scholarly journals Epithermal Mineralization in the Busang Southeast Zone, Indonesia: New Insight into the Au Prospect at the Center of the Bre-X Fraud

Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 698
Author(s):  
Evan Slater ◽  
Jacob Hanley ◽  
Thomas Mulja ◽  
Marcos Zentilli ◽  
Corwin Trottier
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Inclusion ◽  
Aqueous Fluid ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Professor Emeritus ◽  
Mixing Processes ◽  
Hydrothermal Mineralization ◽  
Core Samples ◽  
Epithermal Mineralization ◽  
Lode Gold Deposits ◽  
Host Rocks

The Busang mineral prospect in Kalimantan, Indonesia, was reported to host a large Au resource until 1997 when it was revealed that drill core samples had been deliberately and systematically contaminated (“salted”) with extraneous Au to falsify resource estimates. One month before the fraud was uncovered, Dr. G. Milligan, then professor emeritus of geology, visited the site to collect a suite of core samples for academic study that was deemed representative of the host rocks, alteration, and mineralization of the Busang Southeast Zone. These samples were re-examined here by optical microscopy, electron microprobe (EMPA), whole-rock geochemistry, and fluid inclusion microthermometry to characterize the subsurface geology and hydrothermal mineralization, and to assess reasons why the system is of uneconomic character. The host rocks were variably altered calc-alkaline porphyritic subvolcanic diorites, typical of the lithological units along the mineralized trend in the Kalimantan Gold Belt. Early hydrothermal mineralization with quartz-sulfide (pyrite, chalcopyrite, Cu-sulfosalts) stockwork veinlets associated with pervasive phyllic and propylitic alteration was overprinted by crudely banded quartz-carbonate-sulfide/sulfosalt (pyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, galena, tennantite-tetrahedrite, bournonite-seligmannite) veins. The stockwork veins were associated with up to 140 ppb bulk rock Au, some of which was hosted by Cu-sulfosalts. Microthermometry on quartz-hosted aqueous fluid inclusion assemblages (FIA; n = 13) and single inclusions (non-FIA; n = 20) in quartz-carbonate-sulfide/sulfosalt veins yielded an overall range in homogenization temperatures (Th) between 179 °C and 366 °C and bulk salinities between 1.1 wt.% to 8.6 wt.% NaCl equivalent, with much smaller data ranges for individual FIA (e.g., FIA 3; 239.1 °C to 240.5 °C and 0.5 wt.% to 1.4 wt.% NaCl equivalent). Primary FIA along growth zones in quartz were identified, providing constraints on fluid characteristics at the time of quartz growth. Carbonate-hosted FIA (n = 3) and single inclusions (non-FIA; n = 3) in the same veins yielded Th between 254 °C and 343 °C and bulk salinities of 1.1 wt.% to 11.6 wt.% NaCl equivalent. Likewise, data ranges for individual FIA were much smaller. Many of the geological characteristics of the Busang Southeast Zone were compatible with a telescoped, intermediate-sulfidation epithermal system, having formed from diluted magmatic fluids that precipitated weak base metal mineralization. However, the system was unproductive with respect to Au and Ag, at least within the studied area. Of note, vein textures and fluid inclusion characteristics indicative of boiling or efficient fluid mixing—processes both considered critical for the formation of economic lode gold deposits—were absent in the samples.

Hydrothermal zircon and baddeleyite in Val-d'Or Archean mesothermal gold deposits: characteristics, compositions, and fluid-inclusion properties, with implications fortiming of primary gold mineralization

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
pp. 2334-2351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kerrich ◽  
Robert King
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Inclusion ◽  
Gold Mineralization ◽  
Wall Rock ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Southern Volcanic Zone ◽  
Primary Fluid ◽  
Inheritance Model ◽  
Homogenization Temperatures ◽  
Host Rocks

Zircon and baddeleyite occur within quartz–tourmaline veins at four gold deposits in the Val-d'Or district of the Archean Abitibi Southern Volcanic Zone. Host rocks have experienced intense metasomatic enrichment of Zr, Hf, Y, and rare earth elements. The zircons contain primary inclusions of quartz, tourmaline, pyrite, albite, K-mica, scheelite, and gold, and gold occurs in primary fluid inclusions in zircons. Magmatic zircons in host rocks do not have this suite of inclusions; consequently a wall-rock inheritance model for the vein zircons is implausible. Compositionally, the zircons feature pronounced interzone and intergrain variations of Hf, Y, Yb, Th, and U, and sporadic anomalous Ce contents of ~ 1100 ppm, distinct from magmatic counterparts. Two principal types of primary fluid inclusion occur in the vein zircons. Type 1 H2O–CO2 inclusions have low salinities, variable quantities of CO2 and homogenization temperatures of 260–380 °C, and type 2 CO2 rich inclusions contain minor H2O and CH4. The vein zircons coprecipitated at 260–380 °C and ~ 2 kbar (1 kbar = 100 MPa) with coexisting minerals of undisputed hydrothermal origin, such as vein quartz and gold. In the Superior Province, mesothermal gold deposits are related in space and time to translithospheric structures that mark the diachronous accretion of allochthonous subprovinces from north to south between ~ 2710 and 2680 Ma. Consequently, vein zircon ages of ~ 2680 Ma record the primary mineralizing event, whereas aberrantly young ages for rutile, titanite, scheelite, and micas in the same vein systems, that scatter over 2630–2579 Ma, reveal the age of secondary remobilization events.

