VOLCANIC-HOSTED MASSIVE SULPHIDE DEPOSITS OF THE

FINLAYSON LAKE DISTRICT, YUKON

JAN M. PETER1, DANIEL LAYTON-MATTHEWS2,3, STEPHEN PIERCEY4, GEOFFREY BRADSHAW5,6,
SUZANNE PARADIS7, AND AMY BOLTON8,9
1. Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OE8
2. Department of Geology, University of Toronto, 22 Russell Street, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1
3. Present address: Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, Queen's University,
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6
4. Department of Earth Sciences and Mineral Exploration Research Centre, Laurentian University, Ramsey Lake Road,
Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6
5. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of British Columbia, 6339 Stores Road,
Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 1Z4
6. deceased
7. Geological Survey of Canada, 4718 – 9860 Saanich Road, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 4B2
8. School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, P.O. Box 3055, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3P6
9. Present address: School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, University Manchester, P.O. Box 88,
Sackville Street, Manchester, M60 1QD, UK
Corresponding author’s email: jpeter@nrcan.gc.ca

Abstract
The Finlayson Lake District (FLD) is a crescent-shaped 300 km long, and 50 km wide area within southeastern
Yukon Territory. It comprises part of the Yukon-Tanana Terrane, one of the innermost terranes of the Canadian
Cordillera that underlies much of the central Yukon and parts of Alaska and British Columbia, and part of the Slide
Mountain Terrane. The FLD is consists of several fault- and unconformity-bound groups and formations of early
Mississippian to early Permian metamorphosed plutonic, volcanic, and sedimentary rocks. The rocks were formed in a
variety of tectonic settings, including rifted frontal arc, continental back-arc, and oceanic back-arc that range in age
from 365 to 275 Ma.The FLD hosts numerous base metal sulphide deposits that collectively contain in excess of 30 Mt.
The Fyre Lake Cu-Co is a Besshi-type deposit containing 15.4 Mt grading 1.2% Cu, 0.8% Co, and 0.46 g/t Au that
occurs at the transition from mafic volcanic rocks to overlying turbiditic sedimentary rocks in a fore-arc setting. The
Kudz Ze Kayah Zn-Pb-Cu and GP4F Zn-Pb Kuroko-type deposits are hosted by felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks
in the immediate footwall whereas the Wolverine Zn-Pb-Cu deposit is hosted by graphitic shales and felsic volcanic and
volcaniclastic rocks and is best classified as a volcanic-sediment-hosted massive sulphide (VSHMS) deposit. These lat-
ter three deposits are thought to have formed in ensialic back-arc rift or back-arc basin environments. The deposits have
strongly hydrothermally altered rocks in the stratigraphic footwalls, with alteration styles varying from chlorite (Fyre
Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, Wolverine, Ice), sericite (Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F, Wolverine), silica/quartz (Kudz Ze Kayah,
Wolverine), carbonate (Wolverine) and albite (Kudz Ze Kayah). Feeder zones/stringer veins are present at the Fyre
Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, Wolverine and Ice deposits. Hanging-wall alteration is present at Fyre Lake (weak chlorite) and
Wolverine (weak sericite). Wolverine has a laterally extensive (>10 km strike length) chemical exhalative sedimentary
iron formation horizon in the hanging wall that is not present at Kudz Ze Kayah or GP4F. Much of the Kudz Ze Kayah
deposit likely formed as a mound on the seafloor, as did at least some of the Wolverine deposit. However, subsurface
replacement was important at Wolverine, and likely was entirely responsible for the formation of GP4F. The Kudz Ze
Kayah deposit contains an inferred geological resource of 13 Mt at 5.55% Zn, 1.00% Cu, 1.30% Pb, 125 g/t Ag, and
1.2 g/t Au. GP4F contains an inferred resource of 1.5 Mt grading 6.4% Zn, 3.10% Pb, 0.10% Cu, 89.7 g/t Ag, and 2.0
g/t Au. Wolverine has measured and indicated reserves of 4.51 Mt grading 12.04% Zn, 1.15% Cu, 1.57% Pb, 351.5 g/t
Ag, and 1.68 g/t Au; with an additional inferred resource of 1.69 Mt grading 12.16% Zn, 1.23% Cu, 1.74% Pb, 385.1
g/t Ag, and 1.71 g/t Au. The Ice Cyprus-type deposit is hosted by mafic volcanic rocks at the transition from underly-
ing brecciated pillow basalt to overlying massive basalt and is thought to have formed in a back-arc basin/ocean basin
setting. The geological resource at Ice is 4.56 Mt grading 1.48% Cu; some intervals contain about 1% Zn, but a Zn
resource has not been calculated.
There are numerous other showings and prospects that require additional exploration work. The relatively nascent
level of exploration in the FLD suggests that prospecting, coupled with traditionally successful exploration methods,
such as surficial geochemistry, and airborne and ground geophysics (magnetics, EM) focused on the prospective rock
units, are likely to result in new discoveries in the coming years.
Résumé
Le district de Finlayson Lake (DFL) est une étendue falciforme longue de 300 km et large de 50 km dans la partie
sud-est du Yukon. Elle se compose d’un segment du terrane de Yukon-Tanana, l’un des plus intérieurs des terranes de
la Cordillère canadienne qui s’étend à une bonne partie du centre du Yukon et à des parties de l’Alaska et de la
Colombie-Britannique, et d’un segment du terrane de Slide Mountain. Le DFL comprend plusieurs groupes et forma-
tions limités par des failles ou des discordances qui se composent de roches plutoniques, volcaniques et sédimentaires
métamorphisées datant du Mississippien précoce au Permien précoce. Ces roches se sont formées entre 365 et 275 Ma
dans toute une gamme de cadres tectoniques, dont des arcs frontaux en distension, des arrière-arcs continentaux et des
arrière-arcs océaniques. Le DFL recèle de nombreux gisements de sulphures de métaux communs qui renferment

Peter, J.M., Layton-Matthews, D., Piercey, S., Bradshaw, G., Paradis, S., and Boulton, A., 2007, Volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits of the Finlayson
Lake District, Yukon, in Goodfellow, W.D., ed., Mineral Deposits of Canada: A Synthesis of Major Deposit-Types, District Metallogeny, the Evolution of
Geological Provinces, and Exploration Methods: Geological Association of Canada, Mineral Deposits Division, Special Publication No. 5, p. 471-508.
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

ensemble plus de 30 Mt de minerai. Le gisement de Cu-Co de Fyre Lake est un gîte de type Besshi renfermant 15,4 Mt
de minerai titrant 1,2 % de Cu, 0,8 % de Co et 0,46 g/t de Au. Ce gisement se présente à la transition entre un empile-
ment de roches volcaniques mafiques et une succession sus-jacente de roches sédimentaires turbiditiques dans un cadre
d’avant-arc. Les gisements de Zn-Pb-Cu de Kudz Ze Kayah et de Zn-Pb de GP4F, des gîtes de type Kuroko, sont encais-
sés dans des roches volcaniques et volcanoclastiques felsiques tout au sommet de l’empilement volcanique, alors que
le gisement de Zn-Pb-Cu de Wolverine est encaissé dans des shales et des roches volcaniques et volcanoclastiques fel-
siques et s’insère mieux dans la catégorie des gîtes de sulfures massifs dans des roches volcano-sédimentaires. On pense
que ces trois derniers gisements se sont formés dans des milieux ensialiques de rift d’arrière-arc ou de bassin d’arrière-
arc. Ils présentent aux épontes stratigraphiques inférieures des roches ayant subi une intense altération hydrothermale,
dont les styles variés sont caractérisés par la présence de chlorite (Fyre Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, Wolverine, Ice), de
séricite (Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F, Wolverine), de silice/quartz (Kudz Ze Kayah, Wolverine), de carbonates (Wolverine)
et d’albite (Kudz Ze Kayah). Des zones nourricières/filoniennes sont présentes aux gisements de Fyre Lake, de Kudz
Ze Kayah, de Wolverine et d’Ice. Il y a altération dans l’éponte supérieure aux gisements de Fyre Lake (faible chloriti-
sation) et de Wolverine (faible séricitisation). Le gisement de Wolverine présente dans son éponte supérieure un hori-
zon latéralement étendu (>10 km d’étendue longitudinale) de formation de fer chimique d’origine exhalative qui est
absent des gisements de Kudz Ze Kayah et de GP4F. Le gisement de Kudz Ze Kayah s’est en grande partie vraisem-
blablement formé sous la forme d’un monticule sur le fond marin, comme, à tout le moins en partie, le gisement de
Wolverine. Cependant, le remplacement en subsurface a été important au gisement de Wolverine et il est vraisem-
blablement entièrement responsable de la formation du gisement de GP4F. Le gisement de Kudz Ze Kayah renfermerait
des ressources présumées de 13 Mt titrant 5,55 % de Zn, 1,00 % de Cu, 1,30 % de Pb, 125 g/t de Ag et 1,2 g/t de Au.
Au gisement de GP4F, les ressources présumées s’élèveraient à 1,5 Mt renfermant 6,4 % de Zn, 3,10 % de Pb, 0,10 %
de Cu, 89,7 g/t de Ag et 2,0 g/t de Au. Au gisement de Wolverine, les ressources mesurées et indiquées s’établissent à
4,51 Mt titrant 12,04 % de Zn, 1,15 % de Cu, 1,57 % de Pb, 351,5 g/t de Ag et 1,68 g/t de Au, avec des ressources pré-
sumées additionnelles s’élevant à 1,69 Mt renfermant 12,16 % de Zn, 1,23 % de Cu, 1,74 % de Pb, 385,1 g/t de Ag et
1,71 g/t de Au. Le gisement d’Ice, de type Chypre, est encaissé dans des roches volcaniques mafiques à la transition
entre une succession inférieure de basalte en coussins bréchifié et une succession supérieure de basalte massif, et il se
serait formé dans un cadre de bassin d’arrière-arc/bassin océanique. Au gisement d’Ice, les ressources minérales sont
de 4,56 Mt renfermant 1,48% de Cu; certains intervalles renferment environ 1% de Zn, mais les ressources en Zn n’ont
pas été calculées.
De nombreux autres indices minéralisés et prospects doivent faire l’objet de travaux d’exploration additionnels. Le
niveau d’exploration relativement embryonnaire du DFL suggère que la prospection associée aux méthodes classiques
éprouvées d’exploration comme la géochimie des matériaux superficiels et les levés géophysiques aériens et au sol
(magnétiques, EM) focalisés sur les unités lithologiques prometteuses permettront vraisemblablement de nouvelles
découvertes au cours des années à venir.

Introduction
The discovery of a number of volcanic-hosted massive
sulphide (VHMS) deposits in the Finlayson Lake District
(FLD) within a relatively short timespan since 1995 facili-
tated the need to understand the stratigraphy and tectonic
history of the region. Until recently, the age, stratigraphy and
tectonic settings of the known VHMS deposits were poorly
constrained, and this hindered exploration efforts in this part
of the North American Cordillera. Recent work has provided
much new information on the geology (Murphy and
Timmerman, 1997; Murphy, 1998, 2001; Murphy and
Piercey, 1998, 1999a,b,c, 2000a,b, 2002; Piercey and
Murphy, 2000, 2001; Murphy et al., 2002, 2006), paleotec-
tonic settings and metallogeny (Piercey, 2001; Piercey et al.,
1999, 2001a,b,c, 2002a,b, 2003, 2004, 2006, in press), and
the geology and origin of VHMS deposits (Bradshaw et al.,
2001, in press; Layton-Matthews et al., 2001, in press;
Boulton, 2002; Bradshaw, 2003; Layton-Matthews, 2005).
This paper summarizes current knowledge of the massive
sulphide deposits since the seminal in-depth report of Hunt
(2002). The paper focuses discussion of the five largest and
best known deposits in the area: 1) Fyre Lake, 2) Kudz Ze
Kayah, 3) GP4F, 4) Wolverine, and 5) Ice.
Tectonic Setting
Pericratonic terranes contain elements of the continental
margin that are of uncertain paleogeography (Wheeler and
McFeely, 1991). Until a few years ago, the belt of pericra-
tonic terranes, which lies between autochthonous miogeocli-
nal strata of ancestral North America and oceanic and island-
arc terranes that were accreted during the Mesozoic, was one
of the most poorly understood elements of the North
American Cordillera. These pericratonic terranes span the
entire length of the Cordillera, from Mexico to Alaska, and
record contrasting depositional and tectonic evolutionary
histories along different segments of the orogen (Colpron et
al., 2006a; Nelson et al., 2006). In places, the pericratonic
terranes are depositionally tied to ancestral North America
(Colpron and Price, 1995).
One of these pericratonic terranes, the Yukon-Tanana
Terrane is one of the innermost terranes of the Canadian
Cordillera and underlies much of central Yukon, and parts of
Alaska and British Columbia (Colpron et al., 2006a). The
Yukon-Tanana Terrane is bounded to the northeast by rocks
of the Slide Mountain Terrane, with the latter separating the
Yukon-Tanana Terrane from North American continental
margin rocks (Nelson et al., 2006) (Fig. 1). The Yukon-
Tanana Terrane consists of polydeformed metamorphosed
sedimentary, volcanic, and plutonic rocks derived from a
variety of igneous and sedimentary protoliths of Late
Devonian to Early Permian age (Mortensen and Jilson, 1985;
Mortensen, 1992b; Colpron et al., 2006a). The Yukon-
Tanana Terrane contains pre-Devonian continental base-
ment, the Snowcap assemblage (Colpron et al., 2006a), and
is the product of periodic continental arc and rift magma-
tism. The Yukon-Tanana Terrane has isotopic and prove-
nance ties to Proterozoic cratonic source regions, suggesting
that it evolved, at least in part, in proximity with the ances-

472
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

140°W
Devonian -
0°W Ambler Mississippian
mineral districts
16

eastern

124°W
Kaltag
67°N

Yukon
NWT
E PALEOZOIC PERICRATONIC
Fb limit ASSEMBLAGES

of
b Devonian - Jurassic

Cor
Bonnifield oceanic assemblages
Devonian - Permian

dille
Ti
Delta Stikine assemblage

nt
Macmillan

in

ran
D Yukon-Tanana terrane

a
en
al Pass
i Permian
EbE

deformatio
Klondike Schist
Finlayson
Ak
Yukon

E Lake Pennsylvanian - Permian

Wh E Klinkit
E ee Devonian - Mississippian
WL Yukon

n
59°N arc assemblages
B.C. CONTINENT MARGIN
Tulsequah ASSEMBLAGES
Neoproterozoic - Miss.
Pacific rift and basinal facies
Neoproterozoic - Devonian
Ocean ST
Gataga basinal facies
+
CC Proterozoic - Devonian
CANADA Scale 56°N platformal facies
B.C.

0 300
128°W
Ak

Neoproterozoic - Paleozoic
km other cont. margin assembl.
FIGURE 1. Late Paleozoic to early Mesozoic tectonic assemblages of the northwestern North American Cordillera. The Finlayson Lake District and other min-
eral areas are indicated with black stars. b=blueschist, age unknown; CC=Cache Creek Terrane; D=Dawson; E=Permian ecologite; e=Mississippian ecolog-
ite; Fb=Fairbanks, Alaska; ST=Stikinia Terrane, Wh=Whitehorse; WL=Watson Lake (modified from Murphy et al., 2006).

tral margin of North America (Paradis et al., 1998; Nelson et
al., 2002, 2006; Colpron et al., 2006a; Mortensen et al.,
2006; Piercey et al., 2006). It has been suggested that the
Yukon-Tanana Terrane was perhaps at one time linked to
other similar terranes found in the Cordillera, such as the
Kootenay Terrane in south central British Columbia, as part
of an extensive single arc and arc/basement assemblage,
which has now been broken apart and displaced by transcur-
rent faults such as the Tintina Fault (Mortensen, 1992b;
Colpron et al., 2006a; Nelson et al., 2006).
The Slide Mountain Terrane in the FLD comprises
Mississippian to Lower Permian basinal clastic rocks, and
chert and mafic and felsic volcanic rocks of the
Carboniferous Fortin Creek Group that have been deposited
on oceanic crust in the Yukon-Tanana Terrane back-arc
region. These rocks are cut by ca. 273 to 274 Ma intrusions
that are likely comagmatic with Campbell Range Formation
volcanic rocks. Basalt and chert of the Lower Permian
Campbell Range Formation, assigned to the Slide Mountain
Terrane, unconformably overlap rocks of the Yukon-Tanana
Terrane, the Fortin Creek Group, and the terrane boundary
between Yukon-Tanana Terrane and Slide Mountain Terrane.
The FLD is juxtaposed against Proterozoic and Paleozoic
strata of the ancient North American continental margin
along the Tintina Fault to the southwest, and to the northeast
the Inconnu Thrust separates the combined Yukon-Tanana
and Slide Mountain terranes from North America
(Mortensen and Jilson, 1985; Plint and Gordon, 1996, 1997;
Tempelman-Kluit, 1979; Fig. 2).
Geology of the Finlayson Lake District
Stratigraphy
The FLD forms a crescent-shaped area approximately
300 km long and 50 km wide that extends from Ross River
in the north to Watson Lake in the south (Fig. 1), and com-
prises Devonian-Mississippian volcanic, intrusive, and sedi-
mentary rocks. The FLD is juxtaposed against Proterozoic
and Paleozoic strata of the ancient North American conti-
nental margin along the Tintina Fault to the southwest, and
to the northeast the Inconnu Thrust separates the combined
Yukon-Tanana and Slide Mountain terranes from North
America (Mortensen and Jilson, 1985; Plint and Gordon,
1996, 1997; Tempelman-Kluit, 1979; Fig. 2). The Jules
Creek Fault separates the Yukon-Tanana Terrane from the
Slide Mountain Terrane in the FLD. The FLD is contiguous
with the main part of the Yukon-Tanana Terrane, which
underlies most of west central Yukon, after restoration of 425

473
474
A 132°00'
62°00'
VHMS & VSHMS
Pelly River DEPOSITS
JUL
ES INCONNU
CRE THRUST 1 Kudz Ze Kayah
EK
5 2 GP4F
FAU
LT
3 Wolverine
Ross River
~ 40 km
JC 4 Fyre Lake
MC F
T 130°00' 5 Ice
61°45'
Finlayson
BIG CAMPBELL
BC Lake
WINDOW T
Campbell Highway
JCF
TI
NT MC
IN T
A
IN
C ON
NU

