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Minerals
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Geology and Mineralogy of Hydrothermal Gold Deposits
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Geology and Mineralogy of Hydrothermal Gold Deposits

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Deposits".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 December 2021) | Viewed by 10468

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Antonia Cepedal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geology, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
Interests: magmatic–hydrothermal gold deposits; isotope geochemistry; bi-chalcogenides; ore mineralogy; mineral and rock geochemistry
Dr. Mercedes Fuertes-Fuente

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Geology, University of Oviedo, Oviedo, Spain
Interests: ore deposit genetic models; magmatic–hydrothermal gold deposits; paleofluids; ore mineralogy; rare element pegmatites; rare metal deposits

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In this century, there have been important advances in the classification and understanding of hydrothermal gold deposits, as gold occurs in different deposit types and geological settings. The deposit types encompass a wide range of genetic models, such as orogenic; reduced intrusion-related; Cu–Au porphyry; skarn; high-, intermediate-, and low-sulfidation epithermals; Carlin; Au-rich VMS; IOCG; or Witwatersrand-type deposits. In a broad sense, gold deposits can fit roughly into any of the defined models, but each deposit has distinctive characteristics and/or is not easily classifiable. Therefore, their study provides new data for improving the existing models. This Special Issue will focus on the geology and mineralogy of hydrothermal gold deposits in order to gain insight into the geodynamic history, metal sources, and transport, together with depositional mechanisms in these systems. This Special Issue is an attempt to create up-to-date information on gold deposit models.

We thank you and look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Antonia Cepedal
Dr. Mercedes Fuertes-Fuente
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • gold deposit models
  • gold paragenesis
  • paleofluids
  • gold transport and deposition
  • mineral geochemistry

