Distinctive characteristics of intrusion-related gold systems

Gabriel A. B. Silva

Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Geociências, Campus Darcy Ribeiro, 70910-900

Brasília, Brazil (*correspondence: gabrielangelobs@gmail.com ID: 19/0123320)

ABSTRACT

The reduced IRGS model was mainly developed based on discoveries and research on gold
systems in the Tombstone Gold Belt (TGB), and comprise a relatively new class of high
tonnage and low grade gold deposits. The best distinguishing features of these depostis are:
their regional location within provinces known for tin and tungsten mineralizations and in the
region inboard of an accretionary or collisional orogeny; post-collisional setting of plutons
within deformed shelf sequences; spatial relation to cupolas and contact aureoles of
moderately reduced and volatile-rich plutons; low sulfide content; Au-Bi-Te-W metallic
assemblage and zoning outward from the pluton (from intrusion-hosted arrays of sheeted Au-
Bi±Te±As±Mo±W veins, to proximal Au-W-As skarns and distal Ag-Pb-Zn veins).
Hydrothermal alteration is usually composed of K-feldspar, sericite or carbonate replacement
around intrusion-hosted veins, and of a more intensive and extensive alteration of biotite and
sericite in country rocks in the hornfelsed zone. Fluid inclusion data show common patterns
from early carbonic fluids evolving towards aqueous brines and later aqueous (±CO2) low-
salinity fluids, representing a genetic link between magmatic and hydrothermal processes.
Because they may have many features in common with orogenic gold deposits, such as
anomalous Bi, W, and Te, low salinity and CO2-rich fluids, and a time and/or space
relationship with intrusions, confusion can arise in classification of many gold deposits, but
there are a number of distinctive features specific of IRGS that support their recognition.

1. Introduction
Intrusion-related gold systems (IRGS) have recently achieved recognition as a
different style of gold mineralization with significant gold endowment due to their global
distribution and to the large number of deposits that contain a gold resource of >30 tonnes
(Lang and Baker 2001). They usually comprise deposits with high tonnage and low grades,
likely to range from 10 to 300 Mt and 0.7 to 1.5 g/t Au, respectively (Fig. 1) (Hart 2007). The
terminology of these deposits has developed gradually, having been called “porphyry gold
deposits” (Bakke 1995), “intrusion-realted stockwork-disseminated deposits” (Sillitoe 1991),
“plutonic-related gold deposits” (McCoy et al. 1997), and finally “intrusion-related gold
deposits” (Thompson et al. 1999). Lang et al. (2000) favored the term “intrusion-related gold
systems” because of the many associated deposit styles, which can be as varied as skarns,
veins, disseminations, stockworks, replacements, and breccias (Hart et al. 2000a). Reduced
intrusion-related gold systems, as defined by Hart and Goldfarb (2005) are are distinct from
intrusion-related gold deposits as defined by Sillitoe (1991). The “reduced” prefix, therefore,
is used to distinguish them from the oxidized intrusion-related Au deposits, which are mostly
variants of the porphyry Cu deposit model associated with more mafic, oxidized, magnetite-
series plutons. The reduced intrusion-related clan are a distinct type that lack anomalous Cu,
have associated W, low sulphide volumes, and a reduced sulphide mineral assemblage, and
are associated with felsic, moderately reduced (ilmenite-series) plutons, whereas are (Hart
2007). The reduced IRGS model was mainly developed based on discoveries and research
on gold systems in the Tintina Gold Belt (TGB), located in central Alaska and Yukon, Canada,
as they represent the best studied and best known examples of this deposit class (McCoy et
al. 1997; Thompson et al. 1999; Goldfarb et al. 2000; Lang and Baker 2001; Hart et al. 2002).

Figure 1. Grade and tonnages of deposits considered to be part of IRGS, with examples from the Tombstone
Gold Belt and Australia. Obtained from Hart (2007).