Wo
lve
1 La rine
2 ke
JCF

3
Frances
Lake
TH

FA
UL
RU

T
North Klippen
ST

Money Klippe
Finlayson Lake NRF
(105G)

Fire 4 CLT
Lake
YUKON Frances Lake
(105H)
JC
F
J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

CREEK
EY
MON
THR
0 20 UST

kilometres Mississippian
CLT eclogite (KMC)
61°00'
Watson Lake
FIGURE 2. A) Geology map of the Finlayson Lake District and environs. ~ 110 km
Peter et al Figure 2a
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

B LEGEND
Mesozoic and Cenozoic SLIDE MOUNTAIN TERRANE YUKON-TANANA TERRANE
undifferentiated intrusions Lower Permian Upper Mississippian to mid-Pennsylvanian
Campbell Range Formation undifferentiated White Lake and King Arctic formations
undifferentiated volcanic rocks basalt and varicoloured chert green and pink chert, limestone, sandstone,
conglomerate, mafic metavolcanic rocks
NORTH AMERICAN Carboniferous to Permian?
Upper Mississippian
CONTINENTAL MARGIN FORTIN CREEK GROUP
Whitefish limestone
Triassic dark phyllite and chert, varicoloured
chert, chert-pebble conglomerate, massive bioclastic limestone
dark shale, siltstone and limestone sandstone, limestone, felsic and mafic
metavolcanic rocks Lower Mississippian
Paleozoic
undifferentiated formations of Selwyn Tuchitua River Formation
Basin, McEvoy Platform, Earn Group YUKON-TANANA TERRANE intermediate, felsic and mafic volcanic
and Mt. Christie Formation INTRUSIVE ROCKS rocks, sandstone, chert, limestone
Late Devonian to Early Mississippian
POST - YTT / SMT WOLVERINE LAKE GROUP
undifferentiated mafic and felsic
SIMPSON RANGE PLUTONIC SUITE
AMALGAMATION granite, quartz monzonite, volcanic rocks and dark clastic rocks
Triassic granodiorite
Upper Devonian to Lower Mississippian
grey shale, siltstone, and limestone GRASS LAKES PLUTONIC SUITE Cleaver Lake Formation
granite, quartz monzonite calc-alkaline basalt, rhyolite, chert,
Permian - Triassic augen granite and volcanic-derived sandstone
SIMPSON LAKE GROUP
polymictic conglomerate, sandstone, ultramafic and mafic intrusions, Waters Creek Formation
siltstone, mafic and felsic volcanic rocks, Big Campbell and Cleaver Lake felsic to intermediate metavolcanic
limestone thrust sheets rocks and carbonaceous phyllite
SLIDE MOUNTAIN TERRANE LAYERED ROCKS
GRASS LAKES GROUP
Lower Permian undifferentiated mafic and felsic
INTRUSIVE ROCKS
Money Creek Formation volcanic rocks and dark clastic rocks
Early Permian dark phyllite and sandstone, chert, of the Fire Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, and
ultramafic and mafic intrusions chert-pebble conglomerate, diamictite Wind Lake formations
Mid-Pennsylvanian to Lower Permian Pre-Upper Devonian
LAYERED ROCKS
Finlayson Creek limestone North River Formation
Lower to Middle Permian
Gatehouse Formation massive bioclastic limestone quartzose metaclastic rocks, marble
and non-carbonaceous pelitic schist
limestone and quartzite

FIGURE 2. B) Legend for map (from Murphy et al., 2006). Abbreviations are as follows: JCF=Jules Creek Fault; MCT=Money Creek Thrust; SMT=Slide
Mountain Terrane; YTT=Yukon-Tanana Terrane.

km of Late Cretaceous right-lateral, strike-slip movement on
the Tintina Fault (e.g. Mortensen, 1992b).
Rocks of the FLD comprise several fault- and unconfor-
mity-bound groups and formations of early Mississippian to
Early Permian metamorphosed plutonic, volcanic, and sedi-
mentary rocks (i.e. Cleaver Lake, Money Creek, and Big
Campbell thrust sheets; Murphy et al., 2006; Fig. 3).
Massive sulphide deposits occur solely within the Big
Campbell thrust sheet (Fig. 2) (with one exception, the Ice
Cu-Au-Co deposit, which is hosted by metabasalts of the
Campbell Range Formation of the Slide Mountain Terrane).
Rocks of the Big Campbell thrust sheet include Pre-Late
Devonian quartz-rich metasedimentary rocks of the North
River Formation, which are the structurally deepest rocks of
the Yukon-Tanana Terrane; mafic and felsic volcanic, and
carbonaceous metaclastic rocks of the Upper Devonian
Grass Lakes Group; Late Devonian to Early Mississippian
granitic metaplutonic rocks of the Grass Lakes plutonic
suite; carbonaceous metaclastic and mafic and felsic vol-
canic rocks of the Lower Mississippian Wolverine Lake
Group; and carbonaceous metaclastic rocks and chert of the
Lower Permian Money Creek Formation (Murphy et al.,
2006) (Fig. 3).
The Grass Lakes Group consists of strongly foliated and
lineated layered metasedimentary and volcanic rocks that
crop out in a roof setting above and between bodies of Early
Mississippian granitic orthogneiss and weakly foliated mid-
Cretaceous granite (Murphy, 1998). The Grass Lakes Group
has been subdivided into three formations, from oldest to
youngest, the Fire Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, and Wind Lake for-
mations. The Upper Devonian (ca. 365 Ma) Fire Lake
Formation is a mafic volcanic sequence composed mainly of
chloritic phyllite with some carbonaceous phyllite and rare
muscovite-quartz phyllite of probable felsic volcanic pro-
tolith. Intrusions and sills of mafic and serpentinized ultra-
mafic metaplutonic rocks occur within the Fire Lake
Formation. Stratigraphically overlying the Fire Lake
Formation is the Kudz Ze Kayah Formation, which is a Late
Devonian (ca. 360-356 Ma) sequence dominated by felsic
volcanic and volcaniclastic and sedimentary rocks. It con-
sists predominantly of feldspar-muscovite-quartz phyllite
and augen phyllite of probable felsic volcanic and volcani-
clastic origin, and lesser fine-grained carbonaceous and sili-
ciclastic sedimentary rocks. The Wind Lake Formation forms
the uppermost unit of the Grass Lakes Group and consists of
carbonaceous phyllite, quartzite, and chloritic phyllite of
probable alkalic mafic volcanic and intrusive protolith.
Coeval with the Kudz Ze Kayah and Wind Lake forma-
tions are the peraluminous meta-plutonic granitoids of the
Grass Lakes Suite. These granitoids are the subvolcanic
intrusive equivalents to the felsic volcanic host rocks to the
Kudz Ze Kayah deposit, and are as old as 363 ± 3.3 Ma
(Mortensen, 1992b). These plutonic rocks are deformed and
were themselves re-intruded by younger, late-kinematic plu-
tonic rocks before deposition of the Wolverine Lake Group.

475
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton
The Grass Lakes Group is unconformably overlain by
rocks of the Wolverine Lake Group and consists of a basal
unit of conglomerate, grit, sandstone, and carbonaceous
argillite, a middle unit of quartz-feldspar phyric felsic vol-
canic rocks, rare chert and sandstone, and an upper unit of
aphyric rhyolite, argillite, magnetite iron formation, and
mafic volcanic and intrusive rocks (Murphy et al., 2006). A
second unconformity separates the Wolverine Lake Group
from the overlying carbonaceous metaclastic rocks (car-
bonaceous phyllite, chert-pebble conglomerate, quart-
zofeldspathic sandstone to pebble conglomerate, and locally,
matrix-supported diamictite) and dark grey to black chert of
the Lower Permian Money Creek Formation. Both the Grass
Lakes Group and Wolverine Lake Group occur in the foot-
wall of the Money Creek thrust and record two cycles in the
evolution of a Late Devonian to early Mississippian ensialic
back-arc (Murphy and Piercey, 2000a; Piercey et al., 2001a,
2006). These groups are separated by an unconformity mark-
ing a period of deformation, uplift, and erosion.
Uranium-Pb geochronology places an upper age limit of
356.9 ± 0.5 Ma for the host rocks to the Wolverine Deposit
and other zones (see below) (Mortensen, 1992b; Piercey et
al., in press), and the immediate stratigraphic hanging wall is
dated at 346 ± 2.2 Ma (Piercey, 2001), indicating that
Wolverine is younger than Kudz Ze Kayah.
The Campbell Range Formation, which unconformably
overlies rocks of the Wolverine Lake Group (Fig. 3), is a
mafic-dominated sequence consisting of basalt, chert, and
argillite (Fig. 2). The age of this assemblage is
Pennsylvanian to Permian, based on radiolarians and ca. 273
to 274 Ma U-Pb ages on gabbros and plagiogranites
(Murphy et al., 2006). These rocks are the youngest strata
hosting VHMS deposits in the FLD.
Petrochemistry and Chemostratigraphy
The mafic metavolcanic rocks that host the Fyre Lake
deposit are strongly depleted in the light rare earth elements
(LREE) and high field strength elements (HFSE), have ele-
vated Mg, Ni, and Cr contents, and chemically are similar to
boninites present in some suprasubduction zone ophiolites
(Sebert and Hunt, 1999; Sebert et al., 2004). Boninites are
typically thought to originate as melts from a depleted man-
tle in rift, forearc, and arc-rift settings. The presence of con-
tinentally derived clastic sedimentary rocks intercalated with
these boninites, as well as a LREE- and HFSE-enriched tran-
sitional subalkaline basalt immediately beneath the deposit,
and the presence of mafic volcanic rocks with distinctive arc
signatures (Ta, Nb, and Ti depletions) in the area, indicate
that the deposit formed in an evolved island arc setting con-
structed on transitional crust or continental arc that evolved
to a back-arc setting (Piercey et al., 2001c, 2004). At Fyre
Lake, boninites are overlain by N-MORB to transitional sub-
alkaline basalts (Sebert et al., 2004).
The felsic volcanic rocks that host the Kudz Ze Kayah
deposit have elevated HFSE and REE (Zr>500 ppm;
Ti/Sc=313-345; Zr/TiO2=630-2,185; Zr/Sc=15.3-190.3;
Zr/Y=3.3-17.7; Nb/Ta=11.6-15.8; Nb/Y=0.4-1.1; Piercey et
al., 2001a). They plot in the fields for within-plate, crustally
derived, A-type felsic rocks and are interpreted to represent
evolving products of an ensialic back-arc rift or back-arc
476
basin (Piercey et al., 2001a, 2006, and references therein).
The mafic volcanic rocks of the Wind Lake Formation are
weakly alkalic with chemical signatures similar to ocean
island basalts (Piercey et al., 2002a).
The host rocks to the GP4F deposit are of similar geo-
chemical composition to the nearby Kudz Ze Kayah deposit.
The felsic flows and tuffs that host the GP4F deposit are of
rhyolitic composition and fall within the transitional alkaline
and subalkaline fields, they have high HFSE and REE con-
tents, high HFSE ratios (e.g. avg Ti/Sc=325; Zr/TiO2=1157;
Zr/Sc=62), and within-plate (A-type) signatures. Their
Nb/Ta ratios (8.5-16.4; avg. 13.5) are similar to rocks
derived from the continental crust (~11-12), which suggests
that the GP4F felsic rocks are derived by melting of conti-
nental crust (Boulton, 2002). Mafic dykes are of intermedi-
ate to basaltic composition and alkaline in character
(Boulton, 2002) and resemble ocean island basalts (OIB)
contaminated by continental crust; their composition is sim-
ilar to mafic flows of the Wind Lake Formation (Piercey et
al., 2002a). On the basis of the geochemical similarities of
the felsic and mafic volcanic host rocks to those of Kudz Ze
Kayah, the GP4F deposit is thought to have formed in a sim-
ilar paleotectonic environment.
The felsic rocks from the stratigraphic footwall to the
Wolverine deposit also have elevated HFSE and REE con-
tents (Ti/Sc=248-417; Zr/TiO2=559-1,220; Zr/Sc=40.4-84.7,
Zr/Y=3.4-14.7; Nb/Ta=10.4-17.1; Nb/Y=0.5-1.1) and their
composition is consistent with formation in an ensialic back-
arc setting (Piercey et al., 2001a). Feldspar porphyritic rhyo-
lites in the immediate footwall have even higher HFSE and
REE contents (avg. values, n=24: Ti/Sc =302; Zr/Ti=0.21;
Zr/Sc=61.6; Zr/Y=9.9; Nb/Ta=16.5; Nb/Y=0.67; Piercey et
al., in press). Aphyric rhyolites in the hanging wall of the
deposit, however, have low HFSE contents. The Wolverine
Lake Group rocks are capped by MORB-type basalt indica-
tive of transition to true back-arc spreading and ocean crust
formation (Piercey et al., 2002b). The presence of an uncon-
formity between carbonaceous phyllites of the Wind Lake
Formation and overlying Wolverine Lake Group rocks indi-
cates uplift, then resumption of ensialic back-arc magmatism
and evolution to a spreading ridge, as evidenced by the pres-
ence of basaltic mafic volcanic rocks in the uppermost part
of the Wolverine Lake Group (e.g. Murphy et al., 2006).
Basalts that host the Ice deposit display homogeneous
MORB signatures with a possible influence from subconti-
nental lithospheric mantle in the lowermost basalts (Piercey
et al., 1999). A permissible interpretation is that the deposit
was formed in a back-arc basin/ocean basin setting (Piercey
et al., 1999). The footwall basalts to the Money (Julia)
prospect, 5 km east of Wolverine (see Money (Julia) Prospect
below), have an E-MORB signature (Piercey et al., 1999).
Deformation and Metamorphism
In the Fire Lake area, host to the Fyre Lake deposit, the
presence of biotite and garnet in the metasedimentary and
metavolcanic rocks indicate upper greenschist metamorphic
conditions (Sebert et al., 2004). Rocks in the vicinity of the
deposit have been gently folded along a northerly trending
anticlinal to monoclinal structure. Rocks have a strong F1
schistosity parallel to compositional layering, and there is a
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

u
Inconnt
200
Rhaetian
205.5 thrus
210
Norian
Big Campbell
F
window
TRIASSIC
220 221.6
Carnian F
230 231
F
Ladinian F

240 240.6
Anisian
Olenekian
244 Cleaver Lake Money Creek Big Campbell ?
248 thrust sheet thrust sheet thrust sheet ?
250 Induan
253

Simpson
Tatarian Arc
260 North
Kazanian 264
Ufimian American
269
PERMIAN

270 Kungurian ?
272
F F miogeoclinal
Artinskian

Campbell

Campbell
F 5 F
280 280 E-MORB > N-MORB N-MORB, sequence
Sakmarian ? BAB ?
285 F F (undifferentiated)

Jules Creek Fault

?
290 Money
Asselian
Thrusting Creek
F
F
300 300
PENNSYLVANIAN

Gzhelian F
FC F
Kasimovian
306 F
Money Creek thrust

Moscovian F KA
310 311
Bashkirian F WL
314
Serpukhovian

F
Cleaver Lake thrust

t
ALK

rus
F WF
320 F Fortin F

u th
MISSISSIPPIAN

F
327

onn
330
? ?
Viséan

Inc
F
F
340
Wolverine

E-,N-MORB BAB
342
Tuchitua

3
KMC
Tournaisian

Arc
350
e N-MORB

D D 358 Ma ?
Cleaver

360 360 OIB

2 1
DEVONIAN

Grass
Lakes

ALK
Waters

Arc
4
Famennian

BAB
Arc BON
370 MORB
OIB
NR NR NEB
376
Frasnian
? ? Big Campbell thrust
380
383

Protolith Lithologies
Felsic Basic volcanic Volcaniclastic Ultramafic
rock rock Orthoquartzite Chert, argillite
intrusion rock
Intermediate Intermediate Conglomerate Sandstone, Carbonaceous
intrusion volcanic rock siltstone clastic rocks

Mafic Felsic volcanic Limestone

intrusion rock Grit Exhalite

Symbols VHMS & VSHMS Deposits Petrogenetic Affinities

Fossil age Arc = island arc
F Unconformity
Kudz Ze Fyre BAB = back-arc basin
1 4
Kayah BON = boninite
U-Pb age D Deformation
5 Ice N-MORB= normal mid-ocean ridge basalt
2 GP4F OIB = ocean island basalt
E-MORB = enriched mid-ocean ridge basalt
358 Ma
Age of youngest detrital e Eclogite
3 Wolverine NEB = niobium-enriched basalt
zircon ALK = alkalic

FIGURE 3. Structural and stratigraphic relationships in the Finlayson Lake District (modified from Murphy et al., 2006). Abbreviations are as follows:
FC=Finlayson Creek limestone; KA=King Arctic Formation; KMC=Klatsa metamorphic complex; NR=North River Formation; WF=Whitefish limestone;
WL=White Lake Formation. Timescale is from Okulitch (2002).

