GOLD IN 2000: AN INTRODUCTION
formity U-Au ± Pt and Pd deposits. Au-only deposits are
structurally similar to the Archean midcrustal deposits;
however, they are closely associated with highly fractionated,
reduced, I-type granites which contribute magmatic fluids that
dilute and mix with fluids from metamorphic sources. Deposits
occur in linear belts associated with regional ductile structures
near the brittle-ductile transition. Gold occurs in all rock types
and appears to have been derived from surrounding volcanic
and sedimentary country rocks. The deposits record similar
fluid and geochemical associations, and bisulfide complexes are
implicated as the primary transport medium for the gold.
Partington and Williams document a broader range of crustal
and tectonic environments and structural and host-rock controls
for the Cu-Au-(Fe) deposits. Granites are spatially and
temporally related to mineralization although details of the
fluid chemistry vary widely. Alteration and metasomatism
occur both regionally and locally, are commonly intense, and
typically remove Na while adding K and Fe. The last 10 years
have seen 150 Moz of production and resources identified from
Proterozoic deposits, and thus, Proterozoic basins are high-
priority exploration targets around the world. Better ore deposit
models for these ore types are needed to help guide geo-
physical and geochemical exploration in these terranes.
Phanerozoic orogenic gold deposits are associated with
convergent plate margins in close proximity to major
translithospheric structures such as shear zones. The deposits
are almost entirely structurally controlled, and unlike the
majority of their Archean and Proterozoic analogues; are
primarily hosted in thick marine sedimentary rock sequences
(Bierlein and Crowe. 2000). The largest examples of this ore type
are found at or above the ductile- brittle transition in greenschist
grade terranes. Mineralization closely follows the peak of
metamorphism and is tempo- rally associated with uplift and
unroofing of the orogen and lithospheric delamination. Which
adds heal to the lower crust by mantle upwelling. Ore fluids are
CO2-rich metamorphic fluids that deposit gold at 1 to 3 kbar and
250° to 400°C. Alteration halos range in size front centimeters to
a few tens of meters and reflect local lithologic, permeability,
porosity, and bedding variations.
Lithogeochemical data from these alteration halos provide the
best exploration tool and generally document depletion, of Na
and addition of K, S. As. Au and possibly Sb as well as CO2 and
H2O. The limited areal extent of these alteration halos reduces
their usefulness in a regional exploration effort but makes them
quite useful during final prospect evaluation or mine site
development.
The fluid chemistry of orogenic gold deposits is the subject of a
summary paper by Ridley and Diamond (2000). These deposits,
of varying ages and in all settings have in common a low salinity
and mixed aqueous-carbonic fluid, with—in many respects—a
uniform composition and isotopic chemistry. They propose that
for many components the fluids arc in approximate equilibrium
with the host-rock sequence, but the fluid composition varies in
space and time with respect to a number of critical components.
Ore fluid compositions should not be expected to closely reflect
the source; rather, they will reflect fluid-rock interactions along
the fluid pathway or mixed signatures of the source and wall
rocks. With these principles in mind Ridley and Diamond
conclude that either a granitoid magmatic or a metamorphic
devolatilization model for the fluid sources of orogenic gold
deposits is consistent with the data.
The tectonic setting of Carlin-type deposits is still hotly debated,
with Hofstra and Cline (2000) suggesting that they formed in the
mid-Tertiary during the transition from flat subduction of the
Farallon plate, with generation of subduction-related magmas,
to delamination of the slab from the base of the crust. They also
stress the possible significance of (1) mantle plumes such as the
ancestral Yellowstone hot spot which could have provided
additional heat, magmatism, metals, and volatiles; and (2) long-
lived deep transcrustal fault zones that define the “trends”
along which the majority of Carlin-type deposits are located.
Most deposits are hosted in permeable Paleozoic miogeoclinal
carbonate sequences that are either stratigraphically or
structurally capped by less permeable siliciclastic rocks. The
moderately acidic, reduced, low salinity, 150° to 250°C ore fluids
contained sufficient H2S concentration to suppress the
solubility of Fe, base metals, and silver as chloride complexes
and at the same time carry the gold and associated characteristic
suite of trace elements (As, Sb, Tl, Hg) as bisulfide complexes.
Various districts yield conflicting indications as to the source of
ore fluids although the lack of mid-Tertiary intrusions spatially
associated with any of the ore deposits argues for a
metamorphic fluid source coupled with variably evolved
meteoric waters. The breadth of geochemical. petrologic, and
structural features observed in Carlin-type ore deposits resist
simple classification and further work is required to either refine
a single model or perhaps define multiple variations upon a
theme.
Most gold-rich epithermal and porphyry systems and asso-
ciated skarns occur in middle Mesozoic to younger continental-
and oceanic-arc tectonic settings around the Pacific Rim. Some
develop above subduction zones within or distal. to continental
margins, but during postcollisional extension, whereas others
develop in oceanic environments of volcano plutonic island arcs
located above moderately to steeply dipping subduction zones
(e.g., Sawkins, 1990: Sillitoe. 1991). White and Hedenquist (1995)
emphasize the close spatial relationship of epithermal
environments to igneous systems, and the vertical transition
from porphyry style to low-sulfidation epithermal vein-style
mineralization within the top 5 km of crust. High-sulfidation
and hot spring epithermal gold deposits occur in the same
tectonic regime but distal to the plutonic rocks, the latter near
the paleosurface. Other epithermal gold deposits are associated
with alkalic, mantle- related rocks that reflect extensional
episodes in a convergent orogen. These could either be in a near-
arc region (e.g., Porgera: Richards et al, 1990) or far inland of the
accretionary wedge (e.g., Cripple Creek: Kelley et al., 1998).
Cooke and Simmons (2000) and Hedenquist et al. (2000)
summarize the characteristics and genesis of epithermal gold
ores and then apply the resulting model to defining an
exploration strategy for these important ore deposits. Low-
sulfidation systems are spatially associated with magmas but
generally occur up to several kilometers above the causative