Several deposits have been recently reinterpreted as belonging to the IRGS class or,
independently of classification, at least to be of magmatic origin, including many orebodies
that had been previously classified as orogenic gold (Groves et al. 1998; Goldfarb et al. 2001;
Hart and Goldfarb 2005). This has led to a great deal of confusion amongst economic
geologists because there are critical geological differences between both types that are often
ignored (Hart and Goldfarb 2005). This way, clarifying this distinction is important because
there are fundamental differences on exploration strategies for each model.

2. Tectono-magmatic setting
Since this deposit class is in a developing level of understanding, tectonic settings are
still insufficiently constrained, with examples of broadly varying settings suggested globally
(e. g., accretionary, collisional, back-arc, postcollisional) (Thompson et al. 1999; Goldfarb et
al. 2000)(Thompson et al., 1999; Goldfarb et al., 2000 Lang et al., 2000). Goldfarb et al.,
(2000) concluded, based on the tectonic setting of several plutonic suites that host intrusion-
related gold systems, that accretionary to collisional, subduction-related terranes could be
the most favourable environment. According to Hart et al., (2004), these deposits are best
developed in intrusions that were emplaced in a late- to post-collisional setting, behind an
accretionary or collisional orogeny, into rocks of the thickened continental margin and above
a previously metasomatized subcontinental lithospheric mantle.
Deposits of the Tombstone Gold Belt, located on the northern part of the North
American Cordillera (Fig. 2), are some of the best-studied examples of intrusion-related gold
systems. In the Tombstone gold belt, IRGS are associated with a series of post-collisional
cretaceous plutonic suites emplaced into tectonically thickened clastic and carbonate strata
in a basin overlying the craton’s margins (Fig. 3) (Mair et al. 2006). Magmatism related to
these specific plutons is linked to a period of weak extension after the cessation of
deformation associated with thrust faulting during terrane collision. It represents the last
magmatic event that ensued from that orogeny, and the plutons that host and generate gold
mineralization preferentially belong to the youngest suites, and the ones most inboard of
inferred or recognized convergent plate boundaries (Mortensen et al. 2000; Hart et al. 2004;
Mair et al. 2006; Hart 2007).
Figure 2. Simplified map of the Tintina Gold Province of Alaska and Yukon Territory, Canada showing locations
of deposits (stars), significant occurrences (dots) and main regions of intrusion-related gold mineralisation.
Adapted from Stephens et al. (2004)

Figure 3. Schematic cross section of the northern Cordillera of Alaska and Yukon in the mid-Cretaceous,
highlighting the relative position of the post-collisional Tombstone and Mayo Suites intruding the Selwyn basin
and the tectonically thickened lower crust far from the plate boundaries. Adapted from Mair et al. (2011)

Even though processes such as fractionation, volatile enrichment and phase

separation are required to properly form economic concentrations of metals in magmas, the
nature of the source and their oxidation state are important in determining which elements
are effectively concentrated by magmatic processes (Hart et al. 2004). Distinction has been
made early on from the reduced intrusion-related gold systems to gold-rich porphyry deposits
that are typically associated with highly oxidized, magnetite series intrusions (Fig. 4) (McCoy
et al. 1997; Thompson et al. 1999; Lang and Baker 2001). Granitic rocks associated with the
RIR gold deposits are most fittingly described as “moderately reduced” (Hart et al. 2004),
being significantly less oxidized than intrusions related to gold-rich or gold-only porphyry
deposits. Au can be enriched in both oxidized and reduced magmas, but a reduced oxidation
state may be necessary for Au enrichment in more fractionated systems (Hart 2007).

Figure 4. Schematic plot of the degree of fractionation versus relative oxidation state showing metal associations
as a function of the primary magmatic oxidation state and the lithology of the associated plutonic rocks. Modified
from (Thompson et al. 1999), obtained in (Hart 2007).