477
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

Legend

Map Symbols
shallow-dipping thrust fault:
axial trace of anticline/monocline dashed with question mark - inferred
dashed - mapped approximate location
shallow-dipping normal fault:
cleavage (F1)
dashed - interpreted
solid - mapped location
shallow-dipping fault:
dashed - interpreted
solid - mapped location

FIGURE 4. Geology map of the Fyre Lake deposit area. The surface projection of the Fyre Lake massive sulphide deposit is shown in the area outlined by the
solid black line (modified after Sebert et al., 2004). Also shown are section lines for cross section through East Kona and West Kona zones (A-A’), longitu-
dinal section through East Kona zone (B-B’), and longitudinal section through West Kona zone (C-C’) depicted in Figure 7A-C.

strong L1 mineral lineation trending 120 to 140º and plung-
ing shallowly to the southeast in the plane of the F1 foliation.
The host rocks and the Fyre Lake deposit have been
deformed in Permian, Cretaceous, and Mississippian times.
At Kudz Ze Kayah, the rocks and mineralization have
undergone upper greenschist to lower amphibolite facies
metamorphism and have been intensely deformed. At least
three phases of deformation are recognized (Murphy and
Timmerman, 1997). The deposit lies within an F1 fold, has
been thickened by F2 folds, and imbricated by F3 deforma-
tion. D1 deformation was intense and penetrative, resulting
in an S0-S1 composite fabric (Schultze, 1996). F1 folds are
isoclinal and recumbent, and accompanied by attendant limb
thrust faulting.
At GP4F, the mineralization and all host rocks, except the
mafic dykes, have been metamorphosed to upper greenschist
facies, as evidenced by the presence of garnet, biotite, chlo-
rite, albite, and titanite. However, the sulphides at GP4F are
significantly less recrystallized than at Kudz Ze Kayah due
to a lower metamorphic overprint. The GP4F deposit con-
tains trace to minor gahnite, and this mineral is believed to
have formed by desulphidation of sphalerite during meta-
morphism (Spry and Scott, 1986) A major deformation event
in the region has obliterated most primary volcanic and sed-
imentary features in the rocks. The sequence is strongly foli-
ated with one dominant S2 foliation (MacRobbie and
Holroyd, 2000).
478
The immediate host rocks to the Wolverine deposit are
less strongly metamorphosed and deformed than those at
Kudz Ze Kayah, and metamorphic grades at Wolverine are
middle greenschist based on the mineral assemblage of acti-
nolite, albite, chlorite, and biotite. A major deformational
event is recorded as a prominent S1 foliation that trends
northwest and dips gently to the northeast. F1 folds in the
vicinity of the deposit verge to the southwest, indicating that
the Wolverine deposit is on the eastern limb of an open,
upright antiform. Deformation has resulted in extensive
gouge zones in ductile rocks such as argillite and intense
fracturing in brittle rocks including rhyolite.
Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits
Grade and Tonnage
To date, forty-one VHMS deposits and occurrences have
been discovered at different stratigraphic levels within the
FLD, and about 34 Mt of massive sulphides have been delin-
eated since the district was recognized in the mid-1990s. The
combined resource of Kudz Ze Kayah, Wolverine, and
GP4F, the polymetallic massive sulphide deposits with the
greatest economic potential, is 21.5 Mt grading 8.2 % Zn,
0.97 % Cu, 1.7 % Pb, 203 g/t Ag, and 1.6 g/t Au.
The Fyre Lake deposit has resources of 15.4 Mt at
1.2% Cu, 0.8% Co, and 0.46 g/t Au using the kriging method
and a cut off of 0.5 % Cu, or 8.2 Mt at 2.1 % Cu, 0.11 % Co,
and 0.73 g/t Au using a sectional block method and cut off of
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon
Money Creek thurst
North
River fa
ult
Outfitter’s Creek metavolcanic rocks
transition Fyre Lake
metasedimentary mineralization
rocks
Lake Zone
metavolcanic rocks
FIGURE 5. Generalized stratigraphic section of the Fyre Lake deposit area
depicting the spatial relationships of the major rock units (from Sebert et
al., 2004); legend as in Figure 4.
1.0 % Cu that have been delineated within the East and West
Kona zones (Columbia Gold Mines Ltd., 1999).
The Kudz Ze Kayah deposit contains an inferred resource
of 13 Mt grading 5.55% Zn, 1.00% Cu, 1.30% Pb, 125 g/t
Ag, and 1.2 g/t Au within the ABM zone (Schultze, 1996),
including an open pit mineable resource of 11.1 Mt at 5.61%
Zn, 0.85% Cu, 1.56% Pb, 136.9 g/t Ag, and 1.33 g/t Au
(Expatriate Resources Ltd., 2000). Another zone, the Fault
Creek zone, intersected in 8 drillholes, contains a further
inferred resource of 50,000 tonnes at 7.1% Zn, 1.0% Pb,
4.7% Cu, 130 g/t Ag, and 2.0 g/t Au (Expatriate Resources
Ltd., 2000; Hunt, 2002).
The GP4F deposit contains an inferred resource of 1.5 Mt
grading 6.4% Zn, 3.10% Pb, 0.10% Cu, 89.7 g/t Ag, and
2.0 g/t Au (MacRobbie and Holroyd, 2000), as outlined in
nine drillholes.
At the end of the 1997, 71 drillholes had intersected min-
eralization at the Wolverine deposit and a geological
resource of 6.237 Mt grading 12.66% Zn, 1.33% Cu, 1.55%
Pb, 370.9 g/t Ag, and 1.76 g/t Au was reported (Tucker et al.,
1997). Measured and indicated reserves have subsequently
been revised to incorporate new drilling to give 4.51 Mt
grading 12.04% Zn, 1.15% Cu, 1.57% Pb, 351.5 g/t Ag,
and1.68 g/t Au, with an additional inferred resource of
1.69 Mt grading 12.16% Zn, 1.23% Cu, 1.74% Pb, 385.1 g/t
Ag, and 1.71 g/t Au (Yukon Zinc Corporation, 2006a).
The discovery hole at the Sable Zone (see below) inter-
sected 0.6 m of exceptionally high-grade massive sulphides
grading 13.3% Zn, 0.8% Pb, 0.8% Cu, 416 g/t Ag, and 1.9 g/t
Au, similar to that at the periphery of the Wolverine deposit.
However, there is currently no calculated resource for this
occurrence.
In late 2004, Yukon Zinc Corporation drilled two holes
into the Fisher zone (see below), and drillhole WV95-06
intersected 2.2 m of massive sulphide with an average grade
of 2.8% Zn, 1.4% Pb, 0.12% Cu, 62 g/t Ag, and 0.14 g/t Au.
However, a resource has not been calculated for this zone.
The Ice deposit has an indicated resource of 4.56 Mt grad-
ing 1.48 % Cu, including 3.4 Mt open pittable mineralization
at 1.48% Cu (Expatriate Resources Ltd., 1999). The massive
sulphide body is overlain by Cu-oxide mineralization for
which there is insufficient data to estimate a geological
resource; however, 2.7 Mt of this fall within the open pittable
resources (Expatriate Resources Ltd., 1999; Hunt, 2002,
Yukon Zinc Corporation, 2006b). There are also some Zn-
rich (~1%) massive sulphide zones, but the Zn resource has
not been quantified.
The Skyblaze zone on the Goal Net North property con-
tains 16 m of greater than 1% Zn and 0.73 m of semi-mas-
sive sulphide mineralization grading 3.0 % Zn, 1.85 % Pb,
0.14% Cu, 63 g/t Ag and 0.2 g/t Au (Yukon Zinc Corporation,
2005). There are currently too few drillholes to calculate a
resource. Although a resource for the Thunderstruck zone
has not been calculated, drill intercepts over a thickness of
0.30 m reportedly grade 13.4% Zn, 5.07% Pb, 0.34% Cu,
40.7 g/t Ag, and 0.04 g/t Au with low Se contents (Yukon
Zinc Corporation Ltd., 2004b, 2005).
Geological Settings and Deposit Descriptions
In the FLD, VHMS deposits are hosted in Late Devonian
to Early Mississippian arc and back-arc successions of the
Yukon-Tanana Terrane and the Slide Mountain Terrane,
northeast of the Tintina Fault and southwest of the Inconnu
Thrust (Hunt, 2002; Murphy et al, 2006). Prior to the dis-
covery of Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F, Wolverine, and Ice in the
FLD in the mid-1990s, VHMS deposits were not a widely
recognized and significant deposit type in Yukon.
The major (significant) massive sulphide deposits of the
district occur at different stratigraphic levels within the FLD
stratigraphy (Fig. 3; Murphy and Piercey, 1999a,b,c, 2000b;
Hunt, 2002). Below are descriptions of each of these VHMS
deposits.
Fyre Lake Deposit
The Fyre Lake deposit (also referred to as Kona) is
located about 160 km northwest of Watson Lake and 140 km
southeast of Ross River. The Fyre Lake deposit occurs
within the ca. 365 Ma Fire Lake Formation of the Grass
Lakes Group (Fig. 4). The Fire Lake Formation consists of a
metamorphosed volcanic sequence composed mainly of
chloritic phyllite with some carbonaceous phyllite, and rare
muscovite-quartz phyllite of probable felsic volcanic origin
(Figs. 4, 5). The Fire Lake Formation lies on clastic rocks of
the North River Formation (Fig. 5).
The immediate host rocks to the deposit are chlorite-
quartz and chlorite-actinolite-quartz schists (mafic volcanic
and volcaniclastic rocks; Fig. 6A), and turbiditic sedimen-
tary rocks form the immediate stratigraphic hanging wall
(Fig. 6B). The metamorphosed sedimentary rocks are pre-
dominantly finely laminated carbonaceous phyllite and these
overlie the volcanic rocks (Figs. 4, 5). Intercalated quartz-
biotite schists (mafic volcaniclastic) and chlorite-mica-
479
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

A B

FIGURE 6. Photographs of Fyre Lake deposit host rocks and mineralization. (A) Footwall mafic volcaniclastic rocks. (B) Hanging-wall intercalated mafic vol-
caniclastics and sedimentary rocks. (C) Chalcopyrite-rich massive sulphide from East Kona zone (Hunt, 2002). (D) Fine- to medium-grained blebby to dis-
seminated pyrite with interstitial chalcopyrite in a matrix of grey, quartz-rich (silicified wall rock) matrix, West Kona zone. (E) Foliation-parallel quartz-sul-
phide-magnetite bands interpreted to be stringer veins from feeder zone that have been tectonically transposed parallel to F1 foliation, immediately below
West Kona zone (DDH 97-115; 746.8 m). (F) Fine-grained magnetite fragments in matrix of pyrite-pyrrhotite-chalcopyrite-quartz from West Kona zone (DDH
97-95; 331 m). (G) Patchy to discontinuously banded pyrite-quartz crosscutting fragmental, fine-grained magnetite, West Kona zone (DDH 97-95; 341.8 m).
(H) Wispy, banded magnetite (dark grey), chlorite (dark green), and semimassive sulphide (pyrite-chalcopyrite) with notable absence of chlorite, from imme-
diately below the upper horizon of the East Kona zone (DDH 96-35; 67.8 m). (I) Finely bedded to laminated magnetite iron formation horizon from top of
massive sulphide, lower horizon of East Kona zone (DDH 96-34; 72.3 m). Unless stated, the locations of individual samples are not specified. Images D, E,
F, G, H, and I are from Sebert et al. (2004). The diameter of the core in photos (C) to (H) is 4.5 cm.

quartz schists (wackes) occur at the base of the sedimentary
sequence and grade upwards into the carbonaceous sedimen-
tary rocks.
The Fyre Lake deposit consists of three parallel, north-
west-trending tabular, sheet-like massive sulphide horizons
that are grouped into two zones, termed the East Kona
(Upper and Lower horizons) and West Kona zones (Fig. 7A-
C). The zones are separated by an inferred, steeply dipping,
reverse fault that down-drops the west side by about 100 m
(Fig. 7A; Foreman, 1998).
East Kona consists of an upper and a lower horizon, each
with an average thickness of 8 to 12 m and an average width
of 100 to 125 m (Fig. 7B). The upper horizon occurs at the
contact between the underlying volcanics and overlying sed-
imentary rocks. The lower horizon occurs 40 to 70 m strati-
graphically beneath the upper horizon, within mafic volcanic
rocks (Fig. 7B). East Kona massive sulphides are composed
primarily of massive pyrite, with lesser pyrrhotite, chalcopy-
rite, sphalerite, and local lenses of massive magnetite (Fig.
6C).

480
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon
A parallel to the prominent foliation, with the chlorite repre-
B association of magnetite with other sulphides and alteration
C The Kudz Ze Kayah deposit occurs within a sequence of
FIGURE 7. Schematic stratigraphic sections through the Fyre Lake deposit.
(A) Cross-section along line A-A’ in Figure 4. (B) Longitudinal section of
the East Kona zone along line B-B’ in Figure 4. (C) Longitudinal section of
West Kona zone along line C-C’ in Figure 4. Figures are modified from
Hunt (2002), which are based on Foreman (1998).
The West Kona zone has a strike length of 1,500 m, dips
gently to the northeast, and remains open at both ends along
strike (Fig. 7C). Although the massive sulphide lenses are
elongated parallel to the local lineation, an inferred step fault
with a facies change across it separates the East and West
Kona zones; this fault is suggested to be synvolcanic in ori-
gin and may have served as the conduit for the mineralizing
fluids (Sebert et al., 2004).
In general, the massive sulphides are zoned, with
pyrite±sphalerite commonly occurring at the top part of the
lenses, and pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite being more common
in the lower parts of the lenses as well as comprising a sig-
nificant portion of semimassive and disseminated mineral-
ization that lies stratigraphically beneath the lenses. West
Kona massive sulphides are dominated by magnetite-pyrite-
chalcopyrite in a grey siliceous matrix in the east, and tran-
sitioning to pyrite-chalcopyrite (Fig. 6D) going westward,
and massive pyrrhotite in the western-most part.
The semimassive and disseminated mineralization con-
tains chlorite and quartz. Quartz-rich bands within mineral-
ization (e.g. Fig. 6E) are interpreted to be stringer veins of a
footwall feeder zone that have been tectonically transposed
senting altered wallrock (Sebert et al., 2004).
A unit of fine-grained chert with a few percent sulphides
(chalcopyrite, pyrite) and magnetite locally marks the top of
massive sulphide lenses of the West Kona zone and the lower
horizon of the East Kona zone (Fig. 6I). This unit, typically
15 to 40 cm thick, but ranging to several metres, is thought
to be an exhalative sediment (Columbia Gold Mines Ltd.,
1999; Sebert et al., 2004).
Although there have been several microscopic investiga-
tions of the Fyre Lake mineralization, the origin of the mag-
netite remains unclear and enigmatic. The high degree of
deformation of the deposit indicates that the present textural
minerals may largely be due to deformational processes.
Textural relationships in Figure 6G and H indicate that mag-
netite predates sulphide, and sulphides have brecciated and
partly replaced magnetite, with subsequent deformation
imparting a crudely banded texture of alternating magnetite-
and sulphide-rich layers.
Kudz Ze Kayah Deposit
predominantly felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks, and
minor metasedimentary rocks of the Kudz Ze Kayah
Formation (Fig. 8). The felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic
rocks are generally fine-grained, though centimetre-sized
clasts occur in some intervals. Schultze (1996), in a brief
early report of the deposit indicated that the rocks were
emplaced as flows, and lapilli and ash tuffs. Limited petro-
graphic studies of these rocks by company personnel note
the presence of embayed feldspar crystal fragments in some
porphyritic samples (e.g. Fig. 9A,D), quartz phenocrysts or
phenoclasts in others, and quartz and feldspar in others,
indicative of a tuffaceous origin. However, an epiclastic ori-
gin cannot presently be ruled out, and further work is needed
to unambiguously ascertain the volcanic setting and mode of
emplacement of these rocks. The host-rock sequence is
stratigraphically overlain by carbonaceous sedimentary
rocks (argillite) and alkalic mafic volcanic rocks of the Wind
Lake Formation (Fig. 8). A biotite-chlorite-calcite schist
(Fig. 9E) is interpreted to be a strongly deformed mafic
intrusive body that was emplaced as a sill or dyke after for-
mation of the deposit.
The main part of the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit, termed the
ABM zone (Fig. 8), is a 500 m long, isoclinally folded lens
of massive to semimassive sulphide (Figs. 10, 11) that
occurs within a syncline that is overturned to the south and
is half of a south-vergent anticline-syncline pair. The miner-
alization extends down dip about 400 m, averages
18 m thick, and reaches a maximum thickness of 34 m at the
nose of the fold. The smaller southern part of the mineral-
ization, referred to as the Fault Creek zone, has been down-
dropped by faulting (Fig. 8).
The stratigraphic sequence in the upper limb of the syn-
cline is overturned, and hydrothermally altered rocks in the
stratigraphic footwall now form the structural hanging wall
to the deposit (Fig. 10). Both stratigraphic footwall and hang-
ing-wall contacts comprise volcaniclastic rocks (Fig. 9A-D)
and what are interpreted to be rhyolite flows. The most
481
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

421000mE

422000mE
416000mE
413000mE

414000mE

415000mE

420000mE
419000mE
418000mE
417000mE
ABM Zone,
6816000mN KZK Deposit
t
ul
t Fa
Eas
t
aul
kF
Cree
Fa ult
6815000mN

Fault
6814000mN
Creek
Zone,
KZK
Deposit

Rhyolite
Mountain
6813000mN

GP4F
Deposit
6812000mN
Quaternary sediments
Kudz Ze Kayah Formation
Wind Lake Formation
Quartz Porphyry
Mafic Volcanics
Felsic Volcaniclastic
Argillite
6811000mN
Kudz Ze Kayah Formation Felsic Volcanic
1 km Quartz-Feldspar
UTM NAD27 Zone 9
Porphyry Silt/Sandstone

FIGURE 8. Surface geological map of the Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F deposit area (after Cominco Ltd., unpub. data, 1997).

strongly hydrothermally altered rocks are situated near the 350 m down dip, and remains open to the northeast and east
fold axis. Nearly symmetric base-metal zoning within the (MacRobbie and Holroyd, 2000; Boulton, 2002).
two limbs of the folded sulphide body supports the interpre- The aphanitic, aphyric felsic volcanic rocks are white to
tation that the deposit is overturned. Figure 11A is a repre- cream coloured and composed of subangular aggregates of
sentation of the present, post-deformational configuration of quartz and interstitial muscovite in a cryptocrystalline albite-
the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit, including the location of the quartz matrix (Fig. 13A). Based on the presence of flow con-
feeder zone and the adjacent mafic intrusive body, and Figure tacts in places, these rocks were likely emplaced predomi-
11B presents the interpreted predeformational configuration. nantly as coherent rhyolite flows.
The mineralogy of the sulphide bodies is dominated by Felsic volcaniclastic rocks are fine- to medium-grained,
pyrite (e.g. Fig. 9F,G), followed by sphalerite, pyrrhotite, grey, equigranular, and composed of quartz, muscovite, and
galena, chalcopyrite, and trace arsenopyrite, tetrahedrite-ten- chlorite with minor disseminated tourmaline (Fig. 13B).
nantite, boulangerite, and electrum. Gangue minerals include Some intervals contain abundant sub-centimetre- to centime-
chlorite, magnetite (e.g. Fig. 9F,G), quartz (e.g. Fig. 9H), Fe- tre-sized clasts of fine-grained felsic rock fragments (e.g.
carbonate, sericite, albite, and barite (Fig. 9I). Where pres- Fig. 13C). The volcanic setting and emplacement mecha-
ent, barite is generally concentrated in the stratigraphic upper nism of the volcaniclastic rocks has not been determined.
parts of the sulphide lens. In places, the sulphides have been Immediately below the massive sulphide lens is a mas-
strongly deformed and recrystallized, and many primary tex- sive, homogenous, foliated quartz-feldspar porphyry (Fig.
tures obliterated due to a strong foliation (e.g. Fig. 9F,G). 12) with 5 to 10% slightly bluish 2 to 5 mm quartz phe-
GP4F Deposit nocrysts, 15 to 20% 3-12 mm feldspars in a fine-grained
matrix of quartz-feldspar-sericite and muscovite (Fig. 13D).
The GP4F deposit is located over 5 km southeast of the Other porphyritic intervals contain only feldspar phenocrysts
Kudz Ze Kayah deposit (Fig. 8). The deposit is within the (2-3%, 1-3 mm) in a quartz-feldspar-muscovite-biotite matrix
same package of Late Devonian-Early Mississippian rocks or only bluish grey quartz phenocrysts (10-15% 1-4 mm) in a
as Kudz Ze Kayah and is hosted by a sequence of alternating matrix of feldspar-biotite-sericite with trace quantities of dis-
aphyric and porphyritic felsic volcanic rocks and felsic vol- seminated tourmaline. The mode of emplacement of the por-
caniclastic rocks (collectively 90 vol.%) that is crosscut by phyritic felsic rocks has not been determined; however, these
mafic dykes (10 vol.%). Mineralization at GP4F occurs in an relatively little-deformed, blue quartz-phyric porphyries
overturned homoclinal sequence as a single semimassive to yielded ages of 347 to 345 Ma (Murphy et al., 2006), sug-
massive sulphide len up to 3.2 m thick that dips to the north gesting that they are intrusive and part of the Wolverine
at 30 to 35º N (Fig. 12), has a strike length of 200 m, extends suite.

