron Formation, Hamersley Group, Western Australia. The values determined of Br/Cl ~2 × 10-3 M and I/Cl ~30 × 10-6 M are comparable to fluid inclusions in hydrothermal quartz from the 3.5 Ga North Pole area, Pilbara Craton, Western Australia, that were the subject of previous reconstructions of ancient ocean salinity and atmospheric isotopic composition. While the similar Br/Cl and I/Cl values indicate no substantial change in the ocean halide system over the interval 2.5–3.5Ga, compared to modern seawater, the ancient ocean was enriched in Br and I relative to Cl. The I/Cl value is intermediate between bulk Earth (assumed chondritic) and the modern seawater ratio, which can be explained by a smaller organic reservoir because this is the major control on marine iodine at the present day. Br/Cl ratios are about 30% higher than both modern seawater and contemporary seafloor hydrothermal systems, perhaps indicating a stronger mantle buffering of seawater halogens during the Archean.

The application of the mise-a-la-masse electrical technique in Greenstone belt gold exploration

1989 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
L.G.B.T. Polomé
Keyword(s):  
Greenstone Belt ◽  
Electrical Potential ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Iron Formation ◽  
Banded Iron Formation ◽  
Current Electrode ◽  
Barberton Greenstone Belt ◽  
A Current ◽  
Ore Zones ◽  
Gold Bearing

Most of the gold deposits in the Barberton Greenstone belt of South Africa are relatively small and in structurally complex geological areas.The mise-a-la-masse electrical technique, where a current electrode is earthed in a mineralised zone, was used on one of our exploration projects consisting of a sulphides/gold-bearing carbonaceous banded iron formation within a succession of mafic, ultramafic and sedimentary rocks. The technique was successful in delineating individual mineralised units within a broad lithological sequence. During the survey, electrical potential measurements were recorded on surface, in underground drives and in twenty five boreholes. Measurements were also repeated by earthing the mineralised zone in a number of boreholes. Major discontinuities were recognised within the ore zones and used to interpret geological structures. These were then used to define specific units for ore reserve calculations and the application of selected mining techniques.

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