Low Sulphidation Epithermal Gold

Deposits
(adularia-sericite type)
OUTLINE
Definition and Regional Characteristics
Local Characteristics
Mode of Formation
Exploration Criteria
Drill Philosophy

Low Sulphidation..

Very Low

Low

Intermediate

High

loellingite
pyrrohotite
magnetite

pyrite
marcasite
arsenopyrite
chalcopyrite

tennantite
enargite
tetrahedrite pyrite
pyrite
haematite
arsenopyrite

.. Epithermal Gold Deposits

High-level hydrothermal systems - surface to ~2 km depth
Fluid temperature - <50 to 300oC

Very High

covellite
digenite
pyrite

Geological Setting
Volcanic and continental-margin magmatic arc and continental
volcanic fields with extensional structures
Local rift structures within magmatic arc (El Penon, Chile)
Back-arc rifts (Cerro Vanguardia, Argentina)
Sub-volcanic felsic rocks maybe nearby (Hishikari, Japan)
Continuum between porphyry - high-sulphidation - low-sulphidation
(Far South East - Lepanto - Victoria, Philippines)

Age
Throughout geological history - Proterozoic to Now
Tertiary or younger - most abundant
Erosion of older systems
Proterozoic: Indee (West Australia)
Permo-Carboniferous: Drummond Basin, Cracow (Queensland)
Jurassic: Calcatreu, Cerro Vanguardia (Argentina)
Triassic: North Arm (Queensland)
Tertiary: Comstock (US); El Penon, Sierra de la Piedra (Paleocene - Chile);
Waihi (Miocene, NZ); Arcata (Neogene - Peru); Colqui & Antapite (Peru)
Today: Taupo (New Zealand)

Host Rocks
Any host rock with suitable structural permeability
Most occur in volcanic rocks and associated volcaniclastics. Calcalkaline and andesitic compositions dominate
Epithermal veins and mineralisation related to host volcanics
but are usually slightly younger in age (0.5 to 1 Ma)

System Geometry
Buchanan - Morrison - Corbett & Leach

CONTOH CRUSTIFORM

Geometries of epithermal systems

Ore Mineralogy
ore, gangue and alteration mineralogy is commonly zoned
(cf. geochemistry)
pyrite - (electrum, gold, silver, argentite, silver sulphosalts)
Lesser - chalcopyrite, sphalerite, galena, arsenopyrite
Odd balls - cinnabar, tetrahedrite, tennantite, stibnite,
selenides, naumannite
Metal association - Au-Ag (Zn-Pb)
Cu, As, Sb, Hg, (W, Tl, Te, Se)

Buchanan - Morrison - Corbett & Leach

Gangue Mineralogy - Quartz

Amorphous, Cryptocrystalline and Crystalline varieties
What is adularia?
low-temperature stable potassium aluminium silicate (orthoclase)
colourless, white, pink and green; sometime striated; hard (6)
pseudo-orthorhombic form, monoclinic habit
occurs as bands in colloform-crustiform veins, infilling crystal
interstices, lining fine-crystalline open-space quartz veins
sodium cobaltnitrate staining

Gangue Mineralogy
quartz is ubiquitous
Common - adularia, illite, calcite, amethyst
Lesser - barite, fluorite, kaolinite, other carbonates, zeolites

Alteration
Often very discrete away from vein exposures
Silicification - quartz veins, veinlets, pervasive filling of rock pores
clay minerals zoned relative to temperature - pH stability

Alteration
Argillic - flat-lying, near surface zone of kaolinite, montmorillonite,
alunite alteration

Mode of Formation
Ascending fluids reduced, near-neutral pH, low salinity, gas-rich.
Comprise meteoric and magmatic waters, lesser components
leached from the wall-rocks
At depth, fluid ascent confined to faults and fractures
At shallower depths, fluids exploit the bulk-rock permeability
Boiling occurs at depths generally less than 2 km and is primarily
responsible for precious metal deposition.
Ascending: naik, lesser: yang lebih kurang; leached:
melepaskan; confined: dibatasi