482
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

A B

F
G

FIGURE 9. Photographs of Kudz Ze Kayah deposit host rocks and mineralization. (A) K-feldspar porphyry from stratigraphic hanging wall. (B) Quartz-
sericite schist from stratigraphic footwall. (C) Felsic fragmental volcaniclastic rock from stratigraphic footwall. (D) K-feldspar-phyric quartz-sericite schist
from stratigraphic footwall. (E) Biotite-chlorite-calcite mafic schist of probable intrusive origin (post-mineralization). (F) Banded pyrite-magnetite from mas-
sive sulphide lens. (G) Recrystallized pyrite-magnetite from massive sulphide lens. (H) Chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite network sulphide with quartz gangue from
stratigraphic base of sulphide lens. (I) Barite-pyrite from stratigraphic upper part of massive sulphide lens.

Mafic dykes are dark grey/brown, fine- to medium- The GP4F mineralization is relatively Cu-poor and Pb-
grained, and consist of quartz, biotite, sericite, calcite (in rich in comparison to Kudz Ze Kayah (see Grade and
veinlets), and minor titanite; they are the most unaltered rock Tonnage section above). Mineralization is crudely banded
type present and display no obvious foliation. and consists of medium- to coarse-grained buckshot pyrite

483
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

J K

L M

FIGURE 9 CONTINUED. Photographs of Kudz Ze Kayah deposit host rocks and mineralization. (J) Strongly chloritized felsic volcaniclastic rock, stratigraphic
footwall (DDH K97-182; 42.5-48.2 m). The diameter of the core is 4.5 cm. (K) Sericite-altered felsic volcaniclastic rock, stratigraphic footwall. (L) Chlorite-
albite altered felsic volcaniclastic rock from immediate stratigraphic footwall to the massive sulphides. (M) Fe-carbonate-altered felsic volcaniclastic rock,
stratigraphic hanging wall. Unless stated, the locations of individual samples are not specified.

(50-60 vol.%) in a matrix of sphalerite, pyrrhotite, galena, Wolverine Deposit

magnetite (locally) and trace chalcopyrite (Fig. 13E-H).
Gangue minerals are quartz, feldspar, chlorite, carbonate,
sericite, and/or biotite.
A ‘marker tuff’ unit occurs almost universally in the struc-
tural hanging wall and is a light to medium grey/beige
colour, homogenous, finely banded, fine-grained rock with a
strong sericite – and lesser biotite – dark green chlorite-
quartz-rich (± tourmaline and garnet) matrix and 10 to 30%
disseminated to blebby pyrite, pyrrhotite, sphalerite, chal-
copyrite, and gahnite (Fig. 13G,H). Mineralization in the
marker tuff formed by partial replacement of the original
host rocks.
S N
25
0 metres 25
hanging-wall felsic footwall felsic
volcaniclastics
Cu-rich massive sulphide
volcaniclastics
massive sulphide
strong footwall sericite
and chloritic alteration open pit (proposed)
FIGURE 10. Geological cross-section 414850N through the Kudz Ze Kayah
deposit (modified from Cominco Ltd., unpublished data, 1997, with addi-
tional information from J. Peter, unpublished data).
The Wolverine deposit is hosted by rocks of the Wolverine
Lake Group, dominated by felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic
and carbonaceous sedimentary rocks and capped by mafic
volcanic rocks (Fig. 14). The Wolverine Lake Group has a
lower conglomerate with fragments of the Kudz Ze Kayah
Formation within it and unconformably overlies the Kudz Ze
Kayah Formation (Murphy and Piercey, 1998, 1999a).
The host-rock sequence (Fig. 15; Bradshaw et al., 2000)
consists of black to dark grey, fine-grained carbonaceous
argillite, fine- to coarse-grained, ±quartz-feldspar-phyric
volcaniclastic rocks (Fig. 16A); K-feldspar-phyric porphyry
(Fig. 16B); and massive flow-banded aphanitic, aphyric rhy-
olite (Fig. 16C); fine-grained felsic volcaniclastic rock with
abundant centimetre-sized flattened clasts of aphyric rhyo-
lite (Fig. 16D); and felsic volcaniclastic rock with abundant
centimetre-sized flattened clasts of rhyolite and argillite
(Fig. 16E). The volcanic setting and mode of emplacement
of the felsic volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks has not been
studied in detail. Also, within the host sequence are two
intervals of magnetite iron formation (Fig. 16F) and a nar-
row discontinuous interval of carbonate exhalite (Fig. 16G);
these are discussed further below.
Mineralization at Wolverine occurs as two steeply dipping
coalesced, elongate to tabular, massive and semimassive sul-
phide lenses named the Lynx and Wolverine zones (Figs. 17,
18). The deposit has a strike length of approximately 750 m,
dips steeply to the north, and remains open down-dip to the
northeast where it crosses onto claims owned by Teck
Cominco Ltd. The massive sulphides are up to 16 m thick
(Figs. 17, 18). Stringer veins in the stratigraphic footwall
beneath the massive sulphides (Fig. 18) demarcate fluid

484
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon
A B
FIGURE 11. (A) Generalized schematic cross-section of present configuration of Kudz Ze Kayah deposit and host rocks. (B) Generalized schematic cross-sec-
tion of original Kudz Ze Kayah deposit morphology and host rock configuration.
upflow zones and define the feeder system that channeled
the mineralizing fluids. Deformation has modified the origi-
nal morphology of the Wolverine deposit, but the overall
metal zoning and relationships between the lenses and their
feeder zones (Fig. 18) suggest that much of the original
deposit architecture remains intact. Thicker sulphide inter-
sections are underlain by felsic volcaniclastic rocks (Fig.
16A,B,D,E). These rocks commonly contain extensive foot-
wall replacement mineralization (Fig. 16K-M) and alteration
(Fig. 16P-S) and/or stringer mineralization of pyrite, spha-
lerite, chalcopyrite, and galena (Fig. 16N,O).
According to Bradshaw et al. (in press) there are three
types of mineralization: 1) banded/layered massive sul-
phides (Fig. 16I); 2) semimassive replacement-style sul-
phides (Fig. 16K-M); and 3) stringer sulphide veins (Fig.
16N,O). The massive sulphides are predominantly pyrite and
sphalerite with minor pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, galena, trace
tetrahedrite and arsenopyrite, and rare marcasite, meneghi-
nite (Pb13CuSb7S13), boulangerite (Pb5Sb4S11), bournonite
(PbCuSbS3), miargyrite (Ag2Sb2S3), native Au, and elec-
trum. Sulphides are generally fine grained and recrystallized
in response to deformation and metamorphism. However, in
a few places, colloform and framboidal pyrite textures are
preserved, particularly in the uppermost parts of the sulphide
lenses near the contact with hanging-wall argillite. A zone of
S deposit are basalts, cherts, and mudstones (Figs. 20, 21, 22)
glacial overburden
mafic intrusive
massive sulphide
proximal hydrothermal alteration
quartz-feldspar porphyry felsic volcaniclastics and flows
FIGURE 12. Cross section 419450E through the GP4F deposit (modified
from Teck Cominco Ltd., unpub. data, 2000 and Boulton, 2002).
replacement-style semimassive mineralization less than 3 m
thick consists of sulphide minerals (chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite,
sphalerite) that have partly to completely replaced permeable
felsic volcaniclastic host rocks in patches that range from
several centimetres to 1 m in diameter. This style of miner-
alization occurs immediately adjacent to stringer vein zones
and extends up to about 100 m laterally outward from the
periphery of the massive sulphide lenses (Fig. 18). Stringer
vein zones, up to 25 m wide, consist of millimetre to 25 cm
wide veins of pyrite, sphalerite, and lesser chalcopyrite,
pyrrhotite, and arsenopyrite, together with common gangue
minerals quartz, calcite, dolomite, ankerite, siderite, chlorite,
biotite, and muscovite (Fig. 16N,O).
Within the Wolverine deposit there is no well preserved
vertical base metal zoning from footwall to hanging-wall
contacts, likely due to the deformational effects. However,
high Cu areas dominated by chalcopyrite are confined pre-
dominantly to the base of the massive sulphide lenses within
massive and replacement-style mineralization (e.g. in the
area between the Lynx and Wolverine zones; Fig. 19A). High
Zn and Pb areas are in the massive sulphides at the outer
fringes of the deposit (Fig. 19B,C). Silver resides mostly
within tetrahedrite.
Ice Deposit
The Ice deposit is located in the northern part of the FLD
N (Fig. 2) about 60 km east of Ross River. Host rocks to the
of the Campbell Range Formation. The immediate host
rocks to the deposit are massive basalts, porphyritic-pil-
lowed basalts (Fig. 23A) and variably autobrecciated pil-
lowed basalts that are plagioclase porphyritic immediately
below the deposit (Fig. 23B,C) (Becker, 1997, 1998; Eaton
and Pigage, 1997; Pigage, 1997). These are interbedded with
black, grey, green, and red ribbon cherts (e.g. Fig. 23D), and
minor greywackes and carbonaceous mudstones.
The massive sulphide lens at Ice is up to 28 m thick (Fig.
20), and is underlain by a zone of stringer sulphide veins
(Figs. 22, 23E). Primary features and textures are much bet-
ter preserved at Ice than in the Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F, and
Wolverine deposits. The lens comprise a Cu-rich basal core
25 m
of chalcopyrite, bornite, and Cu-rich sphalerite (e.g. Fig. 23F)
that is situated stratigraphically directly above the stringer
vein zone. The basal Cu-rich sulphides are surrounded by
thinner, lower grade Cu mineralization. Stringer sulphide
485
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

A B

G
H

FIGURE 13. Photographs of GP4F deposit host rocks and mineralization. (A) Rhyolite flow (DDH GP4F98-193; 81.3 m). (B) Fragmental rhyolite volcani-
clastic rock. (C) Fragmental rhyolite volcaniclastic rock. (D) Quartz-feldspar porphyry (DDH GP4F98-188; 92.3 m). (E) Sphalerite-rich ‘buckshot’ pyrite
massive sulphide (DDH K98-188; 77.6 m). (F) Pyrite-rich ‘buckshot’ massive sulphide (DDH K98-188; 78.5 m). (G) Sphalerite-rich replacement mineral-
ization with fine-grained chlorite and sericite (DDH GP4F98-193; 174.8 m). (H) Sphalerite-rich replacement mineralization with fine-grained chlorite and
sericite (DDH K98-189; 84.4 m). Unless stated, the locations of individual samples are not specified. Scales are in centimetres.

vein mineralization is locally present within the footwall-
brecciated, porphyritic basalt. Stringer veins are predomi-
nantly pyrite-quartz-chalcopyrite and specular hematite. The
massive sulphides are largely overlain by a thin (~5 cm -
0.5 m) siliceous hematitic chert unit that passes upwards into
a hanging wall of massive basalt flows and interlayered chert.
The massive sulphide mineralization consists of low Pb, and
very low As, Sb, Hg, and Se contents, consistent with a set-
ting dominated by mafic volcanic host rocks.
Secondary mineralization is confined to the zone of near
surface weathering that typically ranges between 5 and 50 m
486
below surface, and extends to almost 80 m depth along frac-
tures. Secondary mineralogy includes minerals that have
wholly or partially replaced primary sulphide minerals and
others that were precipitated from groundwater.
Fisher Zone
The Fisher Zone, discovered in 1995 by Westmin
Resources Ltd., is located some 8 km northwest of the
Wolverine deposit, and on the same apparent stratigraphic
horizon, referred to as the Wolverine Belt (Fig. 14). The
Fisher zone consists of numerous narrow bands or lenses of
sphalerite-pyrite-galena within sericite-quartz±chlorite
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

altered felsic volcanic and volcani- 435000 437500 440000 442500

clastic rocks (Tucker, 1999). In the
footwall, there is a K-feldspar ±
quartz porphyry that is similar in
appearance and composition to that

6817500
in the Wolverine and Lynx zones
(Piercey et al., 2001b). This por- Fisher Zone

phyry has been dated at 346.0 ± 2.2

Ma, similar to the 347.8 ± 1.3 Ma
age for Wolverine (Piercey et al., in

6815000
press). The area contains a mag-
netite iron formation that has been
thickened due to repetition by fold-
ing.
Sable Zone
6812500
The Sable Zone is located 1.6
km southeast of and along strike
from the Wolverine deposit, along Wolverine/Lynx Zone
the Wolverine Belt (Fig. 14).
Figure 15
Mineralization consists of thin
6810000

intersections of high-grade massive

sulphide and strongly silica-pyrite Sable
and Fe-carbonate-altered rhyolite. Zone
A K-feldspar-quartz porphyry in
Legend
the footwall has been dated at 352.4 Symbols
Geology
± 1.5 Ma (Piercey et al., in press). Slide Mountain Terrane
6807500

Campbell Range Formation Sulphide

Puck Zone Permian ultramafics zone
Yukon-Tanana Terrane
Puck is located 2 km southeast Money Creek Formation Normal
Wolverine Lake Group Fault Puck
of the Wolverine deposit along the Hanging-wall basalt Zone
Wolverine Belt (Fig. 14) and con- Hanging-wall aphyric rhyolite & volcaniclastics
Footwall felsic volcaniclastics and iron fmns
6805000

sists of sphalerite±galena±chal- Footwall carbonaceous sedimentary rocks

copyrite stringer veinlets in vari-
ably sericite-altered quartz-phyric
felsic volcanic rocks. In places,
there is a well developed calcite-
pyrite exhalite, magnetite iron for-
mation, and barite. There is a
narrow (6.1 m) interval of K-
feldspar±quartz porphyritic rocks
Footwall basal clastic rocks
Grass Lake Group 0 0.8 1.6 2.4 3.2
Kudz Ze Kayah Formation km
FIGURE 14. Surface geology map of the Wolverine Belt and Wolverine deposit area (modified from Murphy
et al., 2006; Bradshaw et al., in press; Expatriate Resources Ltd., unpub. data). Also shown is the cross sec-
tion line for Figure 15.
16800 m

17300 m
NE
in the footwall, similar to that at the
Wolverine deposit and the Fisher
1400 m
zone (Piercey et al., 2001b), and
this has been dated at 356.9 ± SW

0.5 Ma (Piercey et al., in press).

LEGEND
Goal Net Property massive basalt
The Goal Net property of Yukon basaltic volcaniclastic
interbedded graphitic argillite
Zinc Corporation is a 10 by 6 km and greywacke
felsic volcaniclastic (cm size
block of claims within rocks of the aphanitic rhyolite clasts)
Grass Lakes Group situated magnetite iron formation
carbonate exhalite
equidistantly between the Fyre massive sulphide
Lake deposit to the south and the aphyric rhyolite
GP4F deposit to the north (Murphy coarse-grained felsic volcaniclastic
coarse-grained felsic volcaniclastic (±qtz, fs crystals) 1100 m
and Piercey, 1999b,c) (Fig. 24).
K-feldspar porphyry
The Goal Net property contains at graphitic argillite
0 50 100
least twelve exploration targets, trace of diamond drillhole
metres
only several of which have been
tested. In the Goal Net North area,
FIGURE 15. Cross-section 16250E through the Wolverine deposit (modified from Expatriate Resources Ltd.,
Zn-Pb-Cu semimassive sulphides unpub., 2001; Bradshaw et al., 2001).

487
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

A B

C
D

FIGURE 16. Photographs of Wolverine deposit host rocks, mineralization, and hydrothermal alteration. (A) Footwall quartz-phyric felsic volcaniclastic (DDH
WV97-102). (B) Footwall feldspar-porphyritic rhyolite. (C) aphyric rhyolite forming the immediate hanging wall. (D) Hanging-wall felsic volcaniclastic with
rhyolite breccia clasts (DDH WV97-112). (E) Hanging-wall rhyolite and argillite clast breccia. (F) Magnetite iron formation, from stratigraphic hanging wall
to Wolverine Zone. (G) Calcite-pyrite exhalite that forms the immediate hanging wall to the massive sulphides in places. (H) Chalcopyrite-pyrrhotite-rich
sulphides from base of massive sulphide lens (DDH WV00-120). (I) Banded, sphalerite-rich massive sulphides from upper part of massive sulphide lens.

