JEFFREY W. HEDENQUIST 99 Fifth Avenue, Suite 420, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5P5, Canada ANTONIO ARRIBAS R.

, AND ELISEO GONZALEZ -URIEN Placer Dome Eksploration , 240 South Rock Boulevard, Suite 117, Reno, Nevada 89502

Tempered by experience

Knowledge

Interpret all information available

Develop an understanding of its mineral potential

EPITHERMAL

Epithermal deposits have size, geometry and grade variations

Influence the exploration approach

Tempered by experience

Geologist exploration

Using knowledge of Geologic relationship And ore deposit styles

Interpret all information available from a given prospect

Mineral Discovery

Exploration stages

Building the information base

Develop exploration stages

Prospect assessment on every stage of exploration

Economic objectives of a company

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Prevent excessive unwarranted expenditure

Deeply understanding of geological and mineralization

Lingrend (1922), first defined the epithermal environment :

Shallow in depth (maximum depth about 1,000 m) Typically hosting deposits of Au, Ag and base metal also

including Hg, Sb, S, kaolinite, alunite and silica Upper pressure limit is 100 atmospheres Low salinity Low gas water that is boiling at ~1,000 m depth Temperature range : 500 to 2000 C

At present, epithermal refer to :

Maximum temperature is about 3000 C Most deposits has temperature 1600 to 2700 C

Few deposits with epithermal characteristics has

formed below 1,000 m depth (Hedenquist et al., 1996; Sillitoe, 1999)

 Lindgren (1933) concluded that ore deposition occurs

because focused, rapidly ascending fluids quickly change composition within a kilometer or so of the surface This change is caused by boiling (the process that most favors precipitation of bisulfide complexed metal such as gold) Related features with boiling :
Quartz with a colloform texture Adularia Bladed calcite Steam heated water that create advanced argilic alteration

(blankets and halos)

Henley and Ellis (1983)

Two contrasting style of hydrothermal system exist within the epithermal environment : 1. geothermal system

low sulfidation

Near netral PH Low salinity (less than 1 to 2 wt%) May be gas rich, with CO2 and H2S the dominant gases Where the liquid discharge at surface, forming silica sinter deposit

Geothermal system lies at some distance from a volcanic edifice, although they can also occur in area without contemporaneous volcanic activity or volcanic rocks.

2. Volcanic hydrothermal system

high sulfidation

Occur in a location proximal to volcanic vent Surface expression are high temperature fumaroles and related condensates of extremly acid water

 Barton and Skinner (1979) : Terms of low sulfidation and

high sulfidation to reflect the two end member sulfidation state, deduced from the sulfide mineral assemblages
These terms dont refer to low and high concentration of sulfide minerals, but rather reflect the oxidation potential and sulfur fugacity of the fluid that deposited the sulfides. The term low sulfur and high sulfur refer to total amount of sulfide minerals in a deposit.

Hedenquist (1987) : These terms were first suggested on

the basis of the oxidation state of the sulfur in the fluid Giggenbach (1992) : Degree of fluid rock interaction
Rock dominated for low sulfidation system
Fluid dominated for high sulfidation system

 The typical of sulfide assemblage :

Low sulfidation : - pyrite
- pyrrhotite - arsenopyrite - Fe-rich sphalerite

High sulfidation : - enargite

- luzonite - covellite - pyrite

Another features :
Quartz-adularia-carbonate veins with sericitic or clay halos commonly

host low sulfidation ore. Leached silicic with quartz alunite pyrophyllite dickite halos host of high sulfidation.

The two styles of system create different alteration and mineralization products with potential for markedly different ore controls and geometries (Sillitoe, 1993a; white and Hedenquist, 1995)

Boiling and mixing are the two principal processes that occur in geothermal systems, together with vapor condensation near the surface (Giggenbach and Stewart, 1982)

In low sulfidation, fluid PH is controlled by the concentration of CO2 in solution, together with salinity (Henley et al., 1984)

At boiling and loss CO2 to the vapor results in an increase in the PH

In turn, this causes as shift from illite to adularia stability

The loss of CO2 also leads to the deposition of calcite

This explains the common occurrence of adularia and bladed calcite as gangue minerals in low sulfidation ore veins

In epithermal system, the boiling is a critical process because : Boiling and the associated gas loss are the principal causes of gold precipitation from bisulfide complexes.

Gold saturation occurs due to the loss of the sulfide ligand to the vapor (Buchanan, 1981; Brown, 1986; Cooke and Simmons, 2000) Au(HS)2- + 0.5H2 Au + H2S + HS- or AuSH + 0.5H2 Au + H2S

The evidence that boiling occurred in epithermal deposits :

Alteration blankets of steam heated origin (Buchanan, 1981)
Adularia and bladed calcite in low sulfidation veins (Simmon

and Christenson, 1994) Fluid inclusion relation (Roedder, 1984) (inderectly) hydrothermal breccia that indicate hydraulic fracturing and pressure release (Hedenquist and Henley, 1985)

3 principal sources of natural acidity :

1. Hypogene magmatic condensates
2. Steam heated oxidation 3. Supergene oxidation Forming the advanced argilic alteration of barren lithocaps as well as high sulfidation deposit

Create blankets of advanced argilic alteration over both high and low sulfidation

(Sillitoe, 1993; White and Heddenquist, 1995)

 Gold ore is associated with quartz and adularia, plus calcite or sericite as the

major gangue minerals

The form of deposit :

Vein Stockwork disseminated

Argilic halos width relate to the primary permeability of the host rock. Narrow

halos arround structurally focused ore, or wide area in permeable rocks.

