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    3950-Article Text-6993-2-10-20070614 - New Mineral Deposits Models of The Cordillera

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    Geoscience Canada Volume 24 Number 3 Conference Report New Mineral Deposit Models of the Cordillera David Lefebure British Columbia Geological Survey 1810 Blanshard Street Victoria, British Columbia VAW 9NB diefebure @gaiaxy.gov.be.ca ‘Atwo day short course on "New Mineral Deposit Models of the Cortera” was pro- sented frst in Vancouver prior tothe 1996 Cordileran Roundup and then in Decer- ber ofthe same year in Spokane in con- junction with the Northwest Mining Asso- ciation meeting. The objective was to pro- vide industry participants with new ideas ‘and modols fo assist them with explora: tion. A spectrum of ore deposit models ‘was discussed, trom deposit types with proven economic potential to styies of mineralization that remain tobe evaluated. Both sossions were wel alended by ge- ‘logists from Canada and the United States. The fist course was organized by the Briish Columbia Geological Survey (BCGS) in collaboration with the Mineral Deposit Research Unit (MORU) of The University of British Columbia and the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC), while the second was a joint venture be tween the BCGS and the Northwest Min ing Association. Most speakers partici- pated in both workshops. SHORT COURSE NOTES ‘AND ABSTRACTS, ‘The Northwest Mining Association is sell- ing the notes for the second short course for $85 US plus $12.50 handling charges. Northwest Mining Association 10N. Post Street, Suite 414 ‘Spokane, Washington 99201-0772 Tel (509) 624-1158 FAX: (508) 620-1241 E-mail: nwma@or-ramp.ior.com ‘The abstracts forthe firs short course in Vancouver are posted on the BCGS's web site: http://natural.gov.be.ce/geosmin/ ‘metalminidepmodeUrdup-abs.him INTRODUCTION ‘The short course began witha presenta- tion by Michael Etheridge of Etheridge Henley and Wiliams on “Making Models Matter.” He pointed out that exploration geologists increasingly are being asked by non-technical people to explain what they do, why they dbo it that way, and “Even the most how to measure: | Pragmatic'ot | program elfectve- explorers use ness. The answers models to help often involve de- justly their posit models be- decisions” cause even the most “pragmatic” of explorers uso them to help justty their decisions and to argue that their approach is ettective (Le. lower risk). The principal deficiency it ‘many models is that they do not incorpo rale an understanding of the critical geo- legical process responsible for forming a deposit. For example, the critical process in forming a porphyry copper deposit may vwell be the dilatant deformation that gave £50 to the stockwork vein system, rather than the petrogenesis ofthe intrusive host tock, or even the associated alteration. Effective exploration models should main- tain relevance by continual modification, and be presentable in map form to focus 143 ‘tort on the most favorable areas. David Lelebure (BCGS) discussed Brit- Ish Columbia deposit profiles that are being developed for Cordilleran-type set- tings. More than 140 metal, coal and in- dustrial mineral deposit models are rel ‘evant to British Columbia. The deposit profiles are two- to five-page descriptions Used to classify known deposits and oc- ccurrences, to estimate undiscovered min- ‘eral resources, and to group deposits to allow compilation of representative grade and tonnage data. GOLD SKARNS, ‘AND CARLIN DEPOSITS During a comprehensive review of gold skarns, Gerry Ray of the BCGS. high- lighted the need to assay all mineral a ‘semblages in skarns because micron- sized gold may be associated with barron sulphides or even sulphide-poor assem- blages. Most gold skarns have low metal ratios (Cu/Au <2000; Cu/Ag <1000; Zn! ‘Au <100, Ag/Au <1) compared to oth types of skarns. The oxidation state of the hydrothermal fluids and the oxidizing or reducing capacity of the hostrocks inthi- ences the