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Geology

Magmatic-epithermal transitions in alkalic systems: Porgera gold deposit, Papua

New Guinea
Jeremy P. Richards

Geology 1992;20;547-550
doi: 10.1130/0091-7613(1992)020<0547:METIAS>2.3.CO;2

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Magmatic-epithermal transitions in alkalic systems:

Porgera gold deposit, Papua New Guinea
Jeremy P. Richards
Department of Geological Sciences, University of Saskatchewan
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 0W0, Canada

ABSTRACT
Fluid-inclusion and stable isotope evidence are presented for the
transition from magmatic-related mesothermai to meteoric water-
dominated epithermal activity at the giant Porgera gold deposit,
Papua New Guinea. Reflecting this transition, Au-Ag mineralization
occurs in two main stages: disseminated auriferous pyrite in phyllic
alteration zones (stage I); and fault-related, quartz-roscoelite-
cemented hydrothermal breccias and veins carrying locally abundant
free gold and Au-Ag-teUurides (stage II). The deposit is spatially and
temporally associated with a late Miocene (6 Ma) epizonal intrusive
complex etnplaced in continental crust immediately prior to an early
Pliocene continent-island-arc collision. Stage I ore formation was as-
sociated in part with fluids of magmatic origin ( - 2 0 0 to >500 °C, 7 to
12 wt% and 31 to 58 wt% NaCl equivalent [eq.], <5lsO = 8.1%, to
9.4°/oo, <5D = -50°/oo to -32°/oo) and appears to represent a new type of
Au-rich, Cu-poor, porphyritic, intrusion-related mineralization asso-
ciated with volatile-rich, mafic, alkalic magmatism in a continent-
island-arc collision environment. Stage II vein-type mineralization
crosscuts this earlier disseminated orebody; it formed at depths of 2 to
3 km from lower temperature, lower salinity, isotopically exchanged
ground waters ( - 1 8 0 °C, 3 to 10 eq. wt% NaCl, 5 , s O = 3.1% 0 to
6.4°/oo, 5D = - 6 2 % ) to -34°/oo), similar to fluids from other Au-Ag-Te
epithermal deposits. Gold in these late veins was probably remobilized
from deeper stage I-type mineralization, and stable isotope and tex- PORGERA GOLD DEPOSIT
tural evidence suggest that Au was deposited following tectonically Gold-silver mineralization at Porgera occurs in two main stages.
induced fluid phase separation. Stage I is characterized by intense phyllic (illite- or sericite-carbonate)
alteration in igneous and sedimentary rocks, reflecting the silica-poor na-
ture of the alkali gabbroic, pelitic, and calcareous protoliths. Refractory
INTRODUCTION Au is hosted by disseminated arsenical pyrite, whereas associated base-
Proven and probable reserves at Porgera, Papua New Guinea, metal-sulfide veins contain rare late free gold (Au°). In contrast, stage II
amount to 386 tonnes (t) Au; grades locally are in excess of 1000 g/t. The mineralization is characterized by bonanza-type, vuggy, banded quartz-
deposit is distinct in terms of its spatial and temporal association with a late roscoelite (vanadium-rich mica) veins and hydrothermal breccias, which
Miocene (6.0 ±0.3 [2a] Ma) epizonal intrusive complex of volatile-rich contain locally abundant pyrite, tetrahedrite-tennantite, Au°, electrum,
alkali gabbroic composition, emplaced within continental crust near a Au-Ag-tellurides, and minor barite. These late veins are structurally related
mid-Tertiary suture between the Australasian plate and accreted oceanic to the Roamane fault, an extensional feature that offsets the earlier dissem-
terranes (Fig. 1; Richards, 1990; Richards and McDougall, 1990). inated mineralization and parts of the intrusive complex. Richards and
Richards et al. (1990) showed that the intrusive rocks geochemically McDougall (1990) showed that both stages of mineralization occurred
resemble products of intraplate magmatic activity rather than those of within 1 m.y. of the time of emplacement of the shallow-level intrusions,
destructive margins, and they proposed a model relating magmatism to and that a large (~5 x 5 km) unexposed pluton was the source of the
elimination of an oceanic microplate and the initiation of continent- exposed stocks and dikes, of heat for driving hydrothermal convection,
island-arc collision. and possible also of ore metals. Lead and Sr isotopic compositions of the
Gold mineralization overprints the intrusive complex, and Handley orebody reflect hydrothermal interaction with both sedimentary and
and Bradshaw (1986) proposed "a telescoped, mesothermai to epithermal magmatic sources, consistent with the above hypothesis (Richards et al.,
genetic model" for the deposit, reflecting superimposition of low- 1991).
temperature Au-rich veins upon earlier disseminated, porphyry-like Au
mineralization. New fluid-inclusion and stable isotope data support this RESULTS
interpretation and provide evidence for the transition from magmatic hy- Fluid Inclusions
drothermal to epithermal mineralization processes (cf. Sillitoe and Bon- Fluid inclusions from Porgera are of four main types, based on differ-
ham, 1984; Sillitoe, 1989; Hedenquist and Aoki, 1991). ences in liquid/vapor ratios and composition. Type 1 high-salinity fluid