488
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

J K

O
N

FIGURE 16 CONTINUED. Photographs of Wolverine deposit host rocks, mineralization, and hydrothermal alteration. (J) Possible primary massive sulphide
breccia, with pyrite-rich clasts in a sphalerite-rich matrix (DDH WV95-12). (K) Chalcopyrite-rich replacement-style mineralization from immediately below
the massive sulphide lens (DDH WV95-21). (L) Chalcopyrite-rich replacement-style mineralization from immediately below the massive sulphide lens, with
abundant silver-grey chlorite (DDH WV96-56; 333 m). (M) Replacement-style mineralization from immediately below the massive sulphide lens, with dark
green porphyroblasts in a matrix of light grey felted chlorite (DDH WV96-71). (N) Sphalerite-chalcopyrite-pyrite-quartz stringer veins crosscutting felsic
volcaniclastic, from feeder zone; note silicified vein margins (DDH WV95-25). (O) Sphalerite-chalcopyrite-pyrite-quartz stringer veins in graphitic argillite,
from feeder zone; veins have been transposed parallel to prominent foliation (DDH WV96-25). (P) Intensely silicified felsic volcaniclastic with deformed
pyrite-quartz veinlets. (Q) Strongly chloritized felsic volcaniclastic (DDH WV96-27). (R) Fe-carbonatized felsic volcaniclastic. (S) Strongly sericitized fel-
sic volcaniclastic (DDH WV96-39). Unless stated, the locations of individual samples are not specified.

489
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

16200E

16300E

16400E

16500E

16600E

16700E

16800E

16900E
17400N
WW00-02
Legend
True thickness
of massive sulphide
Section 16250E
(Figure 15) 0-2m
17300N

2-6m
WW00-03
2.5m 0 50 100
metres 6 - 10 m
17200N

WW00-01
7.4m CLAIM BOUNDARY 10 - 16 m
WV97-89/89A WV96-35

WV96-64
2m
WV96-30
17100N
WV96-69
WV97-90 contour lines
WV97-104 WV96-36
WV96-49
WV97-88 >4 m contour
WV96-60 WV96-52 WV96-40 WV96-32 WV96-31 (mine plan)
WV97-79
WV96-48
WV96-71
WV96-39 WV95-13
WV96-56 FOOT Claims
WV97-86
WV95-11 WV96-25
17000N WV96-61
WV96-43 Yukon Zinc
WV96-27
WV97-75 WV95-21
WV96-62 LYNX WV96-53
WV95-20
WV96-26 WV97-112
WOL Claims
WV97-84 WOLVERINE WV95-22 Teck Cominco
ZONE WV96-50
WV96-28

16900N
WV00-116
WV96-66

WV96-58
ZONE
WV95-09 WV95-12 WV95-16
16900
Claim Boundary
WV96-65 WV96-68
WV97-105
WV96-67 WV96-63 WV97-94
WV00-118
WV96-57
WV95-05 WV97-102 Base of the
WV00-119 WV00-113 WV97-99 Massive Sulphide
SU WV96-70 WV95-24
RF WV97-81 WV95-08 Intersection
AC WV96-72 WV00-114 WV95-10
E WV95-04 16800 (True Thickness)
16800N TR WV00-117 WV97-76 WV96-54 WV97-100
AC
E WV97-77 WV97-74 WV97-111
OF
W WV00-120 Projected Base of
WV97-80
OL WV95-23 Massive Sulphide
VE WV96-59
RIN WV97-95
EH WV97-82 WV97-97
OR Drillhole
IZ WV95-01
16700N ON Not Completed
E

6700E

6750E

800E
16250E

Test Mining Ramp

FIGURE 17. Geological plan of the Wolverine deposit depicting the two thickened zones of massive sulphide (Lynx and Wolverine zones), diamond drillhole
collars, and contours of massive sulphide thickness (Yukon Zinc Corporation, 2004a).

and disseminated sulphides are

associated with pyritic sericite-
altered felsic volcanic and volcani-
clastic rocks (interpreted to be rhy-
olite tuff and quartz porphyry rhyo-
lite, respectively), as well as dis-
seminated pyrite-chalcopyrite with
biotite-chlorite alteration. Low-
grade stratiform Zn mineralization
also occurs over 16 m in flat-lying
argillaceous felsic volcaniclastic
rocks within the Skyblaze zone. In
the Goal Net South area, the
Thunderstruck zone, 4.3 km south
of Skyblaze (Fig. 24), is a gently
southerly dipping continuous sheet
of thin, high-grade pyrite-
pyrrhotite-sphalerite-bearing semi-
massive to massive sulphides in
chlorite-sericite-altered felsic schist
that extends from outcrop down-
dip for over 550 m (Yukon Zinc
Corporation, 2004b, 2005). The Feeder zone Replacement No feeder veins or base of massive sulphide
(stringer veins) zoned replacement zones intersection in diamond drillhole
zone is thought to be located at the 10 to 15 m diamond drillhole number
6 to 10 m drillhole with both
same time stratigraphic position as massive sulphide massive sulphide replacement and feeder zones
thickness thickness
both the Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F
deposits, within the basal portion of FIGURE 18. Geological plan of the Wolverine deposit depicting the distribution of feeder zone (as defined by
the Kudz Ze Kayah Formation. the presence of stringer veins) and replacement-style mineralization/alteration; also shown are 6 to 10 m and
10 to 16 m massive sulphide thickness contours (for comparison with Fig. 17). Inset shows an idealized,
schematic section. Figure constructed from J. Peter (unpub. data, 2001).

490
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

A
massive basalt
porphyritic basalt
diamond basalt breccia
0 50 100 drillhole brecciated, coarse-
metres grained basalt
ribbon chert

Symbols
strike and dip
geological contacts
faults
Massive Sulphide
Thickness Contours (m)
>10 ≤ 28
≥ 5 < 10
≥3<5
Figure 22 ≥1<3
cross-section ≥ 0.1 < 1
line

diamond
0 50 100 drillhole
metres
FIGURE 20. Surface geological map of the Ice deposit area (modified from
Pigage, 1997; Becker, 1998; Expatriate Resources Ltd., 1999; and Hunt,
2002). Also shown is the cross-section line for Figure 22.

diamond
0 50 100 drillhole
metres

FIGURE 19. Plan contour maps of the Wolverine deposit illustrating the lat-
eral distribution of the metals Cu, Pb, and Zn in comparison to zones of
greatest sulphide thickness: (A) Cu/ (Cu+Pb+Zn). (B) Zn/(Cu+Pb+Zn); and
(C) Pb/(Cu+Pb+Zn) (data from Expatriate Resources Limited, 2000). The
positions of the individual drillholes are shown as in Figures 17, 18.
Outlined zones indicate a massive sulphide thickness >6 m (from Fig. 17). FIGURE 21. Generalized stratigraphic column for the Ice deposit and host
rocks (modified from Pigage, 1997 and Hunt, 2002).

Money (Julia) Prospect
The Money (also referred to as Julia) prospect is located
about 5 km east of the Wolverine Deposit in a thick sequence
of pillowed and pillow breccia basalts intercalated with mud-
stone and chert of the Campbell Range Formation (Hunt,
1998). The deposit consists of a tabular lens of massive
banded and siliceous pyritic sulphides that has a strike length
of at least 53 m, extends down dip for at least 130 m, and
averages 1 m in thickness. The footwall host rocks include
pillow basalt, pillow basalt breccia with maroon mudstone
matrix, chert, mudstone, and maroon shale (Baknes, 1997).
The basalt and basaltic tuff have been hydrothermally altered
to quartz-sericite-pyrite.
491
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

A B

C
D

FIGURE 23. Photographs of Ice deposit host rocks and mineralization.

(A) Porphyritic basalt (immediate footwall). (B) Basalt flow hyaloclastite.
(C) Volcanic conglomerate. (D) Hematitic chert interpillow sediment.
(E) pyrite veinlets in strongly chlorite altered volcanic rock from feeder
zone; (F) Chalcopyrite-bornite-hematite massive sulphide. Unless stated,
the locations of individual samples are not specified.

Other Prospects
In addition to the deposits and occurrences described
E above, there are a number of others that have been recog-
nized in the FLD. Details on these properties that include the
Pack (or Pak), Blueline, Pneumonia (Mony), Akhurst
(Expo), Ant (Hat Trick), Red Line, Cobb, League, and Nad
properties within the Grass Lakes Group, the Hoo (Argus),
W El (Tin), and Eldorado properties in North River Formation
rocks, are given by Hunt (2002).

ribbon chert Deposit Classification

massive basalt Host rocks, and metal association and tenor (Cu-Co-Au),
massive sulphide
indicate that the Fyre Lake deposit is a Besshi-type VHMS
deposit (e.g. Fox, 1984; Slack, 1993). A hallmark of Besshi-
stringer sulphide vein zone
type deposits is that sedimentary rocks are a significant com-
porphyritic basalt
fault ponent of the host stratigraphy in addition to mafic volcanic
pillow basalt breccia 100 m rocks. Such deposits are also typically enriched in Co and Au.
The Kudz Ze Kayah deposit can be classified as a Kuroko-
FIGURE 22. Geological cross-section 11400E through the Ice deposit (mod-
ified from Becker, 1998). type deposit that formed as a mound on the paleoseafloor. At
least part of the deposit likely formed by subsurface replace-

492
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

ment of host strata (e.g. albite-

altered rocks and mineralization).
The GP4F deposit, only 5 km
away from Kudz Ze Kayah, is also
best classified as a Kuroko-type
VHMS deposit and is genetically
related to rift-related felsic volcan-
ism within a back-arc basin as sug-
gested by Piercey et al. (2001a) for
the nearby Kudz Ze Kayah deposit.
GP4F has no feeder zone character-
ized by stringer quartz-sulphide
veins and associated intense
hydrothermal alteration, and this
indicates that the preserved por-
tions of the deposit are the distal
part of the seafloor hydrothermal
system (perhaps with subsurface
replacement), with the proximal
Cu-rich mound and feeder zone
eroded away.
The Wolverine deposit has many
characteristics of a polymetallic
Kuroko-type deposit, but with
some characteristics common to
SEDEX deposits. In this respect,
Wolverine also has many geologi-
cal, geochemical, and metallogenic
similarities with the world-class
Brunswick No. 12, No. 6, and
Heath Steele deposits in the
Bathurst Mining Camp of northern
New Brunswick (see Goodfellow
and McCutcheon, 2003). Among
these similarities are 1) felsic vol-
caniclastic and black shale host
rocks; 2) relatively Zn-rich (up to
30 wt.% in some intersections); and
3) presence of spatially associated
and laterally extensive iron forma-
tions. Although the term “Bathurst-
type” deposit has been coined pre-
viously, Goodfellow (2001) argued
that volcanic-sediment-hosted mas-
sive sulphide (VSHMS) is a more
meaningful classification, and we
also favour such a moniker.
The Ice deposit, together with FIGURE 24. Surface geology map of the Goal Net property Shown are elevation contours, geology, drillhole
the Money occurrence, are the only collar locations, locations of massive sulphide mineralization (Thunderstruck and Skyblaze zones), and air-
borne electromagnetic anomalies (modified from Yukon Zinc Corporation, 2005).
known Cyprus-type (Cu-Zn)
VHMS deposits in the FLD; distin-
guishing criteria for this deposit-type are the pillowed to GP4F, Wolverine), silica/quartz (Kudz Ze Kayah,
mafic volcanic host rocks, and the Cu-rich and Pb-Zn-poor Wolverine), carbonate (Wolverine) and albite (Kudz Ze
nature of the mineralization. Kayah). Feeder zones/stringer veins are present at the Fyre
Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, Wolverine and Ice deposits. Hanging-
Alteration Mineralogy and Lithogeochemistry wall alteration is present at Fyre Lake (weak chlorite) and
The VHMS deposits of the FLD are associated with Wolverine (weak sericite).
hydrothermally altered host rocks. In the stratigraphic foot- At Fyre Lake, the mafic volcanic rocks stratigraphically
walls, alteration styles varying from chlorite (Fyre Lake, beneath and peripheral to the massive sulphides have been
Kudz Ze Kayah, Wolverine, Ice), sericite (Kudz Ze Kayah, hydrothermally altered to chlorite and quartz (Sebert et al.,

493
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton

A Carbonate Alteration B Chlorite Alteration

diamond diamond
0 50 100 drillhole 0 50 100 drillhole
metres metres
3
3

LYNX LYNX
16 ZONE ZONE
75
0N 3 16
75
0N 15

WOLVERINE 3 WOLVERINE
ZONE 15 ZONE

0E
0E

25
25

16

0E
0E

0E
0E
16

50
50

75
75

16
16

16
16

3
C Footwall Sericite Alteration D Hanging-wall Sericite Alteration
diamond diamond
0 50 100 drillhole 0 50 100 drillhole
metres metres

LYNX
15 ZONE
LYNX
16 ZONE 16
75
75 0N
0N

WOLVERINE
ZONE
WOLVERINE
ZONE
15 30
6

3
0E
0E

25
25

0E

16

0E
16

30
50

50

3
16

16

FIGURE 25. Plan maps of the distribution of hydrothermally altered rock in the Wolverine deposit. Contours represent the true thickness of altered rocks in
drill core that contain greater than 5 vol.% alteration minerals, as determined by visual estimation. (A) Footwall carbonate alteration; contoured areas con-
tain calcite or ankerite in the footwall to the massive sulphide lenses (contour interval = 1 m). Carbonate alteration minerals occur only in the Lynx zone and
are associated with relatively thin zones of sericite altered rock. (B) Footwall chlorite alteration; contoured areas contain a thickness of at least 3 m of chlo-
rite-altered rock (contour interval = 3 m). The thickest zones of chlorite altered rock are generally associated with zones of ‘replacement-style’ semimassive
sulphide. (C) Footwall sericite alteration; contoured areas include a thickness of at least 5 m of sericite-altered rock (contour interval = 5 m). The thickest
zones of sericite-altered rock occur on the edges of the Wolverine zone, lateral to the thickest zones of chlorite-altered rock. (D) Hanging-wall sericite alter-
ation; contoured areas include a thickness of at least 1 m of sericite-altered rock (contour interval = 1 m). Sericite-altered rock in the hanging wall occurs on
the edges of the deposit and generally correlates with sericite altered rock in the footwall. Red coloured areas (the Wolverine and Lynx zones) indicate a true
thickness of massive sulphide greater than 6 m (from Fig. 17).

2004). The hanging-wall mafic volcanic rocks have also
been weakly chloritized (Sebert et al., 2004). In general,
Sebert et al. (2004) indicate that there is a greater Mg con-
tent in altered rocks relative to unaltered rocks.
At the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit, structural hanging-wall
(stratigraphic footwall) rocks have been hydrothermally
altered to sericite, chlorite, and albite, and distributed in dis-
crete zones; hydrothermal alteration intensity increases with
proximity to sulphides. The most proximal alteration at the
immediate base of the massive sulphides is dominated by
albite (Fig. 9L), presumably because of intense replacement
of detrital sedimentary and volcaniclastic rocks. This gives
way to Fe chlorite-dominated alteration (Fig. 9J) that is com-
monly associated with chalcopyrite and pyrrhotite blebs and
disseminations, and pyrrhotite±chalcopyrite±pyrite±spha-
lerite±galena veins in the feeder zone. This, in turn gives
way to a more distal sericite-dominated (±disseminated
pyrite and/or pyrrhotite) alteration in the outermost zones
(Fig. 9K). Silicification is developed only locally in a few
places in the chlorite zone associated with sulphide replace-
ment and feeder veins. Ankerite and siderite are ubiquitously
developed in almost all of the host rocks in and around the
deposit and occurs as Fe carbonate disseminations that have
preferentially replaced felsic clasts in volcaniclastic rocks
(Fig. 9M). Structural footwall (stratigraphic hanging-wall)
rocks, however, are not visibly hydrothermally altered.
At GP4F, there is a narrow zone of sericite-chlorite
hydrothermal alteration within felsic rocks immediately
adjacent to (structurally above) the massive sulphides in the
stratigraphic footwall (so-called marker tuff) (Boulton,
2002). The alteration intensity is weaker than is observed at
Kudz Ze Kayah and is characterized by the destruction of
feldspars. Quartz-feldspar porphyry occurs (with one excep-
tion) structurally below or stratigraphically above the mas-
sive sulphide lens. Stratigraphically below the lens, feldspars
phenocrysts in porphyritic rocks have been completely