skarn mineralogy and metal chemistry, *Re- duced” gold skams ere ‘are marked by low Carlin trend garnet/pyroxene has come and pyrite/pytrho- fargely from tite ratios and the the discovery presence of heden- of high-grade bergitic pyroxene G6 gt!) ‘and Fe-rch biotite. refractory Associated intru- 7 sions have low oer Fo,0./Fe0 ratios ‘and the ore bod- les are developed distal to plutons. in the ‘outer parts of pyroxene-rich exoskarn en- velopes (Fig. 1). Examples include Nicks! Plate (BC), Fortitude (Nevada) and Buck- horn Mountain (Washington State). Oxi- dized gold skarns are characterized by 144 high garnetipyroxene and pyrite/pyrthotite ratios, and by the presence of diopsidic pyroxene, pyrite, magnetite and hematite. (Ore bodies tend to form proximal to intru- sions. Examples include Nambija (Ecua- dot) and McCoy (Nevada). Newmont Exploration Limited geolo- gists David Groves and Mac Jackson pro- vided updates on the Carlin trend, a 60- kilometre long belt of sedimentary-hosted {gold deposits in Nevada with a total cure tent resource of 3100 tonnes of gold. Near-surface oxidation has rendered many of the deposits amenable to bulk tonnage mining and heap-leach process- ing, which has led to the mistaken impres- sion that all deposits in this class are large tonnage and low grade. In recent years new ore has come largely trom the dis- covery of high-grade (>6 gt) refractory deposits. The Hardie Footwall deposit is ‘astratigraphically controlled, downdip ex- tension of the original Carlin oxide-gold deposit. The deposit contains a dril.ing'- cated, geologic resource of 1,318,000 tonnes grading 16 gt Au. The West Leeville deposttis another stratigraphically ‘controlled deposit located 2 km north of the Carlin mine with drill-indicated re- serves of 5.4 milion tonnes grading 14.7 ‘gt’Au. As well, there are breccia bodies, such as Deep Star, Deep Post and Pur ple Vein, that are located close to the Goldstrike intrusion at the northern end of the Carlin trend. Deep Star has a dril- indicated, geologic resource of 797,000 tonnes at a grade of 32 gt Au, The de- posit is located between steeply dipping strands of the Genesis fault zone at depths ‘of 350 m to 500 mang, in plan, measures only 75 m by 100 m. These new deposits show significant variations from the origi- ral "Carlin-type" model, which exploration geologists should keep in mind. ‘The potential to find Carlin-type de- posits in Canada was addressed by Howard Poulsen (GSC, Ottawa). He noted that the geolagical and genetic madels for Carlin-type doposits (Fig. 2) continue to evolve, in part because for many of the deposits the primary features of hypogene ores are obscured by oxidation. The hypogene aspects of these deposits are the most relevant to Canadian exploration Western Canada is one area that has ex- ploration potential because of some of the obvious geological similarities with cen- tral Nevada. For example, the Paleozoic stratigraphy of the Roberts Mountains Allochthon of Nevada is correlative with that of the Kootenay Arc and Selwyn Ba- sin in Canada, and that of the Goleonda Allochthon is correlative with Slide Moun- tain rocks. Important metallogenetic simi- larities to the Cariin trend are the pres- ence of sedex barite deposits (Selwyn Basin) and of vein and manto-type Ag~ Pb-Zn mineralization (East Kootenay, Cassiar, Keno Hil). (Odin Christensen of Newmont Explo- ration Lid. reviewed examples of Carlin- type deposits trom the western Pacific region, including the Mesel deposit, n- donesia, deposits in southwestern China, and the Bau District in Malaysia. The Mesel and Bau deposits are located in sedimentary sequences within volcanic ‘arcs, clearly a different environment than Nevada. At Mesol, the gold mineralization is hosted by a Middle Miocene limestone immediately beneath and adjacent to an andesitic intrusion. The mineralization, limestone and intrusion all formed be- tween 13-11 Ma. Mesel has mineable re- serves of 8.77 million tonnes at an aver- age grade of 7.10 gt* Au. The Chinese deposits include Bangi, Getang, Lannigou