Oxygen fugacity of granitic magmas (indicated by their Fe-Ti mineralogy and

Fe2O3/FeO ratio) can give insights to the oxidation state of the source region and to magmatic
processes that had influence in metal enrichment (Ishihara 1981; Blevin and Chappell 1992).
Variations shown in different intrusions associated with RIRG systems range from relatively
oxidised, magnetite-dominant to ilmenite-dominant reduced bodies, interpreted to primarily
reflect the varying proportion of magma contributed from different sources (Hart et al. 2004).
Crustal sources are typically dominated by marine siliciclastic rocks, some of which are
basinal or off-shelf facies which contain graphite, and thus, can be considered as strong
reductants; mantle sources, however, are commonly relatively oxidised, due to oxidising
metasomatic processes that occur in the mantle wedge above the subduction zone (Ishihara
1977; Ishihara 1981). Hart et al. (2004) have pointed out factors that indicate that redox states
are a key factor on the partitioning of gold and associated metals (W, Bi, Sn, Mo, Te) in the
reduced magmatic environment during fractionation. Redox conditions influence the valency
of some metals, which, in turn, determines their compatibility in minerals. Chalcophile Cu-Au
associations are preferably formed in a high oxidation condition, since it prevents early
formation of sulphide globules in the magma that can sequester copper and gold (Candela
1989). Gold can also be removed early from granitic melts by magnetite crystallisation,
although partition coefficients indicate that sulfides are much more important (Blevin 2004).
Tungsten and tin enrichment in fractionating melts is favoured under reduced conditions,
because in more oxidised magmas their occurrence as higher valence cations is favoured,
which readily substitute for Fe3+ and Ti4+ in mafic silicate minerals (Ishihara 1981; Blevin and
Chappell 1992). The magmatic concentration of bismuth also appears to be favoured by low-
to intermediate oxidation state (Hart et al. 2004). The precise role oxidation states have in
generating gold-enriched magmas is still uncertain, however.
There is great diversity in the lithologies and geochemistry of plutons related to RIR
gold deposits, which defy conventional plutonic categorization. Plutons of the Tintina Gold
Belt are neither I-type, reduced continental arc, nor typical crustal melt-derived or S-type
granitoids (McCoy et al. 1997; Thompson et al. 1999), having characteristics of each type
locally. Compositions are generally of granites, monzonites and granodiorites, with a wide
range of SiO2%, and they are mainly metaluminous, sub-alkalic with many highly felsic,
peraluminous and muscovite-bearing plutons also occurring (Fig. 5) (McCoy et al. 1997;
Thompson et al. 1999; Hart 2007). Some even show geochemical signatures similar to calc-
alkaline and alkaline granites, and a potentially recognizable feature of such plutons may be
their paradoxical metaluminous or alkalic character while having a highly radiogenic isotopic
ancestry that indicate derivation from an ancient crustal source (Hart 2007). In many cases,
even though the volume of felsic magma dominates, they are usually closely associated with
intermediate and mafic intrusions, representing hybrid phases developed through mixing of
mafic magmas and crustal-derived material as the magma ascended and resulting in a
transitional I-type to S-type magma due to the crustal input (Hart et al. 2004).
 Figure 5. ASI-silica plot for the Tombstone, Mayo and Tungsten plutonic suites. From Hart et al. (2004).

3. Ore controls and deposit morphology

Plutons that are prospective for RIRG mineralization have features indicative of
magmatic volatile production, such as aplites and pegmatites, miarolitic cavities, tourmaline-
bearing phases or veins, pneumatolitic textures and greisens, and unidirectional solidification
textures (Fig. 6A) (Hart et al. 2002). Deposits are best developed in and surrounding the
apices of smaller, isolated plutons (batholiths are unlikely to develop mineralizing systems,
but large plutons may have later phases that are mineralized), and in the hornfelsed thermal
aureole (Hart 2007). Isolated fracture-filling and shear-hosted veins can are found in plutons,
in the hornfelsed zone and even as far as several kilometres from the pluton, filling structures
that were active while emplacement was taking place and space was being created to allow
magma passage (Stephens et al. 2004). Preferred sites of intrusion-hosted mineralization
are above the cupola, where there is accumulation of exsolved fluids, and mineralized veins
form in the pluton’s chilled and more brittle carapace. The intrusion-hosted mineralization
itself is usually characterized by arrays of thin (centimeter-scale) parallel sheeted auriferous
quartz veins (Fig. 6B), with a low sulphide content. Disseminated mineralization may also
form close to pre-existing structures but are usually developed in more epizonal settings
where brittle structures are more common and fluid flow is more diffuse (Hart 2007).
Figure 6. A) Quartz and feldspar-filled vug in the Fort Knox pluton, indicative of fluid saturation and exsolution of
hydrothermal fluid from the intrusion. B) Outcrop of intrusion-hosted mineralized sheeted veins at the Clear Creek deposit,
Yukon. From Hart (2007).