GEOLOGY, v. 20, p. 547-550, June 1992 547

 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on November 16, 2014
inclusions containing halite, with or without sylvite and a number of other With the possible exception of type 3 fluid inclusions, the lack of
unidentified daughter minerals at room temperature, occur as small (typi- evidence for phase separation suggests that fluid pressures were for the
cally < 5 fim) early inclusions in rare hydrothermal quartz eyes from zones most part greater than the hydrostatic boiling pressure. However, the
of intense phyllic wall-rock alteration associated with stage I mineraliza- hydrothermally brecciated nature of stage II veins attests to periodic explo-
tion. They are commonly overprinted by secondary trails containing type sive pressure release and flashing. Stratigraphic considerations (Davies,
4 fluid inclusions (see below). Type 2 two-phase liquid-rich inclusions 1983) suggest an overburden thickness of 2 to 3 km above the currently
containing small amounts of C 0 2 (visible as clathrate after freezing and in exposed orebody at the time of formation, and fluid pressures could theo-
rare cases as liquid CO2 at room temperature) are present as primaries retically have varied from 0.2 to 0.8 kbar. Given the poorly lithified and
(criteria of Roedder, 1984) in quartz and sphalerite from stage I base-
metal-sulfide veins; they have negative crystal shapes, and they range in
size from 5 to 20 ¿urn. Type 3 low-density vapor-rich inclusions also
containing CO2 (visible as minute amounts of solid CO2 which melt at 6001
-56.6 °C) occur as primaries in rare isolated clusters in late quartz from • Type 1
these veins, and also as secondaries in well-healed trails in both quartz and 500- o Type 2 S
sphalerite. No homogenization temperature (Th) or salinity estimates were • Type 4
obtainable from these inclusions because of their small size (typically < 5 400
pim) and dark appearance. They may represent the sporadic incursion of a
vapor phase derived from deeper zones of effervescence into veins domi- 300
nantly occupied by type 2 or type 4 liquids. Primary type 4 two-phase
liquid-rich inclusions occur in late vuggy quartz associated with stage I 200-
phyllic alteration, late-stage cavity-filling quartz in base-metal-sulfide
veins, and in stage II quartz-roscoelite-Au veins, suggesting that these fluids 100-
overprinted the earlier mineralization. The inclusions range in size from 2
to 100 nm (average ~ 10 /xm) and are typically irregular in shape, but have
0
some faceted boundaries. Liquid/vapor ratios are greater than those of 1 10 100
type 2 inclusions, and they contain no visible CO2. Salinity (eq. wt% NaCl)