and others hosted by Permian to Triassic rocks, There are no known igneous rocks in the districts. Orebodies occur as strata- bound deposits within carbonates, along faults, and along contacts between car- bonate and siliciclastic units, INTRUSION-RELATED GOLD Jacob Margolis of Home-stake Mining Company reviewed the gold and copper deposits of the northern Sulphurets dis- trict, located 60 km northwest of Stew- art, British Columbia. These deposits span fa spectrum from porphyry to epithermal environments, During the emplacement of the initial porphyry Cu-Au mineralization, quartz stockworks with chalcopyrite con- taining electrum, such as the Mitchell de- posit (~200 milion tonnes grading 0.2% ‘Gu and 0.857 gt" Au), developed at higher levels within the volcanic and intrusive rocks. An initial stage of phyllic ateration Garnet-rich (“oxidized”) Au Skarns Figure 1 Schematic sactions comparing the ‘main features of “oxidized” and ‘reduced gold skams (trom Gerry Ray} Figure 2 Occurrence modeler Cartin-ype deposis (rom Howard Poulsen). Adapted trom Siltos ‘and Bonham (1990, Geology, 18, p. 157-161), and Borger and Bagby (1991, # Foster, FP, (4, Gold Motallogeny and Exploration: Blackie, Glasgow and London, UK, p. 210-248) Geoscience Canada Volume 24 Number 3 hosting quartz-molybdenite veins was fol lowed by argillic alteration and a final stage of precious metal-rich epithermal systems developed in the voleanic rocks. These epithermal systems consist of ‘quartz-barite veins containing galena- ‘sphalerte-tetrahedrite-pyrargyrte-gold- acanthite (West Zone) and a low-grade, dsseminated aur. erous pyrite zone (Snowfeld deposi, 38 milion tonn grading 2.7 gt? ‘Au), Margolis con- cluded by pointing ‘out that porphyry molybdenum systems can have assoc ‘ated gold mineralization and that calc alkaline intrusives are as prospective for the yellow metal as alkaline suites. Dani Alldrck and Trayve Hy (BCGS) described a newly differentiated deposit ‘ype, intrusion-related gold-bearing py- rhotite veins. The veins are commonly emplaced in en echelon fracture sets around the periphery of subvolcanic plu- {ons ina transitional setting between por- phyry and epithermal systems (Fig. 3). These veins are composed of massive fine-grained pyrthotite and pyrite andor massive bull quartz with minor calcite. They are atractive exploration targets be- cause of their high grades, continuity due to strong structural controis, and predict- able relationships to intrusions and genet- cally related deposits. Examples include “Porphyry ‘molybdenum systems ‘can have associated gold.” the Scottie Gold, Snip, Johnny Mountain, Le Roi, War Eagle and Centre Star mines in British Columbia and some of the main veins (Copper Rand, Portage, Merrill, Main and Chib-Kayrand mines) in the Chibougamau Camp, Quebec. The Snip and Johnny Mountain deposits were de- scribed in a presentation by David Rhys, consulting geologist. High-grade gold-si- ver mineralization occurs in thick, semi- tabular pyritespyrthotite stockworks with intense sericitc alteration, Rhys also described the Red Mountain precious metal deposit, located 15 kilo- metres east of Stewart, British Columbia, Which occurs within several zones within a folded sequence of Mesozoic sedimen- tary rocks, volcaniclastic and intrusive rocks. Several shallow-dipping alteration zones are developed sequentially above ‘a propyitic zone with a quartz stockwork carrying molyode- "High-grade rum. These include gold-siver sercite-quarte-py- Sentateation |" akeration, chio- valzaion | rite-K-feldspar— coer © | ‘sercite-ttanite at semitabular pyritespyrhotite stockworks with intense serictic alteration.” teration with dis sominated and vein pyrhotte and brown tobleck tour- ‘maline veins and K-feldspar-py- tite-titanite-actinolite alteration. Anoma- fous gold (20.3 gt") mineralization is de~ veloped at the transition from pyrite to Tee Q 5 to Isat suauow sutaaueous HOTSPRING ‘rorne) EPITHERNAL VERS susan —\—_-VOLCANOGENC sHauow HORPINGS Wassive exw suBAQUEOUS Be \__shtewioes HOTSPRING. 