Stephens et al. (2004) compared the structural and mechanical controls of gold
mineralization at the Clear Creek, Scheelite Dome and Dublin Gulch deposits of the
Tombstone Gold Belt with the structural styles that orogenic and porphyry systems more
commonly exhibit. The TGB deposits formed at 5–8 km depth, where mean and differential
stress is usually greater in magnitude than in shallower porphyry deposits in which magmatic-
related stress dominated the local stress field, resulting in more variable vein orientations.
The consistency in vein and fault orientations over hundreds of kilometres set the TGB
deposits apart from typical porphyry gold systems that have characteristic multidirectional,
interconnected vein stockworks, since their increased confining pressure in deeper levels of
emplacement prevents rapid fluid exsolution and explosive pressure release that form high
permeability stockworks and breccias (Baker and Lang 2001; Mair et al. 2006; Hart 2007).
Orogenic gold systems contrastingly have strong dimensionality in vein orientations and are
structurally linked to regional-scale faults or shear zones (Fig. 7) (Groves et al. 1998).

Figure 7. Schematic illustration of deposits and their different structural controls in orogenic gold deposits (a),
intrusion-related gold systems of the Tombstone Gold Belt (b) and porphyry gold systems (c). Orogenic gold
deposits in general have relationships with regional fault or shear zone systems. Deposits of the TGB are
associated with regionally extensive fracture zones, but are not connected to any regional-scale faults or shear
zones, and are only mineralised in the presence of Tombstone Suite intrusions. Porphyry deposits are centered
near intrusion cupolas, but have more variable vein orientations. Obtained from Stephens et al., (2004).

The dominant structural control on RIRGS is weak extensional structures associated

with magma and hydrothermal fluid movement, and extensional zones within strike-slip
domains, such as in the Scheelite Dome and Clear Creek deposits (Mair et al. 2000;
Stephens et al. 2004). Elongate plutons reflect structural controls on pluton emplacement
and indicate a dominant extensional direction that may be important for localizing later
mineralization (Hart 2007). Lithological controls in country rocks for mineralizations are
mainly related to the high reactivity and permeability of rocks with carbonaceous or
calcareous compositions, which are preferred lithological hosts. Examples include skarnified
limestones in proximal and distal settings and replacement of carbonaceous matrix and
cements in conglomerates by a quartz-sulfide assemblage (Hart et al. 2000b).
Sediment-hosted intrusion-related type deposits consist of zones of stockwork-
disseminated gold mineralization and share many characteristics of RIR deposits, but have
a more tenuous link to reduced intrusions since they lack identifiable magmatic intrusions at
the present surface or at the depth of mineralisation activity. The Muruntau and Kumtor
deposits, located in the Tien Shan gold province, Kyrgyzstan, are the largest deposits of this
class (the former being the largest gold deposit known outside the Witwatersrand), and
consist of sheeted quartz-feldspar gold-bearing veins located in the thermal aureole above
the roof zone of a synmineralization buried intrusion (Wall et al., 2004), which was . These
deposits have important structural controls and commonly are located in the core of anticlines
cut by high-angle faults. As noted by Wall et al. (2004), the presence of impermeable cap
rocks may be important in the formation of Muruntau and other deposits of this type. Jia et
al. (2019), based on lead and sulfur isotopic data and fluid inclusion microthermometry,
suggest such a model for the Herenping gold deposit, located in the southern margin of the
Yangtze craton and on the tungsten-tin metallogenic province in South China. The gold
mineralization there is hosted by albite-quartz veins in stratified sandy slate within the fracture
zones between the core and limbs of an anticline. They propose a model in which the magma
may have caused partial melting of the metasedimentary rocks during intrusion resulting in a
felsic magma with a low initial oxidation state. The melt would then possibly form a concealed
igneous rock mass and a gold- and sodium-rich reduced residual magma-gas-liquid fluid,
which ascended along fault zones to form albite-rich gold veins in the extensional zone of the
anticline.

