Telluride Mineralogy of the Deer Horn Au-Ag-Te-(Bi-Pb-W) Deposit, British Columbia: Implications for the Generation of Tellurides

ABSTRACT The Deer Horn deposit, located 150 km south of Smithers in west-central British Columbia, is an Eocene polymetallic system enriched in Au-Ag-Te with lesser amounts of Bi-Pb-W; the Au and Ag are hosted in Te-bearing minerals and Ag-rich gold (Au-Ag alloy). A quartz-sulfide vein system containing the main zones of Au-Ag-Te mineralization and attendant sericite alteration occurs in the hanging wall of a local, spatially related thrust fault and is genetically related to the nearby Eocene Nanika granodiorite intrusive suite. Tellurium-bearing minerals commonly form isolated euhedral to subhedral grains or composite grains (up to 525 μm in size) of Ag-, Bi-, Pb-, and Au-rich tellurium-bearing minerals (e.g., hessite, tellurobismuthite, volynskite, altaite, and petzite). Panchromatic cathodoluminescence imaging revealed four generations of quartz. Within remnant cores of quartz I, local oscillatory zoning occurs in quartz II. Fine-grained veinlets of quartz III and IV crosscut quartz I and II, showing evidence of at least two deformation events; late-forming veinlets of calcite crosscut all generations of quartz. The tellurides and Ag-rich gold occur in stage III quartz. Three types of fluid inclusions were observed in stage III and IV quartz: (1) aqueous liquid and vapor inclusions (L-V); (2) aqueous carbonic inclusions (L-L-V); and (3) carbonic inclusions (vapor-rich). Primary fluid inclusions related to the telluride mineralization within quartz III were tested with microthermometry, along with a few primary inclusions from quartz IV. Homogenization temperatures are 130.0–240.5 °C for L-V inclusions and 268.0–336.4 °C for L-L-V inclusions. Aqueous carbonic inclusions had solid CO2 melting temperatures from –62.1 to –56.8 °C, indicating the presence of ≈1 to 30 mol.% dissolved methane in these inclusions. The Deer Horn Au-Ag-Te-(Bi-Pb-W) deposit is a reduced intrusion-related gold system characterized by sheeted veins, metal zoning, low salinity aqueous-carbonic fluids, and a genetic relationship to an Eocene granodiorite. Values of δ34S of pyrite vary from –1.6 to 1.6 per mil and are compatible with a magmatic source of sulfur.

Alkaline magmatism in the Selwyn Basin, Yukon: relationship to SEDEX mineralization

Several sedimentary exhalative (SEDEX) deposits have alkaline magmatism that is temporally and spatially associated to mineralization. This report outlines interim data from a study of potential linkages between magmatism and SEDEX mineralization in the Selwyn Basin, Yukon. This region is an ideal study site due to the close spatial and temporal relationships between SEDEX deposits and magmatism, particularly in the MacMillan Pass, where volcanic rocks have been drilled with mineralization at the Boundary deposit. Alkaline volcanic samples were analysed from the Anvil District, MacMillan Pass, Keno-Mayo and the Misty Creek Embayment in the Selwyn Basin to characterise volcanism and examine the relationship to mineralization. Textural and field relationships indicate a volatile-rich explosive eruptive volcanic system in the MacMillan Pass region in comparison to the Anvil District, which is typically effusive in nature. High proportions of calcite and ankerite in comparison to other minerals are present in the MacMillan system. Cathodoluminescence imaging reveals zoning and carbonate that displays different luminescent colours within the same sample, likely indicating multiple generations of carbonate precipitation. Barium contents are enriched in volcanic rocks throughout the Selwyn Basin, which is predominately hosted by hyalophane with rare barite and barytocalcite. Thallium is positively correlated with Ba, Rb, Cs, Mo, As, Sb and the calcite-chlorite-pyrite index and is negatively correlated with Cu. Anvil District samples display a trend towards depleted mid-ocean ridge mantle on a plot of Ce/Tl versus Th/Rb. Hydrothermal alteration has likely led to the removal of Tl from volcanic rocks in the region. Ongoing research involves: i) the analysis of Sr, Nd, Pb and Tl isotopes of volcanic samples; ii) differentiating magmatic from hydrothermal carbonate using O, C and Sr isotopes; iii) examining sources of Ba in the Selwyn Basin; iv) and constraining age relationships through U-Th-Pb geochronology.