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Introduction
Distribution and Economic Significance
Genetic Environment
Volcanic Setting and Associated Igneous Rocks
Deposits Forms and Control
Alteration Mineralogy and Zoning
Ore and Gangue Mineralogy
Timing Mineralization
Source Metals
Genetic Models
Implications for Exploration
Introduction
Increasing exploration for gold deposits during the late 1970s and early 1980s
Found that
A deposit type is characterized by the presence of minerals diagnostic of high
sulfidation states (e.g., enargite and luzonite) and acidic hydrothermal conditions
(e.g., alunite, kaolinite, pyrophyllite).
These deposits occur in two main settings: (i) in island arcs and (ii) at continental
margins.
Tertiary HS deposits predominate, and only a few deposits are Mesozoic (e.g., Pueblo
Viejo, Zijinshan), Paleozoic (e.g., Temora and others in southeastern Australia), or
PreCambrian (the early Proterozoic Enasen Au deposit located in the Baltic shield of
central Sweden).
Location of the principal epithermal deposits
(from Newmont)
Distribution, Age and Economic
Significance
The youngest deposits are Pleistocene (<1.6 Ma) and occur in the central western
Pacific (Lepanto-Phillipine, and Chinkuashih-Taiwan).
Gold, copper and variable amounts of silver are the main products of HS
deposits.
Examples:
Gold (Nalesbitan, Rodalquilar), occasionally with silica by-product (Nansatsu), is
the only economic metal in the smaller deposits.
No copper is produced at Paradise Peak and Pueblo Viejo.
Mercury is produced at Paradise Peak, and the Julcani district has been a source
of a remarkable polymetallic assemblage consisting of Ag, Cu, Pb, Au, W, Bi, and Zn.
Largest Epithermal Au-Ag deposits
Yanacocha
Lihir
Cripple Creek
Baguio
Pueblo Viejo
Porgera Low sulfidation
Pascua-Veladero deposits
Round Mountain
El Indio High sulfidation
Comstock Lode deposits
Hishikari
Pierina
(modified after Cooke & Simmons, 2000)
Pachuca-Real
Waihi
Kelian Au (t)
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Deposit Characteristics
Low Sulfidation High Sulfidation
Metals As, Sb, Zn, Pb, Hg, Se As, Sb, Bi, Pb, Hg, Te, Sn
Diagram at left shows schematic outward zonation from a subvertical mineralized body,
shown at right (from Stoffregren 1987).
Genetic Environment
Neutralization of the
acidic solution by reaction
with the wallrock results
Massive Vuggy
Quartz Quartz
in a sequence of alteration
Qtz-alunite+dickite zones.
Kejora Gerhana
Baskara
Purnama Pelangi
Batang Toru
HS Martabe
Martabe, North Sumatra
Martabe, North Sumatra
Martabe, North Sumatra
Purnama Fault
Silica
Kao-py-ill-hm-jar-goe lokasi
Sm-ill-kao-py-hm
Silica
lokasi
Massive quartz
Note :
Zona silica ore ini terlihat serupa dengan
alterasi sekitarnya
Pada bagian atas, silica barren / leaching
Ore berada sekitar 10 m dibawah outcrop
Martabe, North Sumatra
Baskara
Foto dari Purnama
Baskara
Dome dasit / andesit kuarsa
Vuggy quartz masive quartz ore, structural control
Martabe, North Sumatra
Vuggy quartz
Hydrothermal bx,
py cement
Martabe, North Sumatra
Vuggy quartz
(2) by atmospheric oxidation of H2S in the vadose zone over the water table,
associated with fumarolic discharge of vapor released by deeper boiling fluids
(steam-heated), and
This type of alunite is characteristic of HS deposits, but it may also appear in areas of
advanced argillic alteration void of ore mineralization (e.g., Iwao ,1962; Hall, 1978).
A common spatial association exists between the deposits and shallow, typically
porphyritic intrusions.
These intrusions are interpreted to be the (i) roots of volcanic domes or the (ii) feeders of
central-vent volcanoes or (iii) maar-diatreme complexes
Some deposits are hosted entirely within a single dome (Summitville), or within a dome
complex (Julcani).
High sulfidation deposits,
associated with magmas of limited compositional variation
El Indio-style Au deposits: Cavity-filling veins with sericitic and clay-rich haloes are
characteristic of
Local subvertical faults and fractures are the dominant control on HS mineralization and
they are present in most deposits.
Some deposits, the principal control is lithological (maar sediments at Pueblo Viejo, and
interbedded pyroclastic layers at Paradise Peak and Nansatsu).
The deposit is 3 km long and consists of a main zone of breccia and replacement mineralization
along the Lepanto Fault (Fig. 4A). Multiple veins associated with smaller diagonal faults branch
from the main zone and extend into both the hanging wall and footwall. The characteristic
mushroom-shaped cross-section of many of the orebodies at Lepanto is related to the
intersection of the steeply dipping Lepanto fault and branch veins with the unconformity at the
base of Imbanguila dacite. Arribas et al., 1995
Alteration Mineralogy and Zoning
The innermost zone of vuggy or massive quartz alteration commonly has sharp
boundaries with a zone that may contain quartz, alunite, kaolinite, dickite, pyrophyllite,
diaspore, and zunyite .