4. Ore Paragenesis
There is a wide range in styles that mineral deposits in intrusion-related gold systems
exhibit, which define well developed zonation patterns based on the distance from the
associated pluton and nature of the country rocks (Thompson et al. 1999; Hart et al. 2000b;
Lang et al. 2000). Ore paragenesis and related zonation is controlled by the temperature of
fluids and fluid-wallrock interactions, and consequently, metal assemblages vary according
to the ore stage (Fig. 8 ) (Hart 2007). Vertical variations also occur, reflecting differences in
ductile and brittle structures (Lang and Baker 2001). Hart et al. (2000) defined three
categories of deposits based on the spatial relationship with their causative plutons. They are
intrusion-hosted deposits, which are composed of sheeted arrays of gold-bearing veins with
a metal assemblage of Au-Bi±Te±As±Mo±W; proximal deposits, located close to and within
the contact aureole of the intrusion and consisting of W±Cu±Au and Cu-Au-Bi±W skarns,
high and low sulphide replacement in calcareous rocks, and disseminations in
metasedimentary host rocks; and distal deposits, commonly characterized by a geochemical
association of As-Sb-Hg, and controlled by structural, lithological, and hydrothermal features.

Figure 8. A geologic model of intrusion-hosted proximal and distal styles of ore zonation that develop
surrounding the Tombstone plutons. From Hart and Goldfarb (2005).

The earliest paragenesis in these systems are of high-temperature skarns containing

pyroxene and scheelite, and may be Au-bearing where they contain significant amounts of
sulphide minerals, but although tungsten is commonly associated with intrusion-related gold
mineralization, it predates gold-bismuth and may occur spatially separate from it (Brown et
al. 2002). High-temperature sulphide assemblages are dominated by pyrrhotite in early
intrusion-hosted quartz veins, which also commonly contain alkali feldspar, mica, and
scheelite, but they may have low and sparse sulphide content and may lack gold (Hart 2007).
Slightly lower-temperature sheeted veins are similar but can contain a few percent pyrite or
arsenopyrite and Au-Bi-Te alloys, and are the key hosts to gold mineralization (Lang et al.
2000; Hart et al. 2000b). More sulphide-rich veins occur commonly outside the pluton,
containing arsenopyrite and antimony. As the hydrothermal event fades, it can also generate
Ag-Pb-Zn-bearing quartz veins at more distal locations, even outside the pluton’s thermal
aureole (Hart 2007).

