doi: 10.1111/j.1751-3928.2007.00011.x Resource Geology Vol. 57, No.

2: 114–123

Original Article

Characteristics of the Cibaliung Gold Deposit: Miocene

Low-Sulfidation-Type Epithermal Gold Deposit in
Western Java, Indonesia

Agung Harijoko1,2, Yukiko Ohbuchi2, Yoshinobu Motomura3, Akira Imai2

and Koichiro Watanabe2
1Department of Geological Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2Department of Earth

Resources Engineering and 3Department of Earth and Planetary Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

Abstract
Middle Miocene (11.18–10.65 Ma) low sulfidation-type epithermal gold mineralization occurred in the Cibali-
ung area, southwestern part of Java Island, Indonesia. It is hosted by andesitic to basaltic andesitic lavas of the
Middle Miocene Honje Formation (11.4 Ma) and is covered by Pliocene Cibaliung tuff (4.9 Ma). The explora-
tion estimates mineral resource of approximately 1.3 million tonnes at 10.42 g/t gold and 60.7 g/t silver at a
3 g/t Au cut-off. This equates to approximately 435,000 ounces of gold and 2.54 million ounces of silver. That
resource resulted from two ore shoots: Cibitung and Cikoneng. Studies on ore mineralogy, hydrothermal
alteration, geology, fluid inclusion, stable isotopes and age dating were conducted in order to characterize the
deposit and to understand a possible mechanism of preservation of the deposit. The ore mineral assemblage
of the deposit consists of electrum, naumannite, Ag-Se-Te sulfide minerals, chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite and
galena. Those ore minerals occur in quartz veins showing colloform–crustiform texture. They are envel-
oped by mixed layer clay illite/smectite zone, which grades into smectite zone outward. The temperature of
mineralization revealed by fluid inclusion study on quartz in the veins ranges from 170 and 220°C at shallow
and deep level, respectively. The temperature range is in agreement with the temperature deduced from the
hydrothermal alteration mineral assemblage including mixed layered illite/smectite and laumontite. The
mineralizing fluid is dilute, with a salinity <1 wt% NaCl equivalent and has stable isotopes of oxygen and
hydrogen composition indicating a meteoric water origin. Although the deposit is old enough that it would
have been eroded in a tropical island arc setting, the coverage by younger volcanic deposits such as the Citeluk
tuff and the Cibaliung tuff most probably prevented this erosion.
Keywords: Cibaliung, epithermal, hydrothermal alteration, Indonesia, Java.

1. Introduction the Bayah Dome complex, such as Cikotok, Cikidang

The Cibaliung deposit is situated in the Miocene
Honje Igneous Complex in the southwestern part of
Java Island approximately 70 km west of Bayah Dome,
a gold district at western Java. Some low-sulfidation
type epithermal gold deposits have been discovered in
(Rosana & Matsueda, 2002), Cirotan, Ciawitali, Gunung
Pongkor (Warmada et al., 2003, 2007; Syafrizal et al.,
2005, 2007) (Fig. 1).
The exploration work at the Cibaliung deposit sug-
gests that the extent of the quartz veins is approximately
1.4 km with an average width of approximately 10 m.

Received: 12 September 2006. Accepted for publication 9 January 2007.

Corresponding author: A. HARIJOKO, Department of Geological Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Jl. Grafika No. 2-Bulaksumur,
Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia. Email: aharijoko@ugm.ac.id