7 \ (croter ake) J TRANSITIONAL PORPHYRY-RELATED Au sor Tels & Flows yo vernicat een Figure 3 Island are mode! for intusion-related gold-bearing pyrhotite veins (rom Dani Aliick and Trygve H6y). a a PORPHYRY Cu-Au Loews tr = INTRUSION-RELATED "ALPYRRHOTITE VEIN 4m ‘ 145 ‘pyrhotite dominant alteration over a >1 kr? ‘area. Within this anomalous zone, high- {grade gold-silver mineralization (3-20 gt ‘Au) occurs in §-29 m thick, semitabular pyritespyrthotite stockworks (1992 re- ‘source of 2.5 millon tonnes grading 12.8 gt? Au and 38.1 gt” Ag) with intense serictc alteration and surrounding issemi- nated sphaleritexpyrthotite. The alteration zoning, molybdenum-copper quartz stock- works, extensive K-silicate and tourmaline alteration, andthe relationship with a hypa- byssal porphyritic intrusion show similari- ties to many porphyry systems. FORT KNOX-TYPE GOLD MINERALIZATION Jim Mortensen of The University of Brit- ish Columbia described the host Tomb- ‘stone Plutonic Suite, a lthologically di- verse belt of mid-Cretaceous plutons that intrude miogeoclinal strata. The belt has ‘been offset along the Tintina Fault and ‘extends west to the Fairbanks mining dis- trict in Alaska. Mineralization spatially as- ‘sociated with Tombstone Plutonic Suite ranges from intrusion-hosted porphyry Au (Gi-W-Mo) deposits (0.g., Fort Knox, Dub- lin Gulch, Emerald Lake, Pukelman), to intrusion- and wallrock-hosted Au-bearing quartz-arsenopyrite veins and breccias (eg., Ryan Lode, Dublin Gulch), to proxi- mal W-(Au) skarns (¢.g., Mar/Ray Gulch, Scheelite Dome, Rhosgobel, Tungsten Hill), to distal (2) Au- and/or Sb-rich re- placement/manto deposits (e.9., Scraf ford, Wayne). Relatively late, lower-tem- perature, Ag- and base metal-rich veins locally both overprint the intrusion-centred systems (¢.g., Dublin Gulch) and occur distal to the intrusion (e.g, Keno Hil, Peso, Rex, Wayne). Intrusion- and country rock= hosted, possibly Carlin-ike, disseminated! ‘stockwork Au-AS-Sb mineralization is also developed in several areas (ag, Brewery Creek, NevelBrick, True North). Tho Dublin Gulch deposit, located near Mayo in the Yukon Territory, was dis cussed by Hans Smit of New Millenium Mining Limited. The deposit area is un- detlain by Late Proterozoic to Early Cambrian Hyland Group clastic rocks of the Selwyn Basin. These rocks have been deformed by Early Cretaceous thrusting and later ragional scale gentle folding. Subsequent to this deformation, the Clastic rocks were intruded by Cretaceous ‘Tombstone Suite intrusions, including the Dublin Gulch stock. Fort Knox-type min- eralization within the stock consists of sheeted, low-sulphide gold quartz veins with very limited wallrock alteration. Ore 148 veins grade into veins possessing distinct soricite selvages, lower gold and bismuth ‘contents, and mi “Dubin Gulch ore] Net arsenopytite, wien ore | pyrite and pyr- Dpiaty aces | Tate, cad 0. |_| curs 26 native astozogt — | goid, associated sole with ieruth min ‘eras or less com> monly encapsulated in arsenopyrite. In- dividual veins are thin and grade in the range of 10-30 gt! Au. However, the ore zone, encompassing both the vein and granodiorite host material, typically Grades between 0.8 to 2.0 gt. In 1995, dilling defined a mineable reserve of 36 million tonnes grading 0.92 gt” Au, OPHIOLITE-HOSTED MESOTHERMAL, GOLD-QUARTZ VEINS A tectonic model describing the origin of ‘mesothermal gold-quartz veins asso- ciated with ophioltic sequences was pre~ sented by Chris Ash (BCGS). He pointed ‘out that the deposits are hosted within, or ‘marginal to, colisional suture zones where large volumes of CO,-rich fluids have baen channeled to produce carbonate-altered Litramatic rocks or “istwanites” These veins appear to form during periods of metamorphism and partial melting due to tectonic crustal thickening in response to ‘arc-continent colsion. They are typically associated with late syn-colisional inter- mediate to felsic magmatism. Mineraliz~ ing hydrothermal fluids are interpreted to be derived, at least in part, from tectoni- cally