5. Hydrothermal Alteration
In most sheeted vein-dominated intrusion-related systems, such as Fort Knox (Bakke
1995) and Mokrsko (Zachariáš et al. 2014), macroscopically-visible hydrothermal alteration
is restricted to narrow envelopes around individual veins. Other deposits, such as Salave
(Rodríguez-Terente et al. 2018) and Timbarra (Mustard et al. 2006), feature widespread,
texturally-destructive, intense and pervasive alteration zones. The depth of emplacement of
this class of deposits usually inhibits the participation of significant volumes of meteoric water
and consequently the formation of broad alteration zones, which are generally restricted to
the limits of the hornfelsed zones (Lang et al. 2000; Stephens et al. 2004a).
Proximal alteration in most intrusion-hosted deposits is restricted to zones of 0.5-3 cm
around the veins, and can be composed of texture-destructive K-feldspar or carbonate
replacement, and there is usually an important component of feldspathic alteration (Robert
et al. 2007; Hart 2007). An adjacent sericite and carbonate assemblage commonly overprints
plagioclase and mafic minerals, and a more distal and non-pervasive chlorite alteration can
also occur (Mair et al. 2000; Hart 2007). Alteration in the country rocks, however, may be
intensive and extensive in the hornfelsed zone, usually dominated by prograde biotite and
later retrograde sericite alterations (Mair et al. 2000). The Salave and Timbarra deposits are
examples of intrusion-hosted deposits that feature intense replacement of the fresh granitic
host rock, contrasting with most other depostis os this type. In the Salave deposit, there is
early albitization, a chloritic-propylitic-sericitic alteration and an advanced sericitic alteration
in the host granodiorite (Rodríguez-Terente et al. 2018). At Timbarra, there are both the usual
vein envelope alteration and zones of pervasive, weak to moderately intense muscovite-
chlorite-carbonate alteration (Mustard 2001).
At the Thaghassa deposit (Tuduri et al. 2018), the chemical features of hydrothermal
muscovite types are suggestive of a continuum between magmatic, magmatic-hydrothermal
and hydrothermal stages. The geothermometry of alteration muscovite from secondary, pre-
mineralization veins yielded a maximum temperature of formation close to 500 °C, which may
indicate the persistence of a magmatic character, at least at the beginning of the formation
of these veins. There is a consistent increase in phengitic and fluorine and decrease in Al
contents in muscovite types with an increasing trend from the magmatic to the hydrothermal
stages, that show an increase of phengite-like substitutions with respect to time and
decreasing temperature. There, it is apparent that hydrolysis reactions (consumption of
feldspars to from hydrothermal muscovite) may be effective mechanisms for ore deposition,
as they also lead to a pH increase in the fluid.

6. Fluid Inclusions
The role of the magmatic fluids in the formation of hydrothermal and mineralized
systems is still debated. Arguments against a magmatic origin for the fluids and metals
highlight their meteoric and/or metamorphic signatures in some deposits and suggest a
complete separation between magmatic and hydrothermal activity (e. g., Boiron et al. 2003;
Vallance et al. 2003). In such cases, heat production from the granitoids is supposed to only
generate thermal convection cells and thus the fluids scavenge gold and other metals from
the metamorphic or sedimentary host rocks (Boiron et al. 2003). For many of the intrusion-
hosted gold-only deposits, however, a non-magmatic model cannot explain the contrasting
fluid types observed (Baker 2002).
There are common patterns showing early carbonic fluids evolving towards aqueous
brines and later aqueous (±CO2) low-salinity fluids, representing a genetic link between
magmatic and hydrothermal processes (Baker and Lang 2001). Fluid chemistry of intrusion-
hosted sheeted veins has been extensively detailed for deposits in the Tombstone belt by
Baker and Lang (2001); Baker (2002), Marsh et al. (2003) and Mair et al. (2006). Low-salinity,
CO2–rich aqueous fluids are the dominant fluid type of early high temperature (380°–300°C)
Au-W-Bi-Te veins and CH4, N2 and H2S components may be abundant (Baker and Lang
2001; Baker 2002). Cooling and local unmixing of these fluids result in lower temperature
(280°–250°) immiscible low- and high-salinity aqueous fluids without considerable amounts
of CO2, which form As-, Sb-, and Ag-Pb-Zn veins (Hart 2007).
 Fluid types also vary with depth (Fig. 9), which is interpreted to be the result of the
complex interplay between exsolution of different volatiles from felsic magmas emplaced at
different crustal levels (Baker 2002). Deposits in deeper environments have low-salinity, CO2-
rich aqueous fluids, which are postdated by moderate- to high-salinity brines in some
deposits; in shallow environments the fluids are high-temperature (>350°C), immiscible
brines (>30 wt.% NaCl equiv.) and low-salinity (<5 wt.% NaCl equiv.) vapors that commonly
contain carbon dioxide.

Figure 9. Schematic geological model showing the relationship between intrusion-related gold styles,
paleodepth, and hydrothermal fluid types. Obtained from Baker, 2002, with data derived from Lang et al., 2000;
Baker and Lang, 2001 and Lang and Baker, 2001).