scholarly journals Adakites, High-Nb Basalts and Copper–Gold Deposits in Magmatic Arcs and Collisional Orogens: An Overview

Geosciences ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Pavel Kepezhinskas ◽  
Nikolai Berdnikov ◽  
Nikita Kepezhinskas ◽  
Natalia Konovalova
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zones ◽  
Far East ◽  
Gold Deposits ◽  
Type I ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Epithermal Mineralization ◽  
Depleted Mantle ◽  
Mantle Sources ◽  
East Russia ◽  
Collisional Orogens

Adakites are Y- and Yb-depleted, SiO2- and Sr-enriched rocks with elevated Sr/Y and La/Yb ratios originally thought to represent partial melts of subducted metabasalt, based on their association with the subduction of young (<25 Ma) and hot oceanic crust. Later, adakites were found in arc segments associated with oblique, slow and flat subduction, arc–transform intersections, collision zones and post-collisional extensional environments. New models of adakite petrogenesis include the melting of thickened and delaminated mafic lower crust, basalt underplating of the continental crust and high-pressure fractionation (amphibole ± garnet) of mantle-derived, hydrous mafic melts. In some cases, adakites are associated with Nb-enriched (10 ppm < Nb < 20 ppm) and high-Nb (Nb > 20 ppm) arc basalts in ancient and modern subduction zones (HNBs). Two types of HNBs are recognized on the basis of their geochemistry. Type I HNBs (Kamchatka, Honduras) share N-MORB-like isotopic and OIB-like trace element characteristics and most probably originate from adakite-contaminated mantle sources. Type II HNBs (Sulu arc, Jamaica) display high-field strength element enrichments in respect to island-arc basalts coupled with enriched, OIB-like isotopic signatures, suggesting derivation from asthenospheric mantle sources in arcs. Adakites and, to a lesser extent, HNBs are associated with Cu–Au porphyry and epithermal deposits in Cenozoic magmatic arcs (Kamchatka, Phlippines, Indonesia, Andean margin) and Paleozoic-Mesozoic (Central Asian and Tethyan) collisional orogens. This association is believed to be not just temporal and structural but also genetic due to the hydrous (common presence of amphibole and biotite), highly oxidized (>ΔFMQ > +2) and S-rich (anhydrite in modern Pinatubo and El Chichon adakite eruptions) nature of adakite magmas. Cretaceous adakites from the Stanovoy Suture Zone in Far East Russia contain Cu–Ag–Au and Cu–Zn–Mo–Ag alloys, native Au and Pt, cupriferous Ag in association witn barite and Ag-chloride. Stanovoy adakites also have systematically higher Au contents in comparison with volcanic arc magmas, suggesting that ore-forming hydrothermal fluids responsible for Cu–Au(Mo–Ag) porphyry and epithermal mineralization in upper crustal environments could have been exsolved from metal-saturated, H2O–S–Cl-rich adakite magmas. The interaction between depleted mantle peridotites and metal-rich adakites appears to be capable of producing (under a certain set of conditions) fertile sources for HNB melts connected with some epithermal Au (Porgera) and porphyry Cu–Au–Mo (Tibet, Iran) mineralized systems in modern and ancient subduction zones.

scholarly journals Mineralogical and Fluid Inclusions Study of Epithermal Type Veins Intruding the Volcanic Rocks of the Kornofolia Area, Evros, NE Greece.

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Foteini Aravani ◽  
Lambrini Papadopoulou ◽  
Vasileios Melfos ◽  
Triantafillos Soldatos ◽  
Triantafillia Zorba ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Crystal Structure ◽  
Fluid Inclusion ◽  
Hydrothermal Alteration ◽  
Fluid Inclusions ◽  
Volcanic Rocks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Calc Alkaline ◽  
Ft Ir ◽  
Host Rocks

The volcanic rocks of Kornofolia area, Evros, host a number of epithermal-type veins. The host rocks are Oligocene calc-alkaline andesites to rhyo-dacites. The andesites form hydrothermal breccias and show hydrothermal alteration. The veins comprise mainly silica polymorphs such as quartz, chalcedony and three types of opal (milky white, transparent and green). Amethyst also forms in veins at the same area. Apart from the silica polymorphs, the veins are accompanied by calcite and zeolites. The main aim of this study is the characterization of the silica polymorphs. Using FT-IR analyses, variations in the crystal structure of the three opals were recognized. The green opal is found to be more amorphous than the other two types. Fluid-inclusion measurements were performed in calcite and were compared with amethyst from previous studies. The Th is between 121-175 °C and the Te between -22.9 and -22.4 °C. The salinities range from 0.9 to 4.5 wt % NaCl equiv.

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