Bulyanhulu: a giant shear-hosted vein gold deposit in

an Archaean greenstone belt, Tanzania

C.M. Chamberlain 1, J.J. Wilkinson 1 and R.J. Herrington 2
1 2
Royal School of Mines Department of Mineralogy
Imperial College The Natural History Museum
London, SW7 2BP, UK London, SW7 5BD, UK

G old reserves of 10.5 M oz have been defined at Bulyanhulu (Barrick 2000), and production began
during the first quarter of 2001. The deposit is situated in northern Tanzania, within the Sukumaland
greenstone belt, an Archaean granite-greenstone terrane. Gold mineralization was first discovered in the
region in the 1880’s, and the best-documented gold deposit in the region is Geita where production started
in 1894 (Borg et al. 1990). Over the past decade it has been recognised that the area is one of the most
important metallogenic provinces in East Africa and the region represents a highly prospective, and
under-explored, terrane.

Regional Geological Setting

The Sukumaland Greenstone Belt is one of a series of belts of Nyanzian-aged stratigraphy that
developed as part of the Tanzania Craton between 2.8 and 2.5 Ga (Borg et al. 1990, Borg & Shackleton
1997). The terrane, regionally metamorphosed to greenschist facies, consists of two oval, sub-concentric
belts. They comprise an inner, older (Lower Nyanzian) belt characterised by basaltic and andesitic lavas
and tuffs, and an outer, younger (Upper Nyanzian) arc consisting of banded iron formation with
volcaniclastics. Bulyanhulu is situated within the inner arc. Syn- and post-orogenic granitoids, as well as
several generations of dykes of lamprophyric and basaltic composition, have been identified.
In the Bulyanhulu area, a series of NW-SE trending shear zones occur and the main zone of
mineralisation, termed Reef 1, is hosted in one such shear structure. Whilst numerous shear zones have
been identified within the Sukumaland greenstone belt, the presence of major, first order, fault zones, a
key element of productive greenstone belts, have yet to be clearly demonstrated.

Geology of the Bulyanhulu Deposit

The Bulyanhulu deposit is hosted by a sequence largely comprising bimodal mafic and felsic
extrusive and intrusive rocks, with intercalations of argillaceous sediments. A shear zone that
preferentially developed along the most extensive sedimentary unit hosts Reef 1, the main zone of
mineralization. The structural footwall is largely basaltic with both intrusive and extrusive facies.
Structurally overlying the mineralisation is a sequence of fine-grained ash tuffs that host barren pyritic
clasts, passing upward into rhyolitic flows intruded by thin quartz porphyry dykes and sills. Reef 1
typically consists of a series of black quartz-sulphide veins located in a well-defined shear zone within the
argillaceous sediments. The sedimentary unit, containing pyritic clasts, pinches to the NW and thickens in
the SE. Along strike it becomes locally intensely carbonaceous which may reflect lithological
heterogeneity or may be a product of shearing itself. The horizon therefore behaves anisotropically with
respect to the relatively homogenous and isotropic adjacent lithologies.

Geometry of Reef 1
Host shear zone
The shear zone hosting Reef 1 is sub-parallel to lithological contacts, striking NW-SE and dipping
~80ºNE. Shear-related deformation grades abruptly into very low strain rocks on either side. The shear
zone foliation strikes sub-parallel to the zone but dips steeply in the opposite direction. In sheared lapilli
tuffs and agglomerates, the shape of the clasts defines a weak elongation, plunging ~20-30º towards
~310º. An intersection lineation between the shear zone foliation and bedding is commonly present and it
also plunges at about 30ºNW. Asymmetric folds with a consistent S-shape are commonly developed in
thin, more competent layers within the argillite. Fold axes plunge about 30ºNW, parallel to the
intersection lineation (Figure 1a). The obliquity of foliation to shear zone boundaries and the asymmetry
of the folds suggest that dominantly reverse, but slightly oblique, movement took place along the shear