What is boiling?
Boiling is the phase separation of the ascending fluids into
precipitates (quartz, calcite, adularia, gold), volatile gases (H2S and
CO2) and resultant fluid
Boiling occurs in response to the rapid-lowering of the fluid
pressure as a result of fluid ascent to a higher crustal level
The level when boiling commences is termed the boiling level
Removal of the precipitated and gas phases from the ascending
fluids allows multiple boiling events (due to lowering the critical point
of the fluid) - hydrothermal vein breccias

Mode of formation (continued)

The gases released can rise to the sub-surface, condense and form
acid-sulphate and bicarbonate waters gold-barren producing flatlying zones of leaching, argillic and advanced argillic alteration
Near the sub-surface, phreatic breccias may also form when
groundwater comes in contact with ascending fluid and flash boils
Fluids continue to surface to form sinters and hot pools.
Sinters and hot pools may or may not contain gold and other metals
Change in paleosurface-water table allows for stacked systems and
significant vertical extent

Broadlands Geothermal
At weir: <<0.1 ppb Au
6.4 % Au

At depth: ~1 ppb Au

Champagne pool and sinter, NZ

80 ppm Au, 175 ppm Ag, 2% As, 2% Sb,

320 ppm Tl, 170 ppm Hg

Sinter
Waiotapu, NZ

White Sinter Terraces

Waimangu, NZ

Columnar Growth Structures

perpendicular to Sinter Laminations

Quartz textures

Primary Growth Textures

chalcedonic, saccharoidal, comb, zoned crystals, colloform, crustiform

Recrystallisation Textures
Moss, plumose

Replacement Textures
Mold, Bladed

Coarse carbonate - mould amorphous silica

Calcatreu, Argentina

Lattice Bladed Carbonate

Ovacik, Turkey

Chalcedonic silica
Gwenivere Hg Mine (Ivanhoe)

Moss texture
Pajingo, Queensland

2 cm

Recrystallisation of silica gel globules

Colloform banded chalcedonic silica gold - sulphide - adularia

Hishikari, Japan

83 Kg/t Au 34 Kg/t Ag

Crustiform banding (adularia stained)

(Sodium Cobaltnitrite Solution)

Colloform banding (Ginguro)

fine silica-adularia-sulphide
Hishikari, Japan

Needle Adularia Mold

Pajingo, Queensland

Crustiform - comb quartz

Karangahake, NZ

Exploration Guidelines
Characteristics of the system reflect the ore forming process
Geological interpretation will guide the other disciplines
Map hydrothermal architecture of the system
Recognise paleosurface/paleo-watertable level
Paleorelief
Controls on ore distribution

Outcropping vein-alteration
Recognition of sinter and eruption-phreatic breccias
Argillic and advanced argillic alteration blankets
Interpretation of the volcanic facies
Use of quartz textures
System mineralogygeochemistry (metal zonation, Ag:Au)
Clay mineral alteration
Geophysics - resistivity tools (gradient-array resistivity)
Fluid inclusions

flow textures
Waihi, NZ

Concealed system
Reliance on geophysics
resistivity
magnetics
Detailed analysis of illite crystallinity by PIMA (Golden Cross, NZ)

Controls of higher-grade Au-Ag

Depends on structure and host rock competency
Dilatant features (Waihi, NZ)
Zones of vein thickening (Vera-Nancy, Queensland)
Rock competency contrasts/unconformities (Hishikari)
Dynamic systems, multiple events - veining, brecciation

Drilling - Core verses percussion

Highly debated at Elko meeting - variety of opinions
Need to core early in prospect history - need to see the system
Core on selected sections to obtain a vertical zonation
Core best when gold hosted in softer ores (reduction in grade and
thickness)

Drilling - How many holes are enough?

Also highly debated at Elko meeting
Discovery of low-tonnage, high-grade systems of limited vertical
extent is difficult
Midas, Vera-Nancy, Cracow discoveries indicate persistence
How deep..economic considerations versus lure of high-grades
Geologically, while evidence of boiling exists, the system remains
untested