494
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

altered to sericite or secondary Ma 400 390 380 370 360 350 340 330
albite, resulting in a rock contain-
DEVONIAN MISSISSIPPIAN
ing only quartz phenocrysts. Emsian Eifelian Givetian Frasnian Fammenian Tournaisian Visean
At Wolverine, hydrothermal Magmatism
Nasina SEDEX
alteration effects are largely con- and VHMS Ecstall VHMS
fined to the permeable felsic vol- deposits in Magmatic activity
Magmati activit in Yukon-Tanana
Yukon-
ukon-Tanan nana arc(s)
arc(s
caniclastic rocks that are the imme- allochthonous
pericratonic
Alaska Range VHMS Finlayson Lake VHMS SE Yukon-Tanana,
Tulsequah Chief
(Bonnifield, Delta)
diate footwall of the massive sul- terranes (KZK, GP4F, Fyre Lake)
phide lenses, though they extend
Wolverine Zone
(in the footwall) to the periphery of Wolverine Fisher Zone
the massive sulphide lenses and to VHMS deposit
porphyritic Sable Zone early porpyry Wolverine Belt
a lesser extent the hanging wall. rhyolites Puck Zone early porphyry Mineralization
Event
Four hydrothermal alteration styles
are recognized (Fig. 25A-D; Peter, Opening of Slide Mountain ocean
2001; Bradshaw et al., in press): Volcanic and
silicic alteration (Fig. 16P; distribu- intrusive
Marg VHMS Homestake VHMS
events in
tion is not shown but restricted to western NA
close proximity to the feeder zone- miogeocline Pelly Mtns.
see Fig. 18), carbonate alteration and Kootenay alkalic VMS
Terrane
(Figs. 16R, 25A), chlorite alter-
ation (Figs. 16Q, 25B), and sericite
alteration (Figs. 16S, 25C,D). Northern
Kechika
Trough
Stringer sulphide veins typically Cordilleran SEDEX
Selwyn Basin
have a 5 to 10 cm wide quartz alter- SEDEX Mac Pass SEDEX barite
deposits (SEDEX)
ation selvage (Fig. 16N,P). Zones
of silicified rocks also extend
up to 20 m below the base of
sulphide lenses. Chalcopyrite- Other Rammelsberg Red Dog
and pyrrhotite-rich semimassive globally (SEDEX) (SEDEX)
U-Pb zircon date
significant
replacement-style mineralization VHMS and conodont age
Meggen Iberian Pyrite
has attendant chlorite and Fe-car- SEDEX age determination (SEDEX) Belt
bonate, and more sphalerite-rich, (method uncertain) (VHMS)

semimassive replacement-style
mineralization has associated FIGURE 26. Age distribution for VHMS and VSHMS deposits in the FLD. Also shown are ages for other
sericite and ankerite alteration of deposits in the Yukon-Tanana Terrane, and VHMS and SEDEX deposits from the Kootenay Terrane and the
North American miogeocline, and globally significant (>50 Mt) VHMS and SEDEX deposits/camps that
the host rocks. formed during the Devonian-Mississippian (modified from Piercey et al., in press and Nelson et al., 2002).
Carbonate alteration consists of
various carbonates, ranging from creamy white calcite to and below chlorite altered rocks. Sericite altered footwall
orange-brown ankerite to brown siderite. The carbonate, rocks typically contain 40 to 60 vol.% sericite, with the
comprising up to 30 vol.% of the rock, consists of porphy- abundance of the mineral decreasing with increasing dis-
roblasts up to 2 cm in diameter. Carbonate alteration associ- tance from the sulphide lenses. Sericite alteration is devel-
ated with replacement-style mineralization consist of 1 to 2 oped best in the Wolverine zone and in the area between the
m wide zones, is most prevalent beneath the Lynx zone lens Wolverine and Lynx zones (Fig. 25C). Minor sericite alter-
(Fig. 25A). This carbonate is generally ankeritic with up to ation occurs in hanging-wall rocks at the western, eastern,
38 mole% Mg, whereas carbonate gangue within massive and up-dip edges of the sulphide lenses (Fig. 25D). Electron
sulphide is generally end-member siderite although it can microprobe analyses indicate that the sericite is Ba-rich
contain up to 26 mole% Mg (Bradshaw, 2003). Carbonate in phengite (Bradshaw et al., in press).
sericite-altered rock is generally calcite. Lithogeochemical indicators of footwall hydrothermal
Chlorite alteration zones consist of abundant fine-grained alteration at Wolverine are elevated Al2O3/Na2O ratios, and
chlorite (up to 50 vol.%) in coarse-grained volcaniclastic low Na2O on both a regional and local scale (G. Bradshaw,
rocks. They generally flank silicic alteration zones and can 2003, unpub. data; S. Piercey, unpub. data). Locally, the
extend up to 30 m below the base of the sulphide lenses. rocks at Wolverine and also Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F have
There is commonly a transitional change from chlorite-dom- elevated K2O due to the presence of abundant sericite, MgO-
inant to sericite-dominant alteration mineralogy. Electron FeO due to chlorite and Fe carbonates, and CO2-LOI (loss
microprobe analyses of chlorite show two compositional on ignition) due to the presence of Fe-carbonate, sericite, and
varieties: 1) dark green magnesian clinochlore, which forms chlorite.
fine-grained, massive aggregates; and 2) less common fer- At the Ice deposit, hydrothermal alteration is restricted to
roan clinochlore, which forms local clots in carbonate the stringer zone, where the rocks are dark green and
altered rocks (Bradshaw et al., in press). intensely chlorite altered. Only a few metres from the
Sericite altered rocks occur within stratabound zones in stringer zone, the rocks are relatively unaltered (Becker,
the footwall up to 40 m wide and are generally peripheral to 1997, 1998; Eaton and Pigage, 1997; Pigage, 1997). To date
495
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton
there has been no systematic study of the hydrothermal alter-
ation associated with the Ice deposit, but a reconnaissance
study of basalt samples from the stringer zone indicates that
they exhibit typical Na2O and CaO depletions with enrich-
ments in Fe2O3 and K2O (S. Piercey, unpub. data).
Exhalites
The narrow (15-40 cm wide), fine-grained chert with a
few percent sulphides (chalcopyrite, pyrite) and magnetite
that locally marks the top of massive sulphide lenses of the
Fyre Lake deposit (Fig. 6I) is thought to be an exhalative
sediment (Columbia Gold Mines Ltd., 1999; Sebert et al.,
2004). However, the horizon does not appear to extend sig-
nificantly beyond the mineralization. At the Ice deposit, red
hematitic cherts occur at the mineralized horizon as narrow
horizons and as interpillow sediment (Fig. 23F). As in other
Cyprus-type deposits, these exhalites are generally of
restricted areal extent (e.g. Peter, 2003).
In the FLD, exhalites of widespread areal distribution are
only known to be associated with deposits in the area extend-
ing from the Fisher zone to the Sable zone, the Wolverine
deposit, and the Puck Zone, referred to informally as the
Wolverine Belt. There are three exhalite horizons in the
vicinity of the Wolverine deposit: a narrow (less than 1 m
wide) grey to white carbonate-predominant rock consisting
of up to 90 vol.% patchy to massive carbonate (calcite>
ankerite>siderite) with lesser magnetite, chlorite, and pyrite
(Figs. 14, 16G) that locally overlies the massive sulphides,
and two horizons up to several metres wide of a grey to
black, magnetite-predominant iron formation contain 5 to
60 vol.% of disseminated to massively layered magnetite
with lesser carbonate, chlorite, quartz, and white mica (Figs.
14, 16F). The layering is interpreted to be primary bedding.
Monominerallic magnetite layers are interbedded with other
minerals on a millimetre-scale. This magnetite-predominant
iron formation occurs 80 to 100 m stratigraphically above
the Wolverine massive sulphides and is laterally extensive
with a strike length in excess of 12 km. It displays miner-
alogical and geochemical similarities with iron formations of
the Heath Steele Belt in the Bathurst District, New
Brunswick (Peter, 2003; Peter et al., 2003a,b).
It is important to note that the Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F
deposits, with many characteristics similar to Wolverine,
have no associated exhalites.
Metallogeny
Within the pericratonic terranes along the western North
American margin from Alaska to southern British Columbia,
VHMS mineralization is associated with Devonian-
Mississippian arc magmatism and associated back-arc basins
The episode(s) of extension within the arcs, ensialic back-arc
basin formation, and felsic magmatism coincided with
VHMS deposits in the FLD and elsewhere in the Yukon-
Tanana Terrane (Fig. 26; Mortensen 1992a; Piercey et al.
2001a, 2002a, 2006; Dusel-Bacon et al. 2006; Nelson et al.,
2006) and the initial opening of the Slide Mountain Ocean
between the pericratonic terranes and the North American
continent at about the Devonian-Mississippian boundary
(Nelson, 1993; Nelson and Bradford 1993; Creaser et al.
1999). This period of arc and back-arc rifting and felsic to
intermediate volcanism in the pericratonic terrane is also
496
Wolverine
10 GP4F
Number of Analyses
Fyre Lake
KZK
Argillite
Barite
5
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
δ34S(CDT)per mil
FIGURE 27. Histogram of bulk and laser sulphur isotope data for sulphides,
sulphates and host rocks from the Fyre Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F, and
Wolverine VHMS deposits. Bulk data from J. Peter (unpub. data), Layton-
Matthews (2005), and laser data from Bradshaw (2003) and Bradshaw et al.
(in press).
coeval with extension, alkalic magmatism, and VHMS and
SEDEX deposit formation in rocks of the North American
miogeocline during the mid-Paleozoic (e.g. Paradis and
Nelson 2000; Nelson et al. 2002; Nelson and Colpron,
2007). The metallogenic evolution of the FLD is outside the
scope of this paper, and the reader is referred to Piercey et al.
(2001a, 2002a, 2006) and Nelson et al. (2002, 2006) for
more detailed discussions.
Genetic Models
Hydrothermal Fluid Characteristics
Fluid Temperatures
The presence of hydrothermal sericite at Kudz Ze Kayah,
GP4F, and Wolverine indicates that the mineralizing fluids
were moderately acidic, and the Cu-sulphide mineralogy for
Kudz Ze Kayah and Wolverine is consistent with precipita-
tion from high-temperature (≈350ºC) fluids. Homogenization
temperatures for primary two-phase fluid inclusions in
quartz from quartz-sulphide stringer veins at Wolverine give
temperatures of 235 to 353ºC (Bradshaw et al., in press).
This range is similar to geothermometric estimates for
hydrothermal alteration chlorite that yields formation tem-
peratures of 273 to 288°C, and arsenopyrite geothermomet-
ric estimates of 215 to 336°C (Bradshaw et al., in press). The
presence of sphalerite-galena-chalcopyrite stringer veinlets
in variably sericite-altered quartz-phyric felsic volcanic
rocks at the Puck zone 2 km southeast of Wolverine suggests
that this area was the locus of high-temperature upflow.
The paucity of Cu at GP4F indicates that this deposit
likely formed at lower temperatures than Kudz Ze Kayah,
based on the solubility considerations of Cu, Pb, and Zn as
chloride complexes (Hannington et al., 1999a). Further, no
feeder zone characterized by stringer quartz-sulphide veins
and associated intensely altered rocks have been identified,
and this suggests that the deposit is the distal part of a
seafloor hydrothermal system.
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

A B
15.78 15.78
Wolverine
Eagle Bay Felsic
Footwall
15.74 YUKON- 15.74
TANANA 0 Ma Sulphide 0 Ma
70
Finlayson Lake District
70
TERRANE 140 (Mortensen et al., 2006) 140
250 250
15.70 15.70
360 Shale 360
36
6 Shale
Curve Curve
440 440
Iberian Finlayson Lake District
pyrite 510
belt (Mortensen et al., 2006)
15.66 570 570
15.66
Alaska Wolverine
Ambler
Pb/ 204 Pb

700 Range Deposit

Pb/ 204Pb
700
Sulphides
15.62 Meggen, 15.62
Rammelsberg
Tulsequah Chief
Brooks
Fyre Lake
207

Range

207
Deposit
15.58 Ecstall belt
15.58 Sulphides

Foremore
15.54 15.54

To Devonian mantle ( 206 Pb/204Pb = 17.8,207 Pb/ 204Pb = 15.42) To Devonian mantle ( 206 Pb/204Pb = 17.8, 207Pb/ 204Pb = 15.42)
15.50 15.50
18.0 18.4 18.8 19.2 19.6 18.0 18.4 18.8 19.2 19.6
206 Pb/ 204Pb 206
Pb/ 204 Pb
FIGURE 28. 206/204Pb versus 207/204Pb isotope plot showing: (A) data C
fields for Devonian-Mississippian VHMS deposits of the FLD from
15.78 KZK & GP4F Cu-rich
Mortensen et al. (2006); the Ecstall Belt (Alldrick et al., 2003; D. Alldrick, Deposit Sulphides
unpub. data, 2005); para-autochthonous deposits of the Alaska Range Sulphides
(Church et al., 1987), Kootenay Terrane (Mortensen et al., 2006), and
Stikinia (Tulsequah Chief: Childe, 1997; Foremore: Logan et al., 2000); 15.74 Cu-poor
Devonian-Mississippian VHMS deposits of the Ambler district, Alaska, Sulphides 0 Ma
70
and the Red Dog Devonian-Mississippian SEDEX deposit (Church et al., 140
1987); Devonian-Mississippian Meggen and Rammelsberg (Germany) 250
15.70
SEDEX deposits (Wedepohl et al., 1978); and Devonian-Mississippian 360 Shale
VHMS deposits of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (Marcoux, 1998). Also shown are Curve
440
the Shale Curve of Godwin and Sinclair (1982) and the Devonian mantle
value (Doe and Zartman, 1979). Figure is modified from Nelson et al. Finlayson Lake District
15.66 570
(Mortensen et al., 2006)
(2006). (B) Wolverine and Fyre Lake deposit sulphides; data are from
J. Peter (unpub. data, 2005) and D. Layton-Matthews (2005). Also shown 700
Pb/ 204 Pb

are data field for Devonian-Mississippian VHMS deposits of the FLD from
Mortensen et al. (2006), Shale Curve, and Devonian mantle. (C) Kudz Ze 15.62
Kayah, GP4F, and Ice deposit massive sulphides; data are from J. Peter Ice
(unpub. data, 2005) and D. Layton-Matthews (2005). Also shown are data Deposit
207

field for Devonian-Mississippian VHMS deposits of the FLD from Sulphides

Mortensen et al. (2006), Shale Curve, and Devonian mantle. 15.58

Based on Cu solubility considerations, the Cu-rich nature 15.54

of portions of the Ice and Fyre Lake deposits indicate that the
Cu-rich portions of these deposits formed at temperatures of
about 300 to 350°C (Crerar and Barnes, 1976). However, To Devonian mantle (206 Pb/ 204 Pb = 17.8, 207 Pb/ 204 Pb = 15.42)
15.50
fluid inclusion homogenization studies have not been done
18.0 18.4 18.8 19.2 19.6
on either of these deposits. 206
Pb/ 204Pb
Fluid Salinities and Behaviour
buoyantly at the seafloor. There are no other direct measure-
Primary fluid inclusions in quartz from stringer veins at ments of fluid salinities from other deposits in the FLD, but
Wolverine contain low-salinity (2.1-8.5 wt.% NaCl equiva- fluids are not expected to have been highly saline and have
lent; mean 6.0) fluids, indicating that the mineralizing fluids formed a brine pool as has been suggested for some VHMS
are predominantly hydrothermally modified seawater deposits.
(Bradshaw et al., in press). The fluid inclusions show no evi-
dence of fluid boiling and indicate that the deposit formed at Fluid Redox and Evolution
a water depth of at least 1000 m. Based on temperature-den- The mineral zonation of the massive sulphides at Fyre
sity considerations of fluids of various salinities (Turner and Lake (basal pyrrhotite, upward to pyrite-chalcopyrite, and
Campbell, 1987), the venting mineralizing fluids behaved uppermost magnetite-pyrite) is likely a primary feature

497
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton
related to redox variations attendant with the evolution of the
primary sulphide mound in response to zone refining, with
the magnetite deposited late in the paragenetic history of the
deposit as the (originally reduced) fluids became more oxi-
dizing. This interpretation, however, contradicts that of
Sebert et al. (2004) who suggest that the intercalations of
magnetite and sulphides are the result of multiple cycles of
fluid evolution from oxidizing to reducing.
The coexistence of pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite
and the preservation of Fe-rich sphalerite near the bases of
the massive sulphide lenses in the Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F
and Wolverine deposits indicates a predominantly low and
narrow range of log fO2 (-35 to -43) and log fS2 (-8 to -13)
conditions within the sulphide mounds and replacement
zones (Toulmin and Barton, 1964; Barton and Toulmin,
1966; Helgeson, 1969; Barton, 1978; Barton et al., 1979;
Bowers et al., 1985; Hannington et al., 1999a). The absence
of pyrrhotite and chalcopyrite, and the presence of Fe-poor
sphalerite near the tops of the polymetallic sulphide deposit
mounds in the FLD suggest a somewhat higher log fO2 (-35
to -30) and lower depositional temperatures (<250ºC).
The presence of magnetite-bearing exhalite (Fig. 16F)
along the Wolverine Belt, extending from the Fisher to the
Puck zones (a distance of over 14 km; Fig. 14) indicates that
these rocks are largely the product of hydrothermal plume
fallout and widespread settling on the seafloor. However,
geochemical data indicate that these rocks were formed from
lower temperature fluids than the massive sulphides (Peter,
2003), following massive sulphide deposition.
At the Ice deposit, field identification of paragenetic
sequences (L. Pigage and S.J. Piercey, unpub. data) and pre-
liminary reflected light microscopy (S.J. Piercey, unpub.
data) show complex paragenetic relationships between sul-
phide minerals and a changing fluid history through the evo-
lution of the deposit. The deposit was likely formed as a
pyrite-rich mound on the seafloor, but zone refining during
fluid circulation through the mound and venting of high-tem-
perature hydrothermal fluids resulted in the replacement of
the core of the mound pyrite by chalcopyrite (and quartz),
and finally bornite-sphalerite (±magnetite). The presence of
specular hematite within the stringer veins also indicates that
the hydrothermal fluids from which the massive sulphides
were precipitated evolved from reducing and high tempera-
ture, to oxidizing and lower temperature (Barton, 1984).
Duration of Hydrothermal Activity
The age and composition of igneous rocks suggest that
high heat flow existed within the greater FLD from 365 to
346 Ma, a 19 million year time span (e.g. Piercey et al.,
2006). Zircon saturation temperatures indicate that the foot-
wall porphyritic rhyolites at Wolverine were the products of
high temperature (>900°C) partial melting of continental
crust (Piercey et al., in press) and this high heat flow was
responsible for initiating and maintaining the Wolverine
deposit hydrothermal circulation system. Magmatic heat was
present beneath the basin during formation of the Wolverine
deposit from at least 352 to 346 Ma (Piercey et al., in press).
Because of the low sedimentation rate for graphitic shales
(e.g. 0.4-13 cm per 1,000 years; Goodfellow and Jonasson,
1987; Goodfellow and Turner, 1989) that form the immediate
498
hanging wall to massive sulphides in parts of Wolverine (e.g.
see Fig. 15), the cessation of hydrothermal activity is esti-
mated to be on the order of 400,000 to several million years
after Wolverine was formed and prior to resumption of
hydrothermal activity marked by the iron formations.
Sources of Sulphur, Lead, Selenium, and Other Constituents
Sulphur Isotopes
Sulphur isotope values (δ34S) have been used extensively
to discern the source(s) of S in sulphides and sulphates in
VHMS deposits (e.g. Ohmoto, 1996, and references therein).
Possible sources include 1) abiogenic S reduced from sea-
water, whose S isotope composition varies through time, but
is strongly positive, e.g., ≈20 per mil at present (Claypool et
al., 1980); 2) igneous rocks - close to 0‰ for MORB to -8‰
for rhyolite (Ohmoto and Rye, 1979); 3) biogenically
reduced from seawater - typically strongly negative (Saelen
et al., 1993). In most modern seafloor sulphide deposits, sea-
water is entrained, downdrawn and heated, and seawater sul-
phur is largely removed by precipitation of anhydrite in the
subsurface (Seyfried and Bischoff, 1981), such that vent flu-
ids largely contain minimal seawater sulphate (Shanks and
Seyfried, 1987). In sedimented seafloor hydrothermal envi-
ronments, biogenic reduction of seawater sulphate can be a
major source of S, and this process can cause strong excur-
sions in the isotopic composition of the ambient seawater
sulphate, particularly in restricted anoxic basins (Saelen et
al., 1993).
To date, there are 37 bulk S isotope analyses of bulk sul-
phide, barite, and host lithologies from the Fyre Lake, Kudz
Ze Kayah, GP4F, and Wolverine deposits. The data for sul-
phides range from δ34SCDT 0.5 to 25‰ (Fig. 27; Layton-
Matthews, 2005; J. Peter, unpublished data). Additionally,
there is a dataset of 86 laser spot analyses of sulphides from
15 samples from the Wolverine deposit (Bradshaw, 2003;
Bradshaw et al., in press) obtained using the technique of
Beaudoin and Taylor (1994); however, these are not shown
in Figure 27.
Fyre Lake deposit sulphides range from δ34SCDT 0.5 to
5.1‰ (n=3). These values reflect derivation of S largely
from igneous sources, likely by leaching of magmatic sul-
phides within the host mafic volcanic rocks, together with a
small amount of reduced seawater sulphate.
The GP4F deposit exhibits a relatively narrow range for
massive sulphides and host rocks of δ34SCDT 11.1 to 14.6‰
(n=8). For the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit, there is a much wider
overall range of 9.8 to 25.0‰, with the sulphides ranging
from 9.8 to 13.0‰ (n=11), barite within the massive sul-
phide ranging from 23.7 to 20.0‰ (n=2); barite from the
stratigraphic upper part of Kudz Ze Kayah has a δ34SCDT
value of 21.9‰ (n=1), and argillite ranges from 13.6 to
25.0‰ (n=5), with one outlier of 3.8‰. At the time of for-
mation of Kudz Ze Kayah in the lower Mississippian
(Tournaisian), the S isotopic composition of seawater is esti-
mated to have been ≈22‰ (Claypool et al., 1980), and the
analyses of Kudz Ze Kayah barite are in close agreement
with this value. The ranges for GP4F and Kudz Ze Kayah
sulphides are relatively narrow and suggest derivation of S
from partial reduction of seawater sulphate and S leached
from volcanic rocks (e.g. Ohmoto and Goldhaber, 1997).
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon

Sulphur isotope compositions of δ SC D T ‰

34

sulphides (bulk and laser) from

Wolverine give δ34SCDT values of - -1 0 0 +10 +20 +30 +40
4.9 to 18.4‰. Black shale from the
Sable prospect located along strike 200 Selwyn Basin Barite Curve
Tr i as s i c (Goodfellow and Jonasson, 1984)
and to the west of Wolverine has a
bulk δ34SCDT value of 20.4‰, sim- Per m i an Ice
ilar to estimates for seawater at that 3 0 0 Pen n s y l v an i an
Mi s s i s s i p p i an Wolverine
time (Claypool et al., 1980). U
Fyre
KZK, GP4F
Lake
However, Bradshaw (2003) and 400 Dev o n i an M
L
U
Bradshaw et al. (in press), found Si l u r i an M
L

that pyrite within hanging-wall Ma

U
Or d o v i c i an M

argillite analyzed by laser has a 500 L

negative value (-5.7‰). This indi- Cam b r i an

cates that the heavy bulk value may Seawater S Curve
reflect hydrothermal modifica- 600 Selwyn Basin Pyrite Curve (Marine Evaporites)
(Claypool et al., 1980)
(Goodfellow and Jonasson,
tion/introduction and may not be of 1984; Shanks et al., 1987)
sedimentary (likely negative) ori- 700 Pr o t er o zo i c Water column stratified
gin through biogenic sulphate with anoxic waters
reduction (e.g. Ohmoto and
Goldhaber, 1997). However, in situ 800
microanalyses of isolated pyrite
grains can give unrepresentative FIGURE 29. Secular variation in δ34S in seawater sulphur in the northern Cordillera, as indicated by the
analyses, and more work needs to Selwyn Basin pyrite and barite curves (Goodfellow and Jonasson, 1984; Goodfellow, 1987; Shanks et al.,
1987), and for global seawater sulphate (Claypool et al., 1980). The Wolverine deposit, and perhaps also Kudz
be done to resolve these questions. Ze Kayah and GP4F, and some other VHMS and SEDEX deposits in the northern Cordillera and elsewhere
Nevertheless, the wide range of in the World occur at one of the largest δ34S excursions in Earth’s history suggesting the importance of anoxic
sulphur isotope compositions for ocean conditions in their genesis. Figure is modified from Goodfellow et al. (1993).
Wolverine mineralization, with
lighter values from the tops of the lenses, and heavier values 28A plots the lead isotope compositions in 207Pb/204Pb ver-
in the lower parts and in the stringer veins indicates multiple sus 206Pb/204Pb space for FLD sulphides determined by
sources. Sulphur in sulphides from the tops of the lenses was Mortensen et al. (2006) and various other SEDEX and
likely derived mainly from bacterial reduction of seawater VHMS deposits from the northern Cordillera of similar age
sulphate, whereas sulphur in the stringer veins and at the (see figure caption for details).
base of the lenses was likely derived from the inorganic The Fyre Lake deposit gives the least radiogenic ratios in
reduction of seawater sulphate in the subsurface. comparison to the felsic-hosted VHMS deposits (Fig. 28B).
The mafic volcanic rocks that host the Fyre Lake deposit are
Lead Isotopes interpreted to be derived by partial melting of the mantle
Lead isotopes have long been used as a tracer of Pb and, (Piercey et al., 2001c), and the low Pb isotopic ratios for the
by inference other metals, in VHMS deposits (e.g. Doe and sulphides reflect a mixed source of mantle-derived mag-
Zartman, 1979). The small size of VHMS circulation cells matic and crustal Pb (either from sedimentary rocks in the
and total fluid fluxes (in comparison to SEDEX deposits) subsurface, or magmatic rocks that have been contaminated
dictates that the Pb isotopic ratios of the sulphides are sensi- by continental crust) (Layton-Matthews, 2005). The Ice
tive to the isotopic compositions of the various lithologies in analyses range from very non-radiogenic (n=2), reflecting
the subsurface reaction zone. There are three possible mantle-derived lead, to more radiogenic values (n=2) (Fig.
sources of Pb in the FLD VHMS deposits: 1) mantle and 28C; Mortensen et al., 2006). The deposit and its host vol-
mantle-derived mafic rocks (basalts, gabbros); 2) sedimen- canic rocks are interpreted to have formed in a back-arc
tary rocks; and 3) crustally-derived volcanic and igneous basin that developed between the Yukon-Tanana Terrane and
rocks. the North American Miogeocline (Murphy et al., 2006), but
Mortensen et al. (2006) report four Pb isotope analyses for this basin is thought to have been geographically close to
each of the Fyre Lake and Ice mafic-hosted VHMS deposits, sources of continent-derived detritus from the Yukon-Tanana
and one and two analyses for each of the felsic-hosted Terrane on the west (Patchett and Gehrels, 1998; Murphy et
Wolverine and Kudz Ze Kayah VHMS deposits, respec- al., 2006; Nelson et al., 2006; Piercey et al., 2006).
tively. Layton-Matthews (2005), Layton-Matthews et al. (in Therefore, Mortensen et al. (2006) concluded that at least a
press), and J. Peter (unpub. data) provide data for GP4F and minor amount of Pb in the sulphides was derived from rela-
have conducted additional Pb isotope analyses for the Fyre tively Pb-rich continental sediments, and the Pb isotopic
Lake, Kudz Ze Kayah, and Wolverine deposits to examine compositions of Ice mineralization reflect a mixing line
within-deposit Pb isotope variability. Figure 28A-C presents between primitive mantle and a much more radiogenic
the lead isotope analyses for the Fyre Lake, Wolverine, Kudz Yukon-Tanana Terrane.
Ze Kayah, and GP4F deposits, and the data of Mortensen et Lead isotope ratios of Wolverine sulphides lie on the shale
al. (2006) for the Ice deposit. For comparison the shale growth curve at ca. 350 Ma and trend toward much more
growth curve of Godwin and Sinclair (1982) is given. Figure radiogenic values than the field for felsic-hosted VHMS