Inclusion types 1, 2, and 4 form distinct groups in terms of Th and 3001

salinity (Fig. 2A). Type 1 inclusions without exception homogenize by
(A
dissolution of halite after disappearance of the vapor bubble, and salinities C
o
are assumed to be approximated by the halite saturation curve. Sylvite, 'to
3 • Type 2
where present, dissolved at temperatures below 100 °C, but accurate o 200-
c • Type 4 (Qz-Rosc-Au)
measurements were not possible because of the small size of the inclusions.
•o • Type 4 (vuggy Qz)
Thus, salinities reported in weight percent NaCl equivalent (eq. wt% NaCl) 3
should be considered as minimum estimates. Homogenization tempera- UL
tures and salinities of these type 1 inclusions vary over a wide range, from
fc 100
170 to 518 °C (30.5 to 58.4 eq. wt% NaCl), a feature characteristic of fluid .q
E
3
inclusions from the potassic and inner phyllic alteration zones of porphyry
z
Cu deposits (Nash, 1976). However, the range noted here may also have
been broadened by minor postentrapment modification associated with
later type 4 fluid overprinting. Hypersaline fluids in the porphyry envi-
B 100 140
,rZl,C=i,c
180 220 260
JH300 340 380
ronment are believed to represent either direct magmatic emanations of Th (°C)
supercritical fluids or their physically separated condensates (e.g., Henley
120
and McNabb, 1978; Cline and Bodnar, 1991).
Type 2 fluid inclusions mostly homogenize between 260 and 360 °C
(average of 319 ±20 °C, n = 138) but extend down to - 1 8 0 °C, with
salinities of 8.8 ±1.3 eq. wt% NaCl (n = 55; Fig. 2). Their properties appear
to grade into those of the later, cooler, gas-poor type 4 fluid inclusions
(Fig. 2A). The latter inclusions homogenize relatively uniformly at 139
±16 °C (n = 479), but salinities fall into two distinct groups, one averaging
8.0 ±0.6 eq. wt% NaCl (n = 298), and the other averaging 4.3 ±0.4 eq.
wt% NaCl (n = 101; Fig. 2C). The distinction between inclusions from
these two groups is not clear, but the less abundant lower salinity inclu-
sions are generally restricted to the vuggy tips of quartz crystals (Fig. 2C),
suggesting that less saline fluids periodically gained access to the veins
following the main stage of quartz-roscoelite-Au deposition. Qualitative 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
electron microprobe analyses of decrepitation residues from type 4 fluid Salinity (eq. wt% NaCl)
inclusions indicate that NaCl is the dominant dissolved component, with
minor KC1 and sulfur (speciation unknown). The gradation of thermo- Figure 2. A: Paired homogenization temperature (Th) and salinity data
chemical properties including gas content from type 2 to type 4 fluids may for type 1, 2, and 4 fluid inclusions. B and C: Histograms of Th and
salinity for type 2 and 4 inclusions; type 4 inclusions are divided accord-
reflect the decline of magmatic heat (and fluid) input to the hydrothermal ing to presence in barren quartz (Qz) or quartz-roscoelite-Au (Qz-Rosc-
system as the source pluton cooled and solidified. Au) bands.