© 2007 The Authors

114 Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology

Fig. 1 Location of the Cibali-
ung epithermal gold deposit
and other epithermal gold
deposits in western Java.
Drilling conducted in this deposit confirmed that the
vertical extent of the quartz veins is up to 300 m. The
resources are estimated to be 1.3 million tonnes at
10.42 g/t gold and 60.7 g/t silver at a 3 g/t Au cut-off.
This equates to approximately 435,000 ounces of gold
and 2.54 million ounces of silver (Angeles et al., 2002).
The presence of epithermal gold mineralization in
the Cibaliung deposit is characterized by the occur-
rence of gold-bearing quartz veins. The host rocks of
this deposit are volcanic rocks, comparable to those at
the Bayah Dome complex. They consist of Oligocene
to Miocene basaltic andesite of the Honje Formation
intruded by dikes and are unconformably overlain by
the Cibaliung tuff (Angeles et al., 2002). The K-Ar dat-
ing on the andesite lava and the Cibaliung tuff sug-
gested ages of ca 11.4 and 4.9 Ma respectively
(Harijoko et al., 2004), while the 40Ar/39Ar dating on
adularia collected from the veins suggested an age of
mineralization of ca 11.18–10.65 Ma (Harijoko et al.,
2004).
In contrast the mineralization ages in the Bayah
Dome complex are much younger than that of the
Cibaliung deposit. They range from 2.4 to 1.5 Ma
(Marcoux & Milesi, 1994; Milesi et al., 1999; Rosana &
Matsueda, 2002), and the ages of the host rocks range
from 14 to 2 Ma (Marcoux & Milesi, 1994). Therefore
the Cibaliung deposit is the oldest known epithermal
gold deposit in western Java.
We present the results of our studies on hydrother-
mal alteration, fluid inclusion, stable isotopes and ore
mineralogy, and discuss the characteristics, level of
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology
Cibaliung gold deposit
erosion and possible preservation mechanism of the
Cibaliung deposit.
2. Regional geology
Java is located in the Sunda volcanic arc extending
from the northern tip of Sumatra through Java and
Bali, continuing to the eastern part of Indonesia. The
western part of Java is situated in the transition from
oblique subduction (west) to normal subduction (east).
This area is bounded by the Cimandiri fault, a north-
easterly sinistral strike–slip fault and the Ujung Kulon
fault, a prolongation of the dextral strike–slip Suma-
tran fault (Malod et al., 1995). The lineaments in this
area are mostly influenced by these major structures.
The volcanic arc was formed along the northern mar-
gin of the active convergence plate, that is, the subduc-
tion of the Indian–Australian plate beneath the Eurasian
plate during Cenozoic time and has been active since at
least Eocene time (Katili, 1975; Hamilton, 1979). This
subduction resulted in a volcanic chain along Java (Van
Bemmelen, 1949; Katili, 1975; Whitford et al., 1979;
Setidjaji et al., 2006). The volcanic front has migrated
from south to north with time and has remained calc-
alkaline in composition throughout its history (Nicholls
et al., 1980; Soeria-Atmadja et al., 1994).
K-Ar dating of volcanic rocks showed that the volca-
nism in Java can be grouped into three magmatic belts:
the late Eocene–early Miocene, late Miocene–Pliocene
and Quaternary belts (Soeria-Atmadja et al., 1994).
115
A. Harijoko et al.
The late Eocene–early Miocene belt was emplaced
along the southern part of Java trending west–east,
while the late Miocene–Pliocene belt occurs further
north parallel to the older belt and in some places is
overlain by Quaternary volcanic rocks.
The Cibaliung deposit is situated in the Honje Igneous
Complex that is mainly composed of Miocene basaltic
andesite volcanic rocks of the Honje Formation. The
volcanic rocks are overlain by sedimentary rocks more
or less equivalent to the Pliocene Cipacar Formation
(Sudana & Santosa, 1992; Angeles et al., 2002). The sedi-
mentary rocks consist of conglomerate, calcareous
sandstone and limestone.
3. Geology of the Cibaliung deposit
The geology of the Cibaliung deposit was described
by Angeles et al. (2002) and Harijoko et al. (2004). The
Cibaliung deposit is hosted by the Honje Formation,
which comprises basaltic andesite lavas and volcanic
breccia intercalated with tuffaceous sedimentary rocks
(Fig. 2). The lavas are massive and show trachytic
textures in thin section, while volcanic breccia shows
textures of quenching during its formation, indicative
of hyaloclastite in a sub-aqueous environment. The
116
Honje Formation is intruded by subvolcanic andesite
and diatreme breccia.
Drilling shows that the Honje Formation is uncon-
formably overlain by two tuff units: an unnamed tuff
and the Cibaliung tuff. In this paper we use the name
Citeluk tuff for unnamed tuff. Unconformities are indi-
cated by two different layers of paleosol, which sepa-
rate the Cibaliung tuff from the Citeluk tuff and both of
these tuff units from the basaltic andesite of the Honje
Formation. This is an indication that the Honje Forma-
tion was exposed and weathered before the deposition
of the Cibaliung tuff.
Drill holes intersected the Cibaliung tuff over a 50-m
interval (with a drilling inclination of approx. 55°).
The Cibaliung tuff consists of several tuff units includ-
ing pumice lithic tuff, ignimbrite (welded tuff) and
accretionary lapilli of dacitic composition. The textures
indicate that the Cibaliung tuff was formed by pyro-
clastic flow and air fall. These features, combined with
the fact that the tuff is underlain by paleosol, suggest
that the tuff is formed in a sub-aerial environment. The
tuff consists of weathered and/or altered rock fragments,
fresh pumice and obsidian in an addition to phenocrysts
such as plagioclase and quartz. The fragments and phe-
nocrysts are embedded in an aphanitic groundmass.
Fig. 2 Geologic map with vein
distribution of the Cibaliung
area and the location of drill
holes. Modified after Angeles
et al. (2002).
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology

In some places the Cibaliung tuff crops out as fresh
rock but it is weakly altered in the drilling cores. X-ray
diffraction (XRD) analysis shows that the Cibaliung
tuff contains clinoptilolite. It indicates that Cibaliung
tuff is subjected to zeolitization, altering the volcanic
glass to clinoptilolite. This may be caused by burial
process, that is, diagenesis.
4. Ore and gangue mineralogy of the veins
The Cibaliung deposit consists of the Ciconeng shoot
and the Cibiung shoot. Quartz veins at the Cibaliung
deposit show typical textures of epithermal deposits
including stockwork, massive and colloform–crustiform
banding.
In the present study gangue minerals of the Cikoneng
and Cibitung shoots are identified by XRD. Gangue
mineral assemblages of the Cikoneng and Cibitung
shoots are similar. They consist of adularia, quartz, and
Fig. 3 Ore mineral assemblages
in the Cikoneng and Cibitung
shoots of the Cibaliung
deposit. cp, chalcopyrite; el,
electrum; nm, naumantite; py,
pyrite; sp, sphalerite. Bars: (a)
100 ␮m; (b) 10 ␮m; (c) 10 ␮m;
(d) 10 ␮m; (e) 10 ␮m.
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology
Cibaliung gold deposit
mixed layered clay minerals in the middle and at depth.
At shallow depths clay minerals dominate in smectite.
Ore mineralogy of the Cibaliung deposit consists of
precious minerals such as electrum, naumannite and
Ag-Se-Te sulfide minerals. These precious metal min-
erals coexist with chalcopyrite, pyrite, sphalerite, and
galena (Fig. 3). This agrees with the chemical composi-
tion of the Cikoneng and Cibitung shoots that has high
concentrations of Zn, Pb, Cu, Ag, Se, Te and Sb, al-
though the Au content was not determined.
Quantitative analysis was conducted to determine
the composition of the electrum and sphalerite using
an electron probe microanalyzer (EPMA). The Ag
contents of electrum from the Cibaliung deposit from
the deep to the shallow levels appear to be similar,
ranging from 39 to 61 mol% (Cikoneng shoot) and from
42 to 60 mol% (Cibitung shoot). The Fe content of sphal-
erite decreases towards the shallower levels. Electrum
in the shallow part shows zoning in the Au content.
The Au content increases outward in the electrum
117
A. Harijoko et al.

grain. The zoned electrum grains may be caused by mixed layer clay zone (zone III) and kaolinite–dickite–
weathering processes after their formation. nacrite zone (zone A). Furthermore zone III is divided
The ore mineral assemblage of the Cibaliung gold into two subzones based on the occurrence of adularia
deposit indicates that it is a low-sulfidation type epith- into mixed layer clay minerals (IIIa) and mixed layer
ermal gold deposit (Hedenquist, 1987). The physico- clay minerals–adularia (IIIb) subzones. Zone IIIb sur-
chemical condition during ore deposition in the rounds the quartz veins, indicating the center of the
Cikoneng and Cibitung shoots are similar on the basis epithermal system in the Cibaliung deposit (Figs 5, 6).
of ore and gangue mineral assemblages. Moreover, those alteration zones can be grouped on
the basis of the pH of hydrothermal fluid into neutral
pH (zones I, II and III) and acid alteration (zone A). The
5. Hydrothermal alteration of
neutral pH alteration is distributed at the northern part
the host rocks of the study area from the surface to the deeper level,
Hydrothermal alteration study in this deposit was car- while the acid alteration is distributed locally in the
ried out by mapping the surface alteration as well as southern part of the study area (Fig. 5).
examining the vertical distribution of alteration on the Figure 6 shows that zone III envelopes the quartz veins
drilled cores. Identification of hydrothermal minerals from the shallow to the deep levels. The temperature
was mainly conducted using XRD on bulk powdered
and clay samples, and thin section observation under
microscope. In addition, whole-rock chemical analysis
was also conducted in order to determine the element
addition and removal. Chemical composition of whole-
rock samples was analyzed by means of X-ray fluores-
cence (XRF) spectroscopy.
The identified hydrothermal alteration minerals are,
in order of abundance, quartz, clay minerals, adularia,
albite, pyrite, and calcite. In addition, some zeolite
group minerals such as laumontite, heulandite, anal-
cime and clinoptilolite are also identified.
The hydrothermal alteration is divided into four al-
teration zones on the basis of temperature-sensitive
minerals (clay minerals and zeolite), and permeability
indicator (Fig. 4; modified from Izawa et al., 1990).
They are the cristobalite–smectite–kaolinite zone
(zone I), smectite–quartz–kaolinite zone (zone II),