Data from fluid inclusions for the mineralizing fluid of Au-Bi deposits of northeastern
Russia presented by Vikent’eva et al. (2018) determined mainly H2O-CO2-NaCl fluids formed
at temperatures of 400–250 °C, which formed immiscible brines and CO2-bearing vapour at
low pressure (≤1.3 kbar, 1-3 km) as well as low- to moderate salinity CO2-H2O mixtures
without brines at higher pressure (≥1.3 kbar, 4~5 km). Gold deposition mechanisms are
related to a decrease in the sulphur activity in the solution and to a liquid bismuth collector
model (Douglas et al. 2000; Tooth et al. 2008; Tooth et al. 2011). In this model, hydrothermal
environments with low ƒS2 and temperatures exceeding 271 °C, bismuth may precipitate from
hydrothermal fluids as a liquid. The strong partition of gold into liquid bismuth from the
hydrothermal fluid (Douglas et al. 2000) can incite precipitation of gold, even when that fluid
is significantly gold undersaturated (Tooth et al. 2011).

7. Discussions and Conclusions

Characteristics of intrusion-related gold systems overlap with many other deposit
types, such as porphyry, orogenic gold, tin, tungsten and molybdenum systems, but they also
have a unique combination of genetic and exploration features that justifies their separate
classification (Lang and Baker 2001). The genetic model proposed by Hart (2007) is based
on fluids of probable aquo-carbonic composition exsolved from the cooling intrusion, which
migrate to the cupola region and react with adjacent country rocks to form mineralizations on
the plutons apex, on its brittle carapace right above it or in the hornfelsed zone in the host
rocks.
Among the numerous potential controls on the regional metallogeny of intrusion-
related ore systems, the nature of the source rocks and the corresponding redox state of the
magmas are among the most important (Hart and Goldfarb 2005). Exploration strategies at
a more regional scale should be focused on foreland regions of orogens, where felsic magma
intruded old continental margins and the basins overlying them, inland of plate boundary and
accreted terrane collisional zones (Lang et al. 2000; Hart 2007). Historical recognition of Sn
or W regional endowment and gold placer deposits close to plutons are also prospective
indicators (Hart and Goldfarb 2005; Hart 2007). Deposit-scale exploration should target the
highly prospective roof zones of plutons (which may prove to be difficult since they are rarely
mapped or indicated on available geological maps), and should focus on understanding the
structural controls on pluton emplacement, which are critical to the development of deposit
orientations (Stephens et al. 2004; Hart 2007).

Distinguishing intrusion-related gold systems from orogenic gold deposits

The orogenic gold deposits are the ones with the most similarities to intrusion-related
gold systems, and can be found in comparable tectonic settings (Goldfarb et al. 2001; Lang
and Baker 2001). Common characteristics include anomalous Bi, W, Te, reduced sulfide
assemblages, low salinity, CO2-bearing fliuids, post-peakmetamorphic lodes and even
spatial and/or temporal association with granitic rocks, that mostly result from their formation
from fluids with similar compositions and in similar settings that host large volumes of felsic
magma (Hart 2007). Therefore, recognition of IRGS require a number of distinctive features
that are specific to hydrothermal systems surrounding cooling magmatic bodies that
generates and drives local-scale fluid convection, which are absent in most orogenic gold
deposits since they are mostly considered to form from more crustal-scale fluid flow
processes derived from metamorphic dehydration (Hart et al. 2000b; Goldfarb et al. 2001). A
common aspect of orogenic gold deposits is also their structural link to regional fault and
shear zone systems (Groves et al. 1998), contrasting with intrusion-related gold
mineralization, which are not controlled by regional faults or shear zones (Stephens et al.
2004). Alteration assemblages also differ between the two types, as orogenic gold deposits
are generally characterized by extensive sericite-ankerite carbonate alteration, with K-
feldspar alteration usually absent or moderate, at most (Lang and Baker 2001).

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