548 GEOLOGY, June 1992

 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on November 16, 2014
faulted nature of the host sedimentary rocks, it does not seem likely that
fluid pressures greatly in excess of hydrostatic could have been maintained.
A pressure of 0.5 kbar for stage II fluids has therefore been assumed, and a
correction of ~ 4 0 °C should be applied to type 4 fluid inclusions, resulting
in an average temperature of formation of - 1 8 0 °C for stage II quartz-
roscoelite-Au veins. Note, however, that for phase separation to have
occurred in these relatively cool fluids during hydrothermal brecciation,
pressures must have dropped briefly to much lower values unless the gas
content was initially high. This condition may have been assisted by exten-
sional movement on the Roamane fault and the formation of a transitory
vapor cap in the vein system (cf. Roedder, 1984; Parry and Bruhn, 1990).
Stable Isotopes
Calculated isotopic compositions of fluids in equilibrium with igne-
ous hornblende and biotite from the intrusive complex, hydrothermal illite
and roscoelite from stage I and II mineralization, and stage II quartz and
contained fluid inclusions are shown in Figure 3. Fluids associated with
stage I phyllic alteration overlap the range for magmatic waters at Porgera,
and are therefore consistent with fluid-inclusion evidence for a magmatic
hydrothermal contribution during the earliest stages of mineralization.
However, the data extend to higher values of SD than the magmatic
waters, and probably reflect overprinting by lower temperature exchanged
ground waters, as suggested by the presence of type 4 fluid inclusions in
late quartz from phyllic alteration zones. Uncertainty concerning fluid
equilibration temperatures and poorly determined fractionation character-
istics for illite (Kyser, 1987) contribute to relatively large error limits for
these data ( S 1 8 O h 2 o ±2%>. 5 D f l 2 o ±10°/oo). Isotopic compositions of
Mn-Fe-Ca-Mg carbonates (<513C = - 5 . 6 % 0 ±O.9 0 / oo , n = 21) and pyrite,
sphalerite, and galena (<534S = 3.9°/ 0 o ±0.8°/oo, n = 3 5 ) from stage I
base-metal-sulfide veins are consistent with a magmatic origin for these
components in the early ore-forming fluids (cf. Obmoto and Rye, 1979).
Calculated isotopic compositions of quartz-roscoelite-Au vein fluids
(<5 l s O = 3.1 0 /oo to 6.4°/oo, S D = -62°/ 0 0 to -34°/oo) suggest the involvement
• Biotite, hornblende
O Type 4 Fis (ÔD)
in quartz (ô1sO)
A Illite
A Roscoelite
-O--
1 high-grade stage II veins are structurally related to the Roamane fault, and
Porgera
Magmatic
Water
10 15
ô 1 8 0, SMOW
Figure 3. Plot of oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions relative to
SMOW (standard mean ocean water) of magmatic and hydrothermal
fluids at Porgera, calculated from mineral compositions by using frac-
tionation factors listed in Kyser (1987), and direct analysis of stage II
fluid inclusions (FIs; <5D only). Assumed equilibration temperatures are
700 °C (hornblende), 600 °C (biotite), 180 °C (illite, roscoelite, quartz).
Also shown are compositions of present-day meteoric ground waters at
Porgera, and suggested range and exchange trajectory (dashed line) of
meteoric ground waters involved in stage II ore formation.
548 GEOLOGY, June 1992
of isotopically exchanged ground waters of low-latitude, low-altitude me-
teoric origin during stage II mineralization. Lead and strontium isotopic
compositions of vein minerals indicate that these components, and perhaps
also Au, were leached from preexisting (deep stage I) mineralization
(Richards et al, 1991). The relatively light isotopic compositions of stage
II pyrite (S 34 S = -14.0°/oo to -10.3°/ 00 ) might suggest a different, perhaps
sedimentary source of sulfur in these veins, but the additional presence of
barite in some samples (S 34 S = 22.2%o) may instead indicate that fluid
initially in equilibrium with stage I mineralization (S 3 4 Sjs ~ 4%>) became
partially oxidized prior to ore formation.
DISCUSSION A N D CONCLUSIONS
Fluid-inclusion and stable isotope data presented above provide evi-
dence for the involvement of magmatic volátiles during stage I mineraliza-
tion. Hypersaline fluid inclusions comparable to those found at Porgera are
characteristic of porphyry-type deposits, and it is suggested that similar
processes that lead to the exsolution of metal-rich fluids from calc-alkalic
plutons (e.g., Henley and McNabb, 1978; Cline and Bodnar, 1991) may
have operated in the more mafic, alkalic magmas at Porgera.
Several Au-rich porphyry Cu deposits occur in the southwest Pacific
region, including Panguna, Lepanto, Ok Tedi, Santo Tomas II, and Dizon
(Sillitoe, 1989), and Sillitoe (1979) predicted that Cu-poor porphyry Au
deposits might develop under favorable circumstances. Hollister (1975)
