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A classification scheme for epigenetic Archaean lode-gold deposits

Article  in  Mineralium Deposita · August 1995

DOI: 10.1007/BF00202283

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Mineral Deposit Letter
Mineral. Deposita 30, 408-410 (1995)
A classification scheme for epigenetic Archaean lode-gold deposits
M. Gebre-Mariam 1, S.G. Hagemann 2, D.I. Groves 1
1Key Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits, Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA 6009,
Australia
2 Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI53706, USA
Received: 29 November 1994/Accepted: 28 March 1995
Abstract. Recent research has shown that Archaean lode-gold de-
posits occur in environments that range in their metamorphic grade
from prehnite-pumpellyite to lower granulite facies. Based on this
data a new classification is proposed for these deposits. In this
classification, shallow-level gold deposits are classed as epizonal, the
so-called "mesothermal" deposits are mesozonal, and the deeper
deposits, commonly in mid-amphibolite or lower-granulite terrains,
are hypozonal.
Lode-gold deposits are a characteristic feature of late-Archaean
granitoid-greenstone terrians. This letter discusses the range of P-T
conditions exhibited by this deposit style, raises the problems of
nomenclature that this raises, and proposes a workable classification
for the deposit group.
Range of formation conditions
Archaean lode-gold deposits occur in environments that range in
their metamorphic grade from prehnite-pumpellyite to lower
granulite facies (e.g. Groves 1993). Several authors have shown that
these deposits formed during the late stages of evolution of the host
granitoid-greenstone terrains (Colvine 1989; Foster 1989; Groves
et al. 1989; Kerrich 1989). Groves (1993) proposed that Archaean
lode-gold deposits of the Archaean Yilgarn Block, that are sited in
prehnite-pumpellyite to lower granulite facies terrains, form a single
genetic group, albeit comprising transitional structural styles of
mineralisation (e.g. Witt 1993), and similar vertical extents of min-
eralisation are recorded from Canada (Colvine 1989) and Zimbabwe
(Foster 1989). Most of these Archaean lode-gold deposits are sited in
mid-greenschist to greenschist-amphibolite transition facies settings
and have been commonly classed as "mesothermal" deposits (e.g.
Groves et al. 1989; Kerrich 1989; compare with Phanerozoic exam-
ples, Nesbitt et al. 1989). However, there are a significant number of
deposits that occur in both higher and lower P-T environments.
An increasing number of deposits are being recognised in am-
phibolite to lower-granulite facies host rocks in Western Australia
(e.g. Griffins Find: Barnicoat et al. 1991; Marvel Loch: Mueller and
Groves 1991; Three Mile Hill: Knight et al. 1993; Zakanake:
Neumayr et al. 1993), Canada (e.g. Red Lake: Andrews et al. 1986;
Eastmain River: Coutre and Guha 1990; Lac Lilois: Lapointe and
Chown 1993), South Africa (e.g. Fumani, Osprey: Van Reenen et al.
1994) and India (e.g. Kolar Schist Belt: Hamilton and Hodgson
1986, Siva Siddaiah and Rajamani 1989). The available textural and
geothermobarometric evidence indicates that these deposits formed
at or close to peak metamorphic P-T conditions ranging from
~ 4 7 5 ~ at ~ 3 kb to ~700~ at ~ 6 k b . Importantly, like the
MINERALIUM
DEPOSITA
9 Springer-Verlag 1995
"mesothermal" deposits that formed under lower P-T conditions,
they formed late in the structural evolution of the host greenstone
belts from a mixed carbonic-aqueous-salt ___methane _+ nitrogen
fluid. These features, together with their ore and alteration geochem-
istry and their late-orogenic timing (summarised in Groves 1993)
suggest that these higher P-T deposits form a continuum with the
"mesothermal" deposits, but cannot be strictly classified as "me-
sothermal".
Similarly, in some of the lower metamorphic grade settings (pre-
hnite-pumpellyite to low greenschist facies), interpreted to be shal-
low crustal-levels, there are a small (in terms of number) group of
deposits that show features typical of mineralisation formed under
low P-T conditions (Gebre-Mariam et al. 1991a, 1993; Hagemann
et al. 1994). Such deposits occur in the Archaean Yilgarn Block (e.g.
Racetrack: Gebre-Mariam et al. 1993; Wiluna: Hagemann et al.
1992; upper parts of Golden Mile: Clout et al. 1990), Zimbabwe
Craton (e.g. Commoner: Twemlow 1984; Foster 1989) and Canadian
Shield (e.g. Ross mine: Troop 1985, 1986; Colvine 1989; Morrison
et al. 1991). The shallow crustal-level emplacement of the deposits is
indicated by several attributes: (1) location in very-low to low-grade
metamorphic host rocks, (2) presence of dominant brittle ore-host-
ing structures, (3) presence of several stages of hydrothermal activity
that resulted in multiply brecciated ore and gangue, (4) abundance of
open-space filling vein textures, such as plumose, colloform, cock-
ade, crustiform, comb and rosette, and (5) low-temperature ore and
gangue minerals, such as tellurides, Ag-rich sulphosalts, stibnite and
chalcedony. All of the above features are atypical of the Archaean
"mesothermal" gold deposits, and are more like those of epithermal
deposits. Furthermore, other important features of the shallow crus-
tal-level deposits which contrast with mesothermal deposits include:
(1) their vertical metal zonation, (2) enriched D and depleted ~sO of
ore fluids relative to magmatic and metamorphic waters which
implies the influx of surface water, and (3) lower XCO 2 of the ore
fluids in some of the deposits (e.g. Racetrack, Commoner), all fea-
tures that can be attributed to the formation of the deposits at
shallow crustal-levels, and hence lower lithostatic or even hydro-
static pressures, higher permeabilities, and the enhanced availability
of surface water reservoirs.
Although mimicking an epithermal style of mineralisation in
many respects, all shallow-level Archaean lode-gold deposits have
major features that are similar to the deeper-level "mesothermal"
deposits. These include: (1) their geodynamic setting, (2) the
late-orogenic emplacement of mineralisation in relation to the devel-
opment of the greenstone belt, (3) the similar structural timing in the
same goldfields, (4) the similar alteration style, and (5) the ubiquitous
presence of deeply sourced fluids. Based on these data, it is inferred
that the Archaean shallow-level lode-gold deposits represent an
upper crustal equivalent to the deeper "mesothermal" deposits,
rather than a separate class of Archaean lode-gold deposits.