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4755 KiB  
Article
Anion Composition of Apatite in the Au-Cu Epithermal Deposit of Palai-Islica (Almería, SE Spain) as an Indicator of Hydrothermal Alteration
by Javier Carrillo-Rosúa, Iñaki Esteban-Arispe and Salvador Morales-Ruano
Minerals 2021, 11(12), 1358; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11121358 - 30 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1677
Abstract
The Palai-Islica deposit (Almería, SE Spain) is an Au-Cu epithermal deposit hosted in Neogene calc-alkaline andesites and dacites from the Cabo de Gata-Cartagena volcanic belt in the Betic Cordillera. Major element compositions of apatite from Palai-Islica orebody and related hydrothermally altered and unaltered [...] Read more.
The Palai-Islica deposit (Almería, SE Spain) is an Au-Cu epithermal deposit hosted in Neogene calc-alkaline andesites and dacites from the Cabo de Gata-Cartagena volcanic belt in the Betic Cordillera. Major element compositions of apatite from Palai-Islica orebody and related hydrothermally altered and unaltered volcanic rock from the region hosting the deposit were obtained to clarify the processes involved in their formation. Apatite in the host volcanic rocks is rich in chlorapatite and hydroxylapatite components (50–57% and 24–36%) and poor in fluorapatite components (12–21%), indicating assimilation processes of cortical Cl-rich material in the magmatic evolution. Apatite in the orebody sometimes has corrosion textures and is mostly fluorapatite (94–100%). Apatite from the hydrothermally altered host rock of the orebody systematically bears signs of corrosion and has variable and intermediate fluorapatite (19–100%), chlorapatite (1–50%), and hydroxylapatite (0–47%) components. The style of zonation and the composition are related to the proximity to the orebody. These features can be interpreted as the result of hydrothermal modification of high Cl, OH-rich volcanic apatites into F-rich apatites. The enrichment of F is related to the intensity of hydrothermal alteration and could therefore constitute a geochemical index of alteration and of mineralization processes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology and Mineralogy of Hydrothermal Gold Deposits)
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25 pages, 17159 KiB  
Article
Albite ± Actinolite-Altered Porphyry Dykes in Archean Gold Deposits of the Boulder Lefroy-Golden Mile Fault System, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia: Petrography, Chronology, and Comparison to Canadian Albitites
by Andreas G. Mueller, Neal J. McNaughton and Janet R. Muhling
Minerals 2021, 11(11), 1288; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11111288 - 19 Nov 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2981
Abstract
The Boulder Lefroy-Golden Mile fault system in the Archean Yigarn Craton is the most productive gold-mineralized structure in Australia (>2300 t Au). The New Celebration deposit (51 t Au) is part of a group of hematite- and anhydrite-bearing mesothermal deposits and Fe-Cu-Au skarns [...] Read more.
The Boulder Lefroy-Golden Mile fault system in the Archean Yigarn Craton is the most productive gold-mineralized structure in Australia (>2300 t Au). The New Celebration deposit (51 t Au) is part of a group of hematite- and anhydrite-bearing mesothermal deposits and Fe-Cu-Au skarns associated with monzodiorite-tonalite intrusions in the strike-slip fault system. Ore-grade biotite-carbonate and late sericite-carbonate-alkali feldspar replacement is bound to the contacts of a felsic (low Cr, Ni, V) quartz-plagioclase porphyry dyke dated at 2676 ± 7 Ma. The sodic-potassic alteration of the felsic boudinaged dyke contrasts with the albite-actinolite alteration in the adjacent mafic (high Cr, Ni, V) plagioclase porphyry dated at 2662 ± 4 Ma, although both share the same sulfide-oxide assemblage: pyrite ± chalcopyrite, magnetite ± hematite. The younger porphyry locally crosscuts foliation and is bordered by post-kinematic actinolite-pyrite selvages overprinting talc-chlorite-phlogopite-dolomite schist. It contains auriferous pyrite (70 ppb Au; 610 ppb Ag) where sampled for zircon U-Pb chronology at +224 m elevation. Above the sample site, the dyke was mined as gold ore (1–6 g/t Au) at +300–350 m. Temperature estimates based on actinolite-albite pairs (300–350 °C) agree with the fluid inclusion trapping temperature of main-stage auriferous veins (330 ± 20 °C). These relationships are interpreted to indicate syn-mineralization emplacement. Gold-related albite-altered porphyry dykes (albitites) also occur in the world-class Hollinger-McIntyre (986 t Au) and Kerr Addison-Chesterville deposits (336 t Au), Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology and Mineralogy of Hydrothermal Gold Deposits)
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24 pages, 10158 KiB  
Article
The Perron Gold Deposit, Archean Abitibi Belt, Canada: Exceptionally High-Grade Mineralization Related to Higher Gold-Carrying Capacity of Hydrocarbon-Rich Fluids
by Damien Gaboury, Dominique Genna, Jacques Trottier, Maxime Bouchard, Jérôme Augustin and Kelly Malcolm
Minerals 2021, 11(10), 1066; https://doi.org/10.3390/min11101066 - 29 Sep 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4542
Abstract
The Perron deposit, an Archean orogenic gold deposit located in the Abitibi belt, hosts a quartz vein-type gold-bearing zone, known as the high-grade zone (HGZ). The HGZ is vertically continuous along >1.2 km, and is exceptionally rich in visible gold throughout its vertical [...] Read more.
The Perron deposit, an Archean orogenic gold deposit located in the Abitibi belt, hosts a quartz vein-type gold-bearing zone, known as the high-grade zone (HGZ). The HGZ is vertically continuous along >1.2 km, and is exceptionally rich in visible gold throughout its vertical extent, with grades ranging from 30 to 500 ppm. Various hypotheses were tested to account for that, such as: (1) efficient precipitating mechanisms; (2) gold remobilization; (3) particular fluids; (4) specific gold sources for saturating the fluids; and (5) a different mineralizing temperature. Host rocks recorded peak metamorphism at ~600 °C based on an amphibole geothermometer. Visible gold is associated with sphalerite (<5%) which precipitated at 370 °C, based on the sphalerite GGIMFis geothermometer, during late exhumation of verticalized host rocks. Pyrite chemistry analyzed by LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) is comparable to classical orogenic gold deposits of the Abitibi belt, without indication of a possible magmatic fluid and gold contribution. Comparison of pyrite trace element signatures for identifying a potential gold source was inconclusive to demonstrate that primary base-metal rich volcanogenic gold mineralization, dispersed in the host rhyolitic dome, could be the source for the later formation of the HGZ. Rather, nodular pyrites in graphitic shales, sharing similar trace element signatures with pyrite of the HGZ, are considered a potential source. The most striking outcome is the lack of water in the mineralizing fluids, implying that gold was not transported under aqueous complexes, even if fugacity of sulfur (−6) and oxygen (−28), and pH (~7) are providing the best conditions at a temperature of 350 °C for solubilizing gold in water. Fluid inclusions, analyzed by solid-probe mass spectrometry, are rather comparable to fossil gas composed mostly of hydrocarbons (methane and ethane and possibly butane and propane and other unidentified organic compounds), rich in CO2, with N2 and trace of Ar, H2S, and He. It is interpreted that gold and zinc were transported as hydrocarbon-metal complexes or as colloidal gold nanoparticles. The exceptional high content of gold and zinc in the HGZ is thus explained by the higher transporting capacity of these unique mineralizing fluids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Geology and Mineralogy of Hydrothermal Gold Deposits)
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