noted that more mafic, dioritic plutons were associated with higher Au/Cu
mineralization, that Au was enriched in the potassic alteration zones rela-
tive to the surrounding phyllic zones, and that magnetite was abundant in
such deposits. Gold may have been preferentially deposited in these more
mafic systems following consumption of dissolved bisulfide (with which
Au may have been complexed) to form pyrite, excess iron remaining as
magnetite. At Porgera, a large aeromagnetic anomaly surrounds the intru-
sive complex and orebody, attesting to the abundance of magnetite in the
igneous rocks, but a potassic alteration zone has not been discovered.
Possibly one would not expect to find such an alteration zone developed in
these mafic, high-Na/K alkalic rocks, but it is also possible that a potassic
core rich in Au exists at deeper levels beneath the lower grade phyllic
orebody.
Following the magmatic hydrothermal stage, the system was engulfed
by cooler isotopically exchanged ground waters. The relatively uniform
temperatures, salinities, and stable and radiogenic isotopic compositions of
these stage II fluids indicate that they were well mixed, and probably
remobilized metals from earlier stages of mineralization at depth. They
share many of the characteristics of fluids from other Au-Ag-Te epithermal
deposits such as Emperor, Fiji (Ahmad et al., 1987), Tongyoung, Korea
(Shelton et al., 1990), Bessie G, Colorado (Saunders and May, 1986), and
Cripple Creek, Colorado (Thompson et al., 1985; Bonham, 1986). The
their hydrothermally brecciated nature suggests that periodic seismic activ-
ity along the fault may have induced flashing. Unfortunately, fluid-
inclusion evidence for this transient phenomenon is not preserved because
the first quartz to be precipitated after fracturing is very fine grained.
Coarser-grained quartz-roscoelite-pyrite-barite-Au° or -Au-Ag-telluride
intergrowths mantle this thin (1 to 2 mm) fine-grained rim, suggesting that
ore deposition occurred in response to physicochemical changes in the
fluid following flashing (e.g., Seward, 1989). In particular, Bowers (1991)
has shown that phase separation in moderately oxidized, sulfur-rich fluids
can cause sudden oxidation of the residual liquid through preferential loss
to the vapor phase of reduced volatile species (including H2S), resulting in
rich deposition of Au. Sulfur isotopic compositions of pyrite and barite
from stage II veins provide evidence that supports this process.
Uplift and unroofing during ore formation at Porgera may have been
responsible for the superimposition of stage II epithermal mineralization
 Downloaded from geology.gsapubs.org on November 16, 2014
u p o n the deeper, magmatic-related orebody, thereby preserving evidence
for the complete evolution from m a g m a t i c hydrothermal to ground w a t e r -
dominated epithermal A u mineralization.
Porgera m a y represent an extreme Au-rich end m e m b e r in the spec-
t r u m of porphyry-type deposits, related to hydrous, mafic, alkalic m a g m a -
tism in a collision-related geodynamic setting (Richards et al., 1990;
S o l o m o n , 1990). K e y features of this association for gold metallogeny are
( 1 ) the creation of extensional w i n d o w s in t h e back-arc lithosphere during
the complex transition from subduction to collision tectonics, which would
h a v e assisted (2) the ascent of primitive, alkalic m a g m a s f r o m upwelling
asthenospheric sources beneath the thickened a n d possibly delaminating
orogen; a n d ( 3 ) t h e volatile-rich a n d moderately oxidizing nature of the
m a g m a s , perhaps reflecting a distal subduction-modified mantle source
composition. These factors w o u l d h a v e assisted the m a g m a t i c transport of
A u to shallow crustal levels, a n d its subsequent concentration b y hydro-
thermal fluids. A p p a r e n t lack of significant C u enrichment at Porgera m a y
b e d u e to vertical metal zonation in t h e ore deposit, or compatible behav-
ior of C u in the melt (Cline a n d Bodnar, 1991).
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank the Porgera Joint Venture Partners for field support and access to the
Porgera mine, and for permission to publish this paper. I also thank Rob Kerrich
and Kurt Kyser for access to analytical facilities at the University of Saskatchewan
(supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
grants); Kerrich, Kyser, and Jim Reynolds for stimulating discussions and reviews of
early drafts; Robert Bodnar and Philip Brown for constructive reviews; and Dave
Pezderic and Cindy Swiney for instruction in the use of stable isotope lines.
Manuscript received November 26, 1991
Revised manuscript received February 24, 1992
Manuscript accepted March 5, 1992
GEOLOGY, June 1992