Hydrothermal Zone I Zone II Zone III Zone A

Minerals cr-sm-ka qz-sm-ka a mix-clay b ka-di-na
Smectite
Ch/sm, il/sm
Kaolinite
Dickite
Nacrite
Cristobalite
Quartz
Albite
Adularia
Plagioclase
Laumontite
Calcite
Pyrite

Fig. 4 Alteration zoning by mineral assemblage. ch/sm,

mixed layer chlorite/smectite; cr, cristobalite; di, dick-
ite; il/sm, mixed layer illite/smectite; ka, kaolinite;
na, nacrite; qz, quartz; sm, smectite. Fig. 5 Surface alteration map of the Cibaliung deposit.

© 2007 The Authors

118 Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology
 Cibaliung gold deposit

of ore formation is interpreted ranging from 150 to Table 1 Isotope analysis on quartz and river water from
220°C based on the occurrence of mixed layer illite/ Cibaliung deposit
smectite that coexist with laumontite. Furthermore, an No. Samples ␦18 O ␦D
alteration zone containing adularia indicates that the
FI-01 Quartz crystal (comb structure) 7.5 −66.6
zone is permeable. FI-02 Quartz (massive) 9.6 −45.5
The occurrence of adularia as well as mixed layer FI-03 Mixture Quartz adularia 5.7 −44.6
clay illite/smectite is marked by the increase of K2O (massive)
content. Increasing Na2O content is indicative of the FI-04 Mixture Quartz adularia 4.7 −57.3
(massive)
occurrence of albite.
Cigomba Present-day meteoric water −6.1 −36.6
river

6. Fluid inclusions
The fluid inclusion microthermometry was conducted
in two samples from the shallow levels. The homogen-
on four samples. Two samples were collected from the
ization temperatures of the primary inclusions of the
surface/near surface of the Cikoneng shoot (FI-01 and
samples from the deep part range from 170 to 300°C,
FI-02) with the remaining samples from deeper levels of
and from 160 to 330°C for the samples from the shallow
the Cikoneng shoot (FI-03) and the Cibitung shoot
levels (Fig. 7). The final ice melting temperatures range
(FI-04). One of the four samples consists of quartz crys-
from −0.1 to −0.4°C. This indicates a dilute fluid with
tals exhibiting comb texture (FI-01) while others contain
salinity <1 wt% NaCl equivalent.
quartz crystals in massive quartz veins (Table 1). The
The determination of trapping temperatures in the
distribution of the samples is portrayed in Figure 6.
epithermal deposits needs little or no pressure correc-
Two types of inclusion are visible at room tempera-
tion of the homogenization temperature (Bodnar et al.,
ture: two-phase liquid–vapor (liquid dominant)
1985). In the boiling condition, the trapping tempera-
and two-phase liquid–vapor (vapor dominant) inclu-
ture is estimated from the first peak in the histogram of
sions. The inclusions are generally liquid-rich with a
the homogenization temperature (Bodnar et al., 1985;
liquid: vapor ratio of approximately 4:1. The criteria for
Etoh et al., 2002). Accordingly, the formation tempera-
a primary inclusion and evidence of boiling are from
tures of FI-01 and FI-02 are inferred to be approxi-
Roedder (1984) and Bodnar et al. (1985). Evidence of a
mately 170°C. In contrast, the formation temperature
boiling event in the inclusion was observed as the coex-
in the non-boiling condition is interpreted on the basis
istence of both liquid- and vapor-dominant inclusions
of the histogram mean. Consequently, the formation
temperatures of FI-03 and FI-04 are estimated to be
approximately 220°C. This temperature formation is
consistent with the temperature deduced by hydro-
thermal alteration mineral assemblage.
The formation temperature estimated from fluid in-
clusion microthermometry was used to infer the for-
mation depth of the veins. It is assumed that the boiling
occurred in the shallow part of the vein located at the
present-day surface level and that the hydrothermal
fluid was diluted. Applying the boiling point curve
(Haas, 1971), the formation depth of the present-day
surface level is estimated to be located at approxi-
mately 75 m below the paleo-water table (Fig. 8).