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zone. Based on the kinematic evidence, the main transport direction within the shear zone is interpreted to
have been toward the west.
Main-stage quartz veins
The main stage of quartz-sulphide veining at Bulyanhulu is characterised by a series of steeply
dipping (85°NE) lenses ranging in thickness from cm-scale up to 1 m, and are sub-continuous along
strike. Locally, individual lenses comprise sheeted arrays of short discontinuous veinlets, occasionally
bifurcating to enclose elongate lenses of argillite. The veins are intensely deformed and are bound by
slickensided slip surfaces providing evidence for a syn-tectonic timing of emplacement. They have planar
walls and lack the laminated character (book or leaf texture) typical of shear veins. Vein deformation is
most pronounced where the host sediments are more carbonaceous.
In addition to the main reef-forming veins (summarised in Figure 1a), there are common smaller
sub-parallel veins, up to 5-10 cm thick, located on the margins of the shear zone in both hangingwall and
footwall rocks. Two further minor sets of veins have also been observed in the hangingwall and footwall:
steeply-dipping veins, typically <1 cm thick that strike orthogonal to the reef (NE-SW) and dip steeply
(70º) to the SE; and shallowly-dipping veins, typically 1 cm thick, that strike at a high-angle to the reef
and dip moderately to the NW. These two veinsets cut the shear zone foliation but display variable degree
of buckling, recording different degrees of shortening. These relations suggest that quartz vein
development took place during the evolution of the shear zone. Indeed, these veins may be a brittle
representation of ductile events within the main shear zone.
The three orthogonal sets of extensional veins are considered to be broadly coeval suggesting bulk
extension of the rocks in three orthogonal orientations, and near-hydrostatic conditions (σ1 ≅ σ2 ≅ σ3) at
the time of their emplacement. The key linear fabric is a sub-horizontal intersection lineation and lies
across the reef. The two other directions of minor elongation lie in the plane of the shear zone, one
plunging shallowly to the NW, and the other plunging steeply to the SE.
Features overprinting black quartz veins
Black quartz veins are boudinaged, indicating that strain accumulation continued subsequent to
vein formation in Reef 1. Anastomosing post-ore brittle strike-slip faults are common along the reef and
enhance the pinch-and-swell character of the quartz. Two perpendicular orientations of the boudin axes
are present within the plane of the shear zone (Figure 1b): axes raking steeply (70º) to the SE and
shallowly (30º) to the NW. The boudinage of Reef 1 is much more pronounced where the vein is hosted
by argillite than where argillite is absent. Where argillite is absent, the vein occurs as roughly tabular
sheets lacking significant pinch-and-swell structure.

Fig. 1a. Contoured poles to main-stage quartz veins, 4820-level Reef 1. The dominant cluster of data (Reef veins)
exhibits a trend and plunge of 215-05, corresponding to a planar orientation of 305/85NE. Ancillary veinlets in HW
and FW wallrock immediately adjacent to the Reef are also shown, and are considered to be broadly coeval with the
main Reef veins.
Fig. 1b. Contoured linear fabric elements, 4820-level Reef 1. Most lineations centre about a trend and plunge of
300-33. However, the same elements locally plunge SE. Filled circles = fold axes; filled squares = long axes of
pinch-and-swell structure and boudins; crosses = intersection lineations.

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Mineralisation, Fluids and Alteration
Two stages of mineralization have been identified: syn-depositional clastic pyrite that is barren of
gold, and an overprinting, hydrothermal event associated with auriferous mineralization (Chamberlain et
al. 2000). Auriferous pyrite, with minor sphalerite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite, galena and bismuth-tellurides,
dominate the sulphide assemblage. The overprinting deformation event that caused boudinaging of the
earlier quartz veins resulted in the development of sub-vertical cracks arranged orthogonally to vein
boundaries. These fractures and the neck areas of boudins are infilled with a gold-rich stage of quartz-
carbonate, with chalcopyrite being the ubiquitous sulphide. Gold is located within and on the margins of
chalcopyrite.
Primary fluid inclusions hosted by late gold-associated quartz are typically 3-phase at room
temperature, containing an aqueous phase and immiscible carbonic liquid and vapour. Preliminary fluid
inclusion data displays a range of homogenisation temperatures spanning 300-440°C. Solid CO2 melting
temperatures (ranging from –56.5 to –66.7°C) and clathrate melting temperatures (9.1 to 16.8°C) indicate
variable and significant proportions of a gaseous component in addition to CO2, probably methane (and/or
nitrogen).
Visible alteration related to mineralization is restricted to a narrow (< 5m) zone around the quartz
veins, and is dominated by carbonatization with major introduction of Fe and Ca. As, Zn and S are
enriched within this geochemical halo. A subtle halo extends up to tens of metres from Reef 1.

Structural Controls and Fluid Focussing

The preliminary observations and interpretations presented above suggest that Reef 1 formed as an
extensional vein within an active high-angle reverse shear zone. Vein formation was itself transient within
the shear zone, leading to boudinage of the Reef where hosted by incompetent argillite. Ore fluids in
Archaean orogenic gold deposits are commonly focussed by shear and fault zones, particularly along
lithological contacts, since these structures represent zones of low mean stress (σm = σ1+σ2+σ3/3; Ridley,
1993) and high permeability during failure (Cox, 1999). The ideally oriented argillaceous sedimentary
unit is mechanically weak and anisotropic with respect to the relatively homogeneous and isotropic
hangingwall and footwall lithologies so that it provided an ideal structural pathway for the localisation of
strain and conduit for mineralising fluids. Additionally, the carbonaceous and pyritic sedimentary unit
provided a highly reactive wall rock that may have promoted gold precipitation during shearing.

Acknowledgements
This works forms part of an ongoing PhD study on the Bulyanhulu gold deposit, financed by Kahama Mining
Corporation Limited. Acknowledgement is made to geologists at Bulyanhulu, and to Jay Hodgson of Barrick Gold
Corporation.

References
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