This advanced argillic assemblage grades into a second envelope of argillic alteration
(quartz, kaolinite, illite, sericite, and smectite) and an outermost halo of propylitic
alteration (chlorite, illite, smectite, and carbonate ).
In the majority of HS deposits, however, most of the ore is contained within the silica
core, inside the advanced argillic envelope .
Advanced argillic slides: 11
(if scanned can be reduced to 5)
B. Steam-heated
Generalized HS Geologic Model
Alteration Mineralogy and Zoning
The zones of alteration with increasing depth typically grade from a shallow silicic zone
through advanced argillic, argillic, argilic/sericitic, into a sericitic or phyllic zone with
quartz, sericite, and pyrite.
This alteration sequence occurs over a vertical interval that ranges from a few hundred
meters to more than 1000 m
The lateral and vertical alteration zones described above correspond to a generalized
model.
They are useful in exploration because they help in understanding the genetic
environment of a deposit and provide spatial "markers within the extinct hydrothermal
system.
Ore and Gangue Mineralogy and
Timing of Mineralisation
Ore: Pyrite and enargite (and its low-temperature dimorph luzonite) are the dominant
sulfides in HS deposits; pyrite is abundant but the amount of enargite and luzonite is variable.
Common ore minerals, listed by decreasing abundance from variable to very minor, include
tennantite-tetrahedrite, covellite, native gold and argentian gold (electrum), marcasite,
chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena. Famatinite is locally abundant in some deposits
(Goldfield, La Mejicana). Sparse ore minerals include bornite, cassiterite, cinnabar,
molybdenite, orpiment, realgar, stibnite, and wolframite (the last locally important at
Julcani).
Other minerals present in minor amounts in several deposits include Pb-, Ag-Pb, Bi- and Sn-
bearing sulfosalts .
Gaunge: Fine-grained quartz is the dominant gangue in HS deposits. Other common but
minor gangue minerals include barite, kaolinite, alunite, pyrophyllite, diaspore, and Ca-,Sr-,
Pb- and REE bearing phosphate-sulfate mineral(s) such asnsvanbergite-woodhouseite or
crandallite
Ore and Gangue Mineralogy and
Timing of Mineralisation
This observation implies that ore formation occurred under moderately acidic to acidic
conditions, which are inconsistent with transport of Au as Au(HS)2.
The number and order of mineralizing events provide critical information for reconstruction
of the hydrothermal system that results in HS mineralization.
Vuggy quartz rock and the advanced argillic assemblage with disseminated pyrite form
typically early-stage acidic alteration, and are followed by Cu Au Ag deposition.
The transition from quartz-alunite pyrite alteration to enargite-pyrite and finally to
tennantite-tetrahedrite, the last typically without sulfate (alunite) but with quartz-sericite
gangue and wallrock alteration, indicates a fluid progressively more reduced and less acid.
Ore and Gangue Mineralogy and
Timing of Mineralisation
Ore and Gangue Mineralogy and
Timing of Mineralisation
But, many workers that the bulk of the ore-forming components is contributed by magmatic
fluid, either directly by a magmatic vapor or hypersaline liquid that is incorporated into the
hydrothermal system, or indirectly by remobilization of metals from a porphyry-type
protore.
Genetic Models
A feature of HS deposits which has been noted commonly is a change in the hydrothermal
system with time towards a fluid that is less reactive and less oxidized.
Mineralization in HS deposits does not occur under the reduced conditions of low-
sulfidation-type geothermal fluids .
Within the ascending, crystallizing, and cooling magma, a hydrothermal fluid phase
exsolves and concentrates ore-forming metals and volatiles.
Model showing the two main stages of evolution of HS deposits.
A: Early stage of advanced argillic alteration dominated by magmatic vapor. B1 and B2: Two
genetic hypotheses proposed for the stage of ore formation. B1 = absorption of high-pressure
vapor by entrainment in meteoric water cell at depth to explain low salinity, mixed magmatic-
meteoric ore fluid. B2 = ascending metal-bearing magmatic brine with shallow cooler meteoric
waters to explain high-salinity, mixed magmatic-meteoric ore fluid
High-sulfidation deposits: Exploration (1)
3. Ore controls:
- Lithologic (caps vs. lateral flow)
- Structural (vein vs. mineralized feeder)
Sulfur Speciation
Low sulfidation
Reducing conditions stabilise aqueous sulfide
species (H2S(aq), HS-), reduced gases (H2S(g))
High sulfidation
Oxidising conditions stabilise aqueous sulfate
species (SO42-, HSO4-), oxidised gases (SO2 (g))
Operational factors
Develop multiple working hypotheses
Test, particularly with the drill
Exploration for epithermal deposits:
Summary