Calcite vein and Mn rich carbonates are commonly barren

High grade in low sulfidation may be 100 m to 150 m

Buchanan (1981) : the precious metal zone in many deposits have root rich in

base metal sulfides

 In a position transitional between the surface and a shallow degassing

intrusion, in places associated with porphyry deposit

Ore bodies commonly are located proximal to volcanic vent and are hosted by

structural conduits or permeable lithologies

One of the most common characteristic of high sulfidation deposit is the

alteration zoning outward from the ore body

Gold mineralisation is associated most commonly with enargite or its lower

temperature dimorph , luzonite

Typically are located above or marginal to intrusions, some associated with

porphyry Cu-Au deposit

Sillitoe (1999) : porphyry system also occur below or adjacent to many other similar high sulfidation deposit
Drilling beneath some high sulfidation ore bodies indicates that the silicic and

advanced argilic zones commonly pinch downward (Stoffregen, 1987)

 Methodology Textures and their interpretation Host rock, structure and deposit form Hydrothermal alteration Mineralogy

Geochemistry
geophysics

During the assessment of a prospect

Field geologist can focus on understanding the geologic and structural characteristic of the prospect and determine the geometry of the system and its size in term of ore potential

Determine if it is epithermal

style

Low sulfidation

High sulfidation

It will define the relationship between alteration zoning and the potential ore zone

 Lindgrens definition (1922) of the epithermal environment was based

on vein texture Texture in low sulfidation include :

Fine, crustiform bands of chalcedony, bladed quartz (due to carbonate

replacement), and open space filling Colloform bands are most commonly formed at very shallow depth, caused by colloidal silica accumulation Which host gold dendrites in high grade low sulfidation vein
By contrast, high sulfidation deposit may lack many of those textures,

except in late vein

Textures are dominated by massive to vugghy silicic zones that are residual in

origin Sisilic zone more resistant to erosion than argilic alteration, thus forming topographic high. Therefore, topographis high must be thoroughly examined for evidence of silicic alteration and texture, and for gold anomalies

Lithologic control

Disseminated Ore

The large tonnage deposits

Vei n

Deposits with greater than 3 Moz Au at grades in 20 to 30 g/t

Fracture control

Assemblages and zoning Two of the most critical interpretation to make in

the field are :

The origin of advanced argilic (i.e., hypogene, steam

heated or supergene)

it is also possible to use sulfur isotope ratios to distinguish readily between hypogene, steam heated or supergene (Rye et al., 1992; Arribas et al., 1995)

The origin of silicic alteration (e.g., residual silica or

silicification)

Hypogene origin

-The prospect may either be a barren lithocap or a mineralized high sulfidation system. -Minerals : quartz, alunite, kandite minerals (kaolinite, nacrite, dickite), diaspore, pyrophyllite and zunyite. - The presence of residual silica and crystalline alunite are another evidence.

Advanced argilic alteration

Steam heated origin

Contain many of above minerals, particularly if these acid fluids descend along fractures and are heated (reyes, 1990)

supergene

-Alunite is also controlled by the water table and similar assemblage of mineral. - Secondary or low temperature minerals : jarosite, scorodite, halloysite (low temperature polymorph of kaolinite)

High sulfidation

The ore zone occurs within a silicic core and is hosted by a laterally varying halo of advanced argilic minerals (quartz alunite) which closest to the residual quartz core

Advanced argilic alteration

-It is a blanket above the water table due to steam heating and, hence, lies over the ore zone. - because of its shallow origin, the associated alteration minerals : opal cristobalite, kaolinite (the low temperature), and alunite.

Low sulfidation

There are two main reason to recognize the origin of silicic alteration : 1. To understand the geometry 2. To better understand epithermal ore

Silica deposition : a. Quartz (>2000 C) b. Polimorph such as chalcedony (1500 2000 C) c. Amorphous silica (1000 1500 C)

 Alteration minerals can provide much information about

the composition of the fluids, such as :

Advanced argilic minerals that indicate a fluid was acid Adularia and sericite suggest relatively alkaline fluid, perhaps generated

from a netral PH fluid by loss of CO2 during boiling Zeolites is alkaline condition and along with epidote have mean that low gas contents in the fluid Calcite forms in place of zeolite from fluids of high CO2 content

The observation of the presence of Ca minerals is

indication of a high gas content are favorable for ore formation because this implies a high H2S content and, thus, high gold solubility.

During exploration for Low Sulfidation Epithermal deposits

Recognition of features such as : -Silica sinter -Steam heated alteration -structural

It will assist in the reconstruction of the paleo-geothermal system, and identification of the most favorable drilling or sampling location

For example, evidence for boiling indicates proximity to upflows channel.

Mineralogical evidence : -Adularia -Truscottite textures such as bladed calcite, commonly replaced by quartz pseudomorph

Evidence for boiling also indicates the occurrence of the mechanism that we argue is most favorable for deposition of gold in low sulfidation environment

 Simmons and Browne (2000) : in many deposits there is a spatial separation between the

gold ore zone and indicators of boiling. This may be caused either by : - the delay in gold saturation on initiation of boiling - by physical transport of gold colloids from the site of saturation, as indicated by gold dendrites
Simmons et al., (2000) : barren bladed calcite also forms late in the life of the system

from marginal waters collapsing in ward, when there are no metals present in the fluid
D.M. Hudson (2000) : in the case of the Comstock Lode, outcrops of the oriental vein

consist of quartz and adularia, but contain only 50 to 150 ppb Au, despite the quartzcalcite and quartz-adularia ore zones rising to within 30 m of these outcrops

In high sulfidation deposits, ore typically is controlled by hydrothermal products such as hydrothermal breccia or bodies of residual vugghy quartz (Sillitoe, 1993)