7. Stable isotope data

Fig. 6 Cross-section of the (a) Cikoneng and (b) Cibitung

Stable isotope compositions were measured for four
shoots showing the alteration zonation in the sub- samples of quartz from the veins and one water sample
surface. of present-day meteoric water. The present-day meteoric

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Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology 119
A. Harijoko et al.
(a)
8 6
6
Frequency
4
2
0 0
(c)
20
16
Frequency
12
8
4 2
0 0
160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340
Homogenization temperature (°C)
water was collected from the Cigomba River. The
quartz samples used in the present study are the same
as those used in the fluid inclusion microthermometry
(FI-01, FI-02, FI-03 and FI-04), so their formation tem-
peratures are known. Two quartz samples (FI-03 and
FI-04) are not pure quartz because they contain some
adularia. The proportion of adularia in the mixture was
defined by extrapolating the intensity of the main peak
of quartz and adularia in terms of the X-ray diffraction
of the samples with that of a standard mixture (Shika-
zono & Nagayama, 1993). Based on the extrapolation,
the proportions of adularia in the samples were defined
to be 28 and 4 wt% for FI-03 and FI-04, respectively.
The isotopic composition analysis was conducted at
Chinese Academy of Science. The results of stable iso-
tope analysis are presented in Table 1. It shows that the
␦18 O value of the quartz increases with increasing ele-
vation of the samples, ranging between +4.7 to +9.6‰.
The ␦18 O values of the hydrothermal fluid were de-
rived from the calculation using the equation adopted
from Matsuhisa et al. (1979). In the case of samples con-
taining adularia, calculation is adopted from the
method used by Nagayama (1993). The formation tem-
peratures inferred from fluid inclusion data were ap-
plied in the calculation. The ␦18 O values of the fluid
resulting from the conversion of the ␦18 O values of
minerals (quartz or mixtures of quartz and adularia)
range from −3.9 to −6.2‰ (Table 2).
In addition, the hydrogen isotope ratio (D; deuter-
ium) of water extracted from the vein quartz samples
120
(b)
4
2
(d)
12
10
8
6
4
Fig. 7 Histogram of homogeni-
zation temperature. (a) FI-01,
160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 n = 32; (b) FI-02, n = 35; (c) FI-03,
n = 55; (d) FI-04, n = 30.
was also analyzed. The extracted water is presumed to
have been derived from fluid inclusions within the
quartz. Therefore, the ␦D is assumed to represent the
␦D value of the hydrothermal fluid. The ␦D values of
the water range from −44 to −67‰ (Table 1).
The meteoric water sample collected from the
Cigomba River has a ␦18 O value of −6.1‰ and a ␦D
value of −36.6‰ (Table 1). These values represent the
present-day meteoric water in the Cibaliung area. This
value is also close to that from the Pongkor River, ap-
proximately −5.8 and −35.1‰ for ␦18 O and ␦D values,
respectively (Widi & Matsueda, 1998).
The plot in Figure 9 portrays the variation of the ␦18 O
and ␦D values. The samples appear to have similar or
slightly higher ␦18 O values relative to the present-day
meteoric water. This indicates that the origin of the
hydrothermal fluid responsible for the gold miner-
alization in the Cibaliung deposit is dominantly
meteoric water with slight modification due to either
isotopic exchange with the host rocks or mixing with
isotopically heavier fluids, such as magmatic fluid
(Giggenbach, 1992).
In the case of the Cibaliung deposit, the ␦18 O values
of the mineralizing fluid are slightly higher than the
meteoric water. The increase of the ␦18 O values is
most probably caused by isotopic exchange during
interaction with the host rocks. Faure et al. (2002) and
Nicholson (1993) pointed out that the fluids generated
by isotopic exchange at high water/rock ratios (>0.2)
have ␦18 O values close to that of meteoric water.
© 2007 The Authors
Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology
 Cibaliung gold deposit

20
Cibaliung hydrothermal water
Cigomba River water
0 SMOW
Pongkor River
Cikidang hydrothermal water
-20

δD
-40
FI-02 FI-03

FI-04
-60 Primary
FI-01 magmatic
water
-80

-100

-8 -4 0 4 8 12 16
δ18O
Fig. 9 Plot of ␦18 O versus ␦D of the hydrothermal fluid of
the Cibaliung deposit. SMOW, standard mean ocean
water.