Metamorphic grade P-T condition of
of host rocks mineralisation
Prehnite-
Pumpe/iyite I Wiluna
EPIZONAL
=150-300~ =0.5-1.5kb
<6 km
Fig. 1. Schematic section showing the crustal continuum of Ar-
chaean lode-gold deposits and the proposed terminology to describe
the various P-T components. Examples for Western Australian and
Canadian lode-gold deposits are from Groves (1993) and Colvine
The problem of nomenclature
The recognition of the continuum between the shallow crustal-level
gold deposits, the "mesothermal" deposits, and deposits in am-
phibolite to tower-granulite facies host rocks in Archaean terrains
leads to a problem in nomenclature (cf. Gebre-Mariam et al. 1991b,
1993). If the term mesothermal is retained to describe those deposits
formed at ~ 300 to ~ 475 ~ in mid-greenschist to greenschist-am-
phibolite transition facies settings at moderate depths (6 to 12 km),
the terms epithermal and hypothermal would be most logical to
describe the uppermost and lowermost ends of the continuum,
respectively. For example, the term epithermal was defined by Lind-
gren (1927, 1933) to include a broad range of precious metal ( + tel-
lurides and selenides), base-metal, mercury and antimony deposits
which he believed precipitated from ore fluids at low temperatures
( < 200 ~ and low to moderate pressures. However, epithermal is
now entrenched in the literature as a term to describe high-level
mineralisation broadly coeval with volcanism and epizonal pluto-
nism (e.g. Berger and Bethke 1985). Importantly, the Archaean
shallow-level lode-gold deposits described above are not synvol-
canic, but instead formed late in the orogenic cycle, tens of millions
of years after volcanism (e.g. Gebre-Mariam et al. 1993; Gebre-
Mariam 1994; Hagemann et al. 1994). Use of the term epithermal to
describe them and distinguish them from the mesothermal deposits
is, thus, potentially confusing.
Proposed classification
In view of the above, it is proposed that a new terminology, consis-
tent with the prior use of terms to describe both the depth zones of
409
Deposit examples lrom
Westem Australia Canada
Racetrack Ross Mine
Mt Charlotte Kirkland Lake
Golden Mile
Dome
Lancefield Sigma
Sons of Gwalia Hollinger-Mclntyre
Harbour Light
Hunt/Victory-Defiance
Norseman deposits
(OK, Mararoa,Crown) Red Lake
Eastmain River
Fraser/Hopes Hilt Musselwhite
Marvel Loch/Nevoria
Gdflins Find Lac Lilois
(1989) and McCuaig and Kerrich (1994), respectively, and those
cited in the text. Please note that this is schematic only and nowhere
is there continuous mineralisation from granulite facies terrains to
prehnite-pumpellyite facies terrains in a single greenstone belt
metamorphism (Grubenmann 1904; Grubenmann and Niggli 1924)
and the relative depth of emplacement of plutons (cf. Taylor 1974) be
applied. In such a classification (Fig. 1), the shallow-level gold de-
posits (i.e. those in prehnite-pumpellyite to low greenschist facies)
are classed as epizonal the so-called "mesothermal" deposits are
mesozonal and the deeper deposits, in amphibolite or lower-
granulite terrains, are hypozonaL These terms are consistent with their
previous use to imply relative crustal depth, yet still preserve the
integrity of the term epithermal to describe the important, wide-
spread group of deposits which have broadly synvolcanic timing.
Use of the terms hypozonal, mesozonal, and epizonal for Archaean
lode-gold deposits also helps to convey the concept, developed by
several authors for several continents, that this group of deposits
formed over an extraordinarily extended range of crustal conditions
(Fig. 1) compared to most other groups of hydrothermal ore
deposits.
Acknowledgements. The authors acknowledge the input of staff and
students at the Key Centre. The research was funded largely by
mining and exploration companies. M G M acknowledges the receipt
of an ADCSS, a U N D P and a Bicentennial Gold 88 grant, and SGH
the receipt of a URS and the support of NSF grant EAR 92-05245.
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