499
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton
deposits of the FLD (Mortensen et al., 2006; hatched field
shown in Fig. 28A,B). This likely reflects Pb derived from
volcanic and intrusive rocks that originated from the melting
of old radiogenic crustal rocks at Wolverine. For the Kudz
Ze Kayah and GP4F deposits, the Pb isotopic data do not
intersect the shale curve but form a cluster over a wide range
of 207Pb/204Pb and narrow 206Pb/204Pb that falls above the
shale curve. As pointed out by Layton-Matthews (2005) and
Layton-Matthews et al. (in press), the differences between
the highest 207Pb/204Pb ratios for Wolverine and Kudz Ze
Kayah are statistically significant and outside analytical
error. This is likely due to sourcing of greater amounts of
radiogenic lead from sedimentary rocks that are present in
abundance in the vicinity of Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F.
Modeling of the Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F data using a
two-stage growth curve of Stacey and Kramers (1975) indi-
cates a µ value of 11 and extraction ages of 3.14 Ga. This
implies that the Pb in these deposits is very old and was
likely sourced from intrusive and extrusive felsic rocks that
formed by partial melting of 3.1 Ga crust. Detrital zircons of
this or similar age (3.34 Ga) have been noted in the Coast
Mountains of southeastern Alaska, rocks that are thought to
be the basement for Yukon-Tanana Terrane (Gehrels and
Kapp, 1998; Gehrels, 2002). Also, Devine et al. (2006) have
found 2.82 Ga inherited zircon ages in the Klatsa metamor-
phic complex (Yukon-Tanana Terrane), about 50 km south of
Kudz Ze Kayah. Further, Archean Nd-Hf depleted mantle
model ages for the Snowcap assemblage that underlies and
forms the basement to the Yukon-Tanana Terrane (Piercey
and Colpron, unpublished data) indicate Archean age crust
that is likely of detrital origin and derived from the Slave
craton.
Similar modeling for Wolverine suggests a different and
less radiogenic reservoir (µ=12, extraction age of 1.7 Ga;
Layton-Matthews, 2005; Layton-Matthews et al., in press).
Thus, hydrothermal fluids predominantly sourced Pb from
younger, ca. 1.7 Ga rocks. These results are in agreement
with detrital zircon ages for rocks thought to represent the
Yukon-Tanana Terrane basement (e.g. Gehrels and Kapp,
1998; Gehrels, 2002) and with the detrital zircon attributes
of Yukon-Tanana Terrane (Colpron et al., 2006b; Murphy et
al., 2006), with a main peak at ca. 1.8 to 1.7 Ga Wopmay age,
and lesser peaks at older ages. Additionally, Nd model ages
of granites and felsic rocks are largely Paleoproterozoic (ca.
1.8-1.6 Ga; Piercey et al., 2003) also indicating melting of a
mixed 1.8 Ga crust and Archean sedimentary basement.
Selenium
The three polymetallic deposits (Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F
and Wolverine) are variably enriched in Se, with Wolverine
being the most enriched (1,100 ppm average), Kudz Ze
Kayah having intermediate enrichments (210 ppm weighted
average), and GP4F (8 ppm average) having the lowest con-
tents (Layton-Matthews, 2005; Layton-Matthews et al., in
press). This attribute is relatively uncommon for VHMS
deposits (e.g. Huston et al., 1995; Hannington et al., 1999b;
Layton-Matthews et al., in press). Selenium in these deposits
is resident within clausthalite (PbSe), galena, chalcopyrite,
sphalerite, pyrite, and pyrrhotite.
Selenium isotope ratios (δ82/76SeMERCK) for Kudz Ze
Kayah, GP4F, and Wolverine sulphides indicate that Se orig-
500
inated by magmatic degassing of SeO4, rapid reduction to
H2Se, entrainment in the mineralizing fluid, mixing with Se
leached from felsic volcanic rocks (for Kudz Ze Kayah) and
graphitic shales (for Wolverine), and deposition at high tem-
peratures (≈350ºC) (Layton-Matthews, 2005). Selenium in
the deposits is mobilized and transported under high-temper-
ature conditions as H2Se and concentrated in the Cu-rich por-
tions of deposits; mixing of high-temperature fluids with
ambient seawater in the brecciated margins of the mounds
causes ore fluid oxidation and can also result in a
clausthalite-pyrite-barite and Se-rich matrix to the breccia
clasts at Kudz Ze Kayah. Recrystallization of pre-existing
mineralization during zone refining by a high Se/S ore fluid
results in increased selenium tenor of all sulphides.
Generally, with decreasing ore fluid temperature, there is a
decrease in ΣSe/ΣS and Se concentration in the ore fluid.
Mass balance considerations indicate that the Kudz Ze Kayah
and Wolverine deposits require a large Se reservoir in addi-
tion to that from magmatic degassing and the felsic volcanic
rocks, and this Se was probably provided by leaching from
contemporaneous volcanic rocks and graphitic shales hosting
the Kudz Ze Kayah and Wolverine deposits, respectively.
Ambient Seafloor Environment
The FLD VHMS deposits show a wide variety of charac-
teristics reflective of deposition under widely different redox
conditions. The relatively low δ34S values for Fyre Lake sul-
phides, together with the presence of abundant disseminated
magnetite of likely primary origin in the mineralization indi-
cate that this deposit was formed under oxic ambient condi-
tions. Similarly, the presence of a narrow hematite-quartz
rock immediately overlying the mineralization at Ice indi-
cates that this deposit was formed under similarly oxic ambi-
ent conditions.
The presence of black carbon-rich graphitic shales sug-
gest that the ambient bottom water in the basin in which the
Wolverine deposit formed may have been anoxic. Heavy sul-
phur isotopic values of the Wolverine mineralization and of
graphitic shales (argillite) far away from the influence of the
mineralizing processes (Fig. 27) provide supporting evi-
dence that anoxic bottom waters at the site of massive sul-
phide deposition may have controlled the sulphur isotopic
composition of the sulphides (Eastoe and Gustin, 1996).
Seawater sulphate was organically reduced to sulphide in the
water column and this was then fixed with venting metals.
Throughout Paleozoic time, there are several periods of
time where the World’s oceans were anoxic. H2S in a
reduced water column has been shown to be a critical
requirement for the formation of SEDEX deposits (Fig. 29;
e.g., Goodfellow and Jonasson, 1984; Goodfellow, 1987;
Shanks et al., 1987; Goodfellow et al., 1993) and some
VSHMS (e.g. some deposits in the Bathurst Mining Camp,
northern New Brunswick: Goodfellow and Peter, 1996). Of
note is the close relationship of other so-called VSHMS to
periods of global anoxia (e.g. Iberian Pyrite Belt, Spain and
Portugal). Wolverine, and perhaps Kudz Ze Kayah and
GP4F, was also formed within a period of global anoxia, and
the relatively heavy sulphur isotope compositions of the sul-
phides (Fig. 27) might be explained by such a source.
Further evidence for anoxia comes from the iron forma-
tions at the Wolverine deposit. The absence of bedded barite
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon
and the occurrence of Ba in carbonates, stilpnomelane,
sericite, and biotite in laminated iron formations that overlie
and are lateral to massive sulphides (J. Peter, unpub. data)
indicate that Ba was introduced into the basin by hydrother-
mal fluids but was not precipitated as barite. Since Ba forms
an insoluble sulphate (Blount, 1977), the lack of barite prob-
ably reflects very low sulphate contents in the ambient sea-
water at the site of venting. Such a low-sulphate environ-
ment may represent ambient marine conditions where bacte-
rial sulphate reduction went to completion, or a low-sulphate
environment.
Graphitic shales are not present in the immediate footwall
to the Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F deposits, but they are pres-
ent in the hanging wall at the former where they are part of
the Wind Lake Formation. The strongly positive sulphur iso-
tope values for mineralization at Kudz Ze Kayah and GP4F
would also suggest that anoxia may have played an impor-
tant role in the mineralizing processes there also.
Deposit Morphologies and Architecture
The sulphide lens morphologies together with mineral
textures at Kudz Ze Kayah, GP4F, Ice, and Fyre Lake indi-
cate that these deposits were principally formed as discrete
mounds on the paleoseafloor. Some mineralization occurs as
replacements of volcaniclastics rocks in the shallow subsur-
face in and around the fluid upflow zones (e.g. Kudz Ze
Kayah, GP4F, and Wolverine). The Fyre Lake, Wolverine,
Kudz Ze Kayah, and Ice deposits have well preserved
though deformed feeder vein zones (e.g. Figs. 6E, 16N,O,
23E). At Wolverine, the distribution of these veins, as well as
replacement style mineralization, indicate that the Lynx and
Wolverine zones likely represent two coalesced seafloor
mounds (Fig. 18, inset). At Wolverine, in thinner mineralized
intersections on the fringes of the Lynx and Wolverine zones,
carbonaceous argillite forms the immediate footwall (Fig.
15), implying either contemporaneous onlapping by sulphide
mass wasting, hydrothermal plume fallout over a protracted
period of sedimentation, or subseafloor replacement
(Bradshaw et al., in press). The semimassive replacement
style mineralization is thought to have formed very near the
paleoseafloor where the fluids were unfocused and where the
rocks were not indurated.
Exploration Methods
Historical
The Fyre Lake deposit was discovered by Cassiar
Asbestos Corporation in 1960 during follow-up work to
locate the source of massive sulphide float boulders.
Exploration efforts have included prospecting, geologic
mapping, horizontal loop (Max-Min) and ground magnetics
and electromagnetic (EM) surveys, and soil and silt geo-
chemistry. Twenty-three shallow packsack (224 m) and
20 AX (1423 m) drillholes were completed between 1960
and 1991 by various companies. In 1996 and 1997, Pacific
Ridge Explorations Ltd. (formerly Columbia Gold Mines
Ltd.) drilled 115 holes (23,200 m), upon which the current
resource is based.
The Fetish claims were staked in the Wolverine deposit
area in 1973 by the Finlayson Joint Venture (Chevron
Canada Ltd., Union Oil Company of Canada Ltd., and
Marietta Resources International Ltd.). The exploration syn-
dicate discovered numerous multi-element geochemical
anomalies in soils over a gossanous area during a grid soil
sampling survey, and conducted mapping and trenching that
year. The company drilled 2 short holes and intersected low-
grade Cu and Zn-sulphide mineralization. However, these
claims lapsed in 1982, whereupon they were restaked by
Archer, Cathro, and Associates (1981) Ltd., and further
ground magnetic and Max-Min EM surveys were conducted
that year.
In 1993, Equity Engineering Ltd. conducted exploration
in the Wolverine deposit area (Fig. 14) after concluding that
the region held promise for hosting VHMS-style mineraliza-
tion. On behalf of Atna Resources Ltd., Equity staked claims
over the Fetish sulphide mineralization and carried out an
exploration program that consisted of geological mapping,
prospecting, and rock/soil geochemistry. In 1995, the prop-
erty was optioned from Atna by Westmin Resources Ltd. and
by the end of that year Westmin had earned a 60% interest in
the project and entered into a joint venture with Westmin as
operator. The latter undertook an exploration program of
detailed geological mapping, systematic grid soil geochem-
istry, and diamond drilling. This fieldwork led to the identi-
fication of several additional multi-element geochemical
anomalies, and the intersection of massive sulphide mineral-
ization in the Wolverine Zone. The first follow-up drillhole
intersected 8.4 m of massive sulphide grading 7.63 g/t Au,
1,358.3 g/t Ag, 0.56% Cu, 3.45% Pb, and 14.22% Zn. This
was followed by additional drilling in the period 1995
through 1997.
In 1996, Westmin carried out metallurgical testing on the
Wolverine deposit. Results confirmed the presence of unusu-
ally high levels of Se (average of 1035 ppm Se, Expatriate
Resources Ltd., 2000, unpub. data), a deleterious contami-
nant that could significantly impact the value of mineral con-
centrates. In 1997, recognition of hydrothermal alteration in
drill core led to the discovery of the Sable Zone 1.6 km to the
southeast of Wolverine. In early 1998, Boliden Ltd. acquired
the assets of Westmin Resources Ltd. and, following the
takeover, Expatriate concluded a letter of agreement to pur-
chase Boliden’s interests in the Wolverine Project; by June
1999 a new Wolverine Joint Venture (Expatriate Resources
Ltd. and Atna Resources Ltd.) conducted metallurgical and
marketing investigations of the ore. Drilling programs by
Expatriate in 2000 expanded the existing resource and fur-
ther defined the known mineralization on the Wolverine
property. In 2005, Expatriate Resources (now Yukon Zinc
Corporation) constructed a decline into the massive sul-
phides and undertook a test mining program. Further, they
completed an infill drilling program on the Wolverine
deposit. Currently, the company intends to bring the deposit
into production in the near future.
Cominco Ltd. originally carried out a surficial geochemi-
cal survey in the vicinity of the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit in
1977 and anomalous base metal anomalies in a subsequent
Geological Survey of Canada regional geochemistry silt sur-
vey (Hornbrook and Friske, 1988) attracted their attention.
Prospecting by Cominco led to the discovery of a cobble of
layered massive sulphide. A subsequent UTEM geophysical
survey in 1993 identified an EM feature in an area with soil
geochemical anomalies, and the presence of polymetallic
sulphide float and felsic volcanic rocks. In 1994, the geo-
501
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton
physical anomaly was drilled and the first hole intersected
22.5 m of massive sulphides in two zones. This outlined
mineralization at Kudz Ze Kayah was named the ABM zone
in recognition of A.B. Mawer, the discoverer of the mineral-
ized cobble. That year, Cominco completed 52 diamond
drillholes (8500 m) and flew 15,000 km of airborne geo-
physical surveys. In 1995, intensive exploration was done,
which included 15,000 m of diamond drilling in 120 holes,
engineering and environmental studies, and the construction
of an approximately 20 km long access road to the Robert
Campbell Highway. During 1996 and 1997, Cominco drill-
tested airborne geophysical targets in the Kudz Ze Kayah
area. To the end of 1997, 168 exploration drillholes, totaling
24,663 m, were drilled. In 1998, Cominco carried out geo-
logical work and diamond drilling in and around Kudz Ze
Kayah. In 1994 a number of geophysical anomalies were
identified during a regional airborne geophysical survey.
Follow-up drilling in 1998 of geophysical anomaly ‘4F’ led
to the discovery of the GP4F deposit.
The Ice deposit was the first to be discovered in the
Campbell Range Formation. High-grade oxide Cu mineral-
ization was discovered in 1996 and claims were staked by
Archer, Cathro, and Associates Ltd. Geological mapping,
grid and reconnaissance soil geochemistry, and airborne and
ground magnetic and electromagnetic surveys were con-
ducted in 1996 and 1997. Thirty-four diamond drillholes
(2,704 m) were completed in 1996 and 87 holes (7,880 m)
were completed in 1997. No exploration work has been car-
ried out since 1997. The deposit is now owned by Yukon
Zinc Corporation.
In the Goal Net North area, soil geochemical surveys by
Expatriate Resources Ltd. in 1998 and 1999 identified local-
ized strong multi-element anomalies that coincided with
induced polarization chargeability anomalies. Semimassive
sulphides were discovered in 1999 in surface pits and this
discovery was followed up by diamond drilling in 2000 and
2001 that helped to delineate the extent of mineralization.
Further drilling in 2004 identified massive sulphide mineral-
ization of the Skyblaze zone. The Thunderstruck zone in the
Goal Net South area was discovered by Yukon Zinc
Corporation, the successor to Expatriate Resources Ltd., dur-
ing property mapping.
The Money prospect was discovered by the recognition of
ferricrete and Cu-Zn-Au-Ag-bearing massive sulphide boul-
ders in creeks.
Prospecting
The geological and regional stratigraphic framework has
been vastly improved over the last few years through the
work of Murphy and coworkers (e.g. Murphy et al., 2006,
and references therein), and this will enable effective
prospecting and exploration on a regional scale outside of
the known areas of mineralization. Much exploration for
VHMS deposit in the FLD remains to be done by prospect-
ing for outcropping mineralization or associated hydrother-
mally altered rock. This is because the area has received rel-
atively little exploration attention to date in comparison to
the mature base metal mining camps of Canada. The initial
staking rush in the mid 1990s generated by the discovery of
the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit resulted in relatively few com-
502
panies staking large blocks of ground. The limited resources
available to these companies caused them to focus their
efforts on property scale exploration, and grassroots work
was curtailed. Grassroots exploration should utilize litho-
geochemical methods to recognize geochemically
favourable volcanic rocks (petrochemistry and chemostratig-
raphy), hydrothermally altered volcanic, volcaniclastic and
sedimentary rocks, and exhalites.
Petrochemistry and Chemostratigraphy
VHMS deposits of then FLD are known to occur at litho-
logical contacts between rocks of markedly different charac-
ter (e.g. volcanic and sedimentary facies) or composition
(e.g. rhyolite basalt). Within the FLD, rocks favourable for
hosting VHMS deposits include those formed within an arc
rift, back-arc rift, or at the transition from arc to back-arc
magmatism.
Exploration for Cyprus- and Besshi-type deposits should
be focussed on areas of high-temperature mafic magmatism
as defined by lithogeochemistry. In the FLD, the presence of
boninitic rocks is an indication of a depleted mantle source
typical of nascent to back-arc regimes (e.g. Piercey et al.,
2001c). Such rocks require high-temperature melting that is
capable of initiating a stable, long-lived hydrothermal sys-
tem. Boninites of the Fire Lake Formation are host to the
Fyre Lake deposit in the FLD. Depleted arc tholeiites, mid-
ocean ridge basalts, (MORB) and back-arc basin basalts
(BABB) are also favourable high-temperature mantle melt
targets (Swinden 1991, 1997; Syme et al., 1999; Wyman et
al., 1999; Piercey et al., 2004). MORB can form not only at
mid-ocean ridges but also in back-arc basins, and these rocks
have flat REE patterns with low Nb and Th contents (Ewart
et al., 1994; Hawkins and Allan, 1994; Hawkins, 1995).
BABB are chemically similar to MORB but have minor neg-
ative Nb anomalies (Ewart et al., 1994; Hawkins and Allan,
1994; Hawkins, 1995) and are formed within back-arc basins.
For the polymetallic Kuroko-type VHMS and VSHMS
deposits, the felsic magmas emplacement at high levels in
the crust provided the magmatic heat source that initiated
hydrothermal convective circulation, making high-tempera-
ture felsic volcanic rocks the best targets. Such rocks typi-
cally fall in the within-plate, A-type fields on discrimination
plots and are characterized by very high HFSE (Nb, Zr >
300 ppm, Y), REE, high Zr/Sc, and negative chondrite-nor-
malized Eu anomalies: (La/Yb)n < 7, (Gd/Yb)n < 2, and Y/Zr
< 7. They also have higher Zr saturation temperatures than
rhyolites that are not associated with the VHMS deposits
(e.g. Barrie, 1995) (FLD range 750-1000ºC; mean 899ºC;
n=55 (Piercey et al., 2001a, 2006; S. Piercey, unpub. data,
2002).
Felsic or felsic-sedimentary rock sequences underlain by
continental crust typically have alkalic and MORB mafic
rocks associated with felsic volcanic rocks. Although the
VHMS deposits are commonly hosted by the high-tempera-
ture felsic and sedimentary rocks, they are usually overlain
by alkalic basalts and MORB. Such an evolution from felsic
to mafic magmatism is attributed to the onset of decompres-
sion melting of the mantle following thinning, rifting, and
partial melting of the overlying crust (e.g. Piercey et al.,
2002a). Alkalic basalts have high Nb, Th, and LREE, and are
 Volcanic-Hosted Massive Sulphide Deposits of the Finlayson Lake District, Yukon
the product of lithospheric mantle melting induced by rift-
ing, whereas MORB formed from upwelling asthenosphere
due to basin opening. Within the FLD, alkalic rocks of the
Wind Lake Formation crosscut and overlie the Kudz Ze
Kayah and GP4F deposits (Piercey et al., 2002a). Similarly,
at the Wolverine deposit, rocks of the uppermost part of the
Wolverine Lake Group are basaltic flows and sills with E-
MORB to BABB affinities (Piercey et al., 2002b).
Hydrothermal Alteration
The recognition of proximal focused hydrothermal
upflow-related siliceous, chloritic, and sericitic alteration
can further focus exploration. Both regional and local
hydrothermal alteration effects can be recognized using min-
eral assemblage identification by X-ray diffraction, short-
wavelength infrared spectrometry, conventional whole rock
lithogeochemistry, and oxygen isotope mapping.
Hydrothermally altered rocks generally have high LOI,
H2O, and CO2 contents, due to the presence of hydrated alter-
ation minerals such as chlorite and sericite, and/or carbonates.
The formation of alteration minerals typically involves reac-
tions in which Al2O3 is conserved, whereas other elements
such as Na2O are lost to the hydrothermal fluids (e.g. Date et
al., 1983). Unaltered rocks typically have Na2O contents of
2 to 5 wt.%, and those with less than 2 wt.% are altered by
feldspar destruction; those with more than 5 wt.% Na2O are
characterized by albite or paragonite alteration and Na2O
addition (e.g. Giorgetti et al., 2003). For these reasons, the
Al2O3/Na2O index of Spitz and Darling (1978) is an effective
indicator of hydrothermal alteration in a sample. Typically,
rocks that have been strongly hydrothermally altered rocks
have very high Al2O3/Na2O ratios (>50-100) and indicate a
loss of alkali elements and a residual gain in Al2O3; unaltered
rocks have ratios that are typically less than 10. Anomalously
high MgO, Fe2O3, and FeO contents in felsic rocks com-
monly reflect the addition of these elements via chlorite and
pyrite alteration (e.g. Hajash and Chandler, 1981). A useful
graphical tool to recognize hydrothermal alteration in rocks is
the alteration box plot of Large et al. (2001), because this plot
indicates where least altered rocks should plot and also pro-
vides fields and vectors for altered variants. The presence of
high contents of metals (Cu, Pb, Zn, Au, Ag, Co, Se, etc.) in
rocks relative to unaltered equivalents suggest that the rocks
are hydrothermally altered.
Exhalites
Distal hydrothermal sediments (exhalites) composed of
finely layered quartz, magnetite, chlorite, carbonate, and
trace sulphides are direct products of seafloor hydrothermal
activity (e.g. Spry et al., 2000; Peter, 2003). These rocks are
typically formed during the nascent and/or waning stages of
hydrothermal venting in ancient hydrothermal systems and
can be used as vectors toward mineralization (e.g. Peter and
Goodfellow, 1996, 2003). Some exhalites display miner-
alogical and geochemical zonation around known associated
VHMS deposits (see Peter, 2003, and references therein).
Minerals indicative of close proximity to mineralization
include magnetite, siderite, ankerite, calcite, dolomite, stilp-
nomelane, apatite, and pyrite. Elements that are indicative of
close proximity to mineralization include Fe, Mn, Cu, Pb,
Zn, Ag, Au, As, Bi, Cd, Se, Hg, Sb, Sn, In, and Tl, and oth-
ers. Certain elements (e.g. Ti, Al) are indicative of detrital
input, and the ratio of hydrothermal to detrital element (e.g.
Fe/Ti) can provide a simple indicator of proximity to a
hydrothermal vent. High hydrothermal:detrital ratios signal a
close proximity to the vent. Combinations of these elements,
perhaps given different weightings of importance, can be
arranged to give an index that may be more effective than
individual elements or ratios (e.g. Peter, 2003; Peter and
Goodfellow, 2003).
Geophysics
The high magnetic susceptibility of some massive sul-
phide deposits (e.g. Fyre Lake - abundant pyrrhotite; Ice -
abundant magnetite), imparted by the presence of pyrrhotite
and magnetite indicates that ground and airborne electro-
magnetics would be highly effective exploration methods in
the FLD. The Kudz Ze Kayah deposit is indicated by both a
strong magnetic and electromagnetic anomaly (Holroyd and
Klein, 1998) although the Wolverine deposit does not have a
strong magnetic response. However, the iron formations that
extend from the Fisher zone southeast to Wolverine and
beyond have a strong magnetic signature that is readily iden-
tified by airborne surveys (Yukon Zinc Corp., unpub. data,
2000; R. Shives, pers. comm., 2007). Further, altered hang-
ing-wall rocks at Wolverine are identified by radiometric
techniques. The disseminated to massive nature of the sul-
phides suggests that induced polarization methods should be
effective.
Surficial Geochemistry
The original Fetish claims (now the Wolverine deposit)
and the Fisher Zone were found using soil geochemistry, and
the Kudz Ze Kayah deposit area was outlined by a stream
sediment Pb-Zn anomaly in a geochemical survey under-
taken by the GSC (Hornbrook and Friske, 1988). The GP4F
deposit has been metamorphosed to higher metamorphic
grade and is known to contain gahnite that probably have
formed by desulphidation of sphalerite during metamor-
phism (Spry and Scott, 1986). Drift prospecting for gahnite
and other diagnostic minerals may therefore be effective in
focusing exploration efforts in the FLD. A regional till geo-
chemistry survey and Quaternary geology investigations by
Bond and Plouffe (2002) showed ice flow patterns during
glacial maxima in the FLD trend towards the west-north-
west. Basal till is widespread across plateau surfaces and
glaciofluvial sand and gravel dominate in low-lying areas.
Multi-element anomalies are present in till near known min-
eralized zones, and till down-ice from the Kudz Ze Kayah is
enriched in Pb and Zn. In addition, they found base metal
anomalies northwest of Wolverine Lake and southwest of
Finlayson Lake where no mineral occurrences are known.
Knowledge Gaps
Although there has been a plethora of new knowledge
gained on the tectonic setting, geological setting, and gene-
sis of the VHMS deposits of the FLD, there are a number of
unresolved questions. 1) What are the volcanic and sedi-
mentary settings of the deposits? Detailed reconstructions of
the volcanic stratigraphy are needed. 2) What is the exact
nature of the long time span between Kudz Ze Kayah aged
mineralization (ca. 362 Ma) and Wolverine aged mineraliza-
503
 J.M. Peter, D. Layton-Matthews, S. Piercey, G. Bradshaw, S. Paradis, and A. Boulton
tion (ca. 346 Ma)? Recent age dating in the Wolverine area
indicates that hydrothermal circulation was active during
this time span within a condensed stratigraphic section
(Piercey et al., in press). 3) What role did anoxia play in the
formation of the polymetallic VHMS and VSHMS deposits
of the FLD? 4) What role did magmatic fluids and volatiles
play in the development of these deposits? Did they con-
tribute metals to the ore-forming system? 5) Additional
information is needed on the nature and extent of regional
scale hydrothermal alteration in the FLD, particularly
detailed studies of alteration associated with the hydrother-
mal upflow zones associated with different VHMS deposits.
An understanding of the three-dimensional distribution and
timing of alteration is needed along with the isotopic and
geochemical attributes of this alteration. 6) What is the exact
nature and distribution of Se enrichment in polymetallic
VHMS deposits in FLD, and how does this relate to such
events responsible for the enrichment of Se in base metal
deposits in the Selwyn Basin (e.g. Wolf deposit)? 7) Finally,
the applicability and effectiveness of unconventional surfi-
cial methods (e.g. heavy minerals in tills, mobile metal ions,
enzyme leaches, and partial extractions) in exploration need
to be evaluated.
Acknowledgements
Funding came from Geological Survey of Canada (GSC)
Proposal Approval System Project 1017; GSC project X15
of the CCGKN Program and project TG6007 of the Targeted
Geoscience Initiative III Program are also gratefully
acknowledged for time and resources to write this manu-
script. Discussions with Wayne Goodfellow and Don
Murphy are gratefully acknowledged. Ingrid Kjarsgaard
conducted some of the mineralogical and microprobe analy-
ses summarized herein. Constructive reviews were provided
by Fernando Tornos, Thomas Monecke, and the Editor,
Wayne Goodfellow. This is GSC Contribution Number
20060409. DLM gratefully acknowledges financial support
from NSERC and the Mineralogical Association of Canada
through postgraduate scholarships. Steve Piercey’s research
in the FLD has been funded by the Yukon Geological
Survey, the Geological Survey of Canada, Yukon Zinc
Corporation, Atna Resources Ltd., and a Natural Sciences
and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery
Grant. Bradshaw, Peter, and Layton-Matthews also thank
Expatriate Resources Ltd., Yukon Zinc Corporation, and
Teck Cominco Ltd. for their generous logistical and/or finan-
cial support.
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