The age of the mineralization was determined by

40Ar/39Ar dating method on adularia from a vein,

Fig. 8 Estimation of formation depth using boiling point
curve (BPC). The estimation indicated that the vein at
the present day surface is formed at 75 m below the
paleo-water level.
8. Age of the Cibaliung gold
mineralization and the host rock
The age of the Cibaliung gold mineralization and the
host rock have been discussed by Harijoko et al. (2004).
while the age of the host rock and the cover rock were
determined by K-Ar age measurement on andesitic
lava of the Honje Formation and the Cibaliung tuff.
The 40Ar/39Ar dating resulted in an age of mineral-
ization of 11.18–10.65 Ma while the K-Ar age determi-
nation resulted in a host rock age of ca 11.4 Ma
and that of the cover rock of the Cibaliung tuff of
ca 4.9 Ma. So there is an interval of approximately
5.5 Myr between mineralization and deposition of the
Cibaliung tuff.
9. Preservation of the Cibaliung deposit
The age of the mineralization of the Cibaliung deposit
ranges from 11.18 to 10.65 Ma (Harijoko et al., 2004),
indicating the occurrence of Miocene epithermal gold
deposits in Java. This result also indicates that the
Cibaliung deposit is the oldest epithermal gold deposit
among the deposits already discovered in Java.

Table 2 Conversion of ␦18 O values from mineral to fluid

Depth ⌬mineral- ⌬mineral-
No. (m) ␦18 Omineral XQ Xad SG Xvq Xvad XoA T(°C) fluid(Q) fluid(Ad) ␦18 Ofluid
FI-01 180 7.5 1 0 2.65 1.00 0 0 170 13.70 9.66 −6.2
FI-02 160 9.6 1 0 2.65 1.00 0 0 170 13.70 9.66 −4.1
FI-03 −100 5.7 0.72 0.28 2.62 0.71 0.29 0.25 220 10.42 7.32 −3.9
FI-04 −140 4.7 0.96 0.04 2.65 0.96 0.04 0.04 220 10.42 7.32 −5.6

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Journal compilation © 2007 The Society of Resource Geology 121
A. Harijoko et al.
The Cibaliung tuff serves as cover to prevent further
erosion of the deposit. The time span between the min-
eralization and the formation of the Cibaliung tuff is
approximately 5.5 Myr. Because there was no further
deposition or subsidence in that interval, the deposit
was likely eroded during this time gap. Assuming that
the erosion rate in an active island arc is approximately
0.1 mm/year (Hedenquist et al., 2000), erosion occurred
to a maximum depth of approximately 550 m.
The formation depth of the present surface is
inferred using a boiling point curve (Haas, 1971),
suggesting a depth of approximately 75 m. This depth
seems to be too shallow considering the erosion
result for a time span of 5.5 Myr. This indicates that
there may have been some subsidence or other depo-
sition prior to the deposition of the Cibaliung tuff,
so that the duration of erosion is shortened. It is in-
ferred due to the deposition of Citeluk tuff and is indi-
cated by the occurrence of zeolite (clinoptilolite) in the
Cibaliung tuff.
10. Conclusions
The present study on the hydrothermal alteration,
ore and gangue minerals, oxygen and hydrogen iso-
topes and fluid inclusions of both the Cikoneng and
Cibitung shoots suggests that the ore shoots are
formed from the same system. The Cibaliung deposit
is classified into the low-sulfidation type epithermal
deposits.
The hydrothermal fluid responsible for the forma-
tion of the Cibaliung deposit was interpreted as a neu-
tral pH fluid. Formation temperature of the deposit
ranges from 170 to 220°C at shallow and deep levels,
respectively. Origin of the hydrothermal fluids was in-
terpreted as dominantly meteoric water that passed
through a wall rock with a high water–rock ratio, based
on the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes.
The Cibaliung deposit is quite old for the epithermal
gold mineralization, but the gold mineralization zone
seems still to remain. The preservation mechanism is
most probably due to coverage by younger volcanic
deposits such as the Citeluk tuff and Cibaliung tuff.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to acknowledge the management
of P. T. Cibaliung Sumberdaya and Austindo Resources
Corporation N. L. for the permission to publish this
paper. We are grateful to the reviewers for their review.
122
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