thickened, hydrated oceanic litho- sphere that undergoes metamorphic de- hydration and partial melting curing and ater faulting, ‘TRANSITIONS FROM PORPHYRY TO EPITHERMAL ENVIRONMENTS Andre Panteleyev (CGS) pointed out that Porphyry and epithermal characteristics may blend in volcano-plutonic arcs with “telescoped” hydrothermal systems. This ‘commonly occurs as an overprinting of ‘earlier mineralization by lower temper ture, more oxidized, advanced argilic al- teration assemblages. The telescoping may be due to rapid erosion of volcanic edifices by tropical weathering or glacial erosion, switt degradation of hydrother- mally damaged volcanic structures, or cataclysmic decomprossional events such ‘a8 gravitational sector collapse. Transi- tional mineralization is a closely related variant of high-sulphidation deposits as the hydrothermal fluids involved are de- rived from the same, or similar intrusions. Tho transitional deposits can have simi- Jar advanced argilic or acid sulphate al- {eration and mineralization (covellte and tennantite-etrahedrte, enargite-tuzorite), but these minerals are generally subord- nate and restrictedto late, localized acidic fluid flow. For transitional deposits, the dominant altoration is quartz-sericito— pyrite derived from relatively high tem- perature and pressure and highly saline solutions that are more akin to those that form porphyry deposits. Pyriteis the domi- ‘nant sulphide mineral; chalcopyrite, tetra- hedritaennantite are common; and enar- ite is rare or absent. The Kori Kollo min Bolivia and Equity Siiver mine, British Co- lumbia exemplty this deposit type. ‘OLYMPIC DAM-TYPE DEPOSITS ‘Olympic Dam-type iron oxide deposits: form from volatile-rch igneous-hydrather- ‘mal systoms. Olympic Dam-type ion ox- ide deposits currently attract exploration attention for their associated copper, gold, vraniumandLREE. “ype| Murray Hitzman ‘Dymo Danie | Bin ole ion onde deposits | col of Nines form tom painted out thoy crate dtc igneous: Class of ore do: ‘hydrothermal posits character- systems” ined by ooh, ——~ owettanium rocks formed in etonsionaltctonicemironments They form primarily in cratonic or cont- rental margin environments and aro ox- pressions of deeper-seated, votatle-rich igneous-tydrothermal systems, appedby deep crustal structures. The majority of known deposits, particularly the larger ex- amples, are found wihin Early tom Pro- terozoie host rocks (1.1-1.8 Ga).Mostcis- tricts occur along major structural zones and many of the deposits are elongatod parallel to local structural rends. The ores ‘are generally dominated by iron oxides, either magnetite or hematite. The host rocks are genorally intensely altered with ‘2 general trond from sodic alteration at deep levels, to potassic alteration at in- tormediate to shallow levels, to serctc alteration and silcificaion at very shallow levels Locally, the host rocks are intensely Fo-metasomatized. individual deposits ‘occur both as strongly discordant veins ‘or breccias and massive concordant bod- ies, Current exploration intrest is focus- ‘sed on copper- and gold-bearing occur- rencas in Australia and the Yukon. Michael Etheridge provided a descrip- tion of an Olympic Dam-type deposit, the Ernest Henry that is located within early Proterozoic rocks of the eastern Mount 2 Iniioe, Australia The deposit contains 167 milion tonnes at 1.1% Cu and 0.64 gt Au Osborne (-16 milion tonnes at 3.0% Cus1.3 gt Au), Selwyn (-5 milion tonnes at 1.0% Cus5.0 gt! AL), Eloise (~3 milion tonnes at 5.8% Cu+.5 gt Au), and Elliot {(-2 millon tonnes at 3.0% Cu and 1.3.9" Au) are other deposits that are being ‘mined in the region. Most of the deposits are associated with “ironstones” and coin- cide with moderate-to-iarge amplitude mag- netic anomalies. Etheridge pointed out that the key factors in developing exploration models for this type of deposit are the granitoid and structural associations. A ‘genetic ink between the Cu-Au deposits ‘and the Hype granitoids (dominantly grano-

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