Porphyry and Sedimentary-Hosted Gold Deposits Near Cygnet
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Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 1999/01 Porphyry and sedimentary-hosted gold deposits near Cygnet New styles of gold mineralisation in Tasmania By Jafar Taheri and Ralph Bottrill MINERAL RESOURCES TASMANIA Tasmania Tasmanian Geological Survey Tasmania Record 1999/01 Porphyry and sedimentary-hosted gold deposits near Cygnet: New styles of gold mineralisation in Tasmania Jafar Taheri and Ralph Bottrill CONTENTS ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………………… 4 INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………… 5 PREVIOUS EXPLORATION AND MINING …………………………………………………… 5 Early prospecting and mining ……………………………………………………………… 5 Recent Mineral Exploration ………………………………………………………………… 5 GEOLOGICAL SETTING ……………………………………………………………………… 5 Geochemistry and geophysics ……………………………………………………………… 9 TECTONIC SETTING AND POSSIBLE STRUCTURAL CONTROLS ……………………………… 9 ROCK TYPES ………………………………………………………………………………… 11 Lower Parmeener sedimentary rocks ………………………………………………………… 11 Jurassic dolerite …………………………………………………………………………… 11 Cretaceous intrusive rocks ………………………………………………………………… 11 MINERALISATION AND ASSOCIATED ALTERATION ………………………………………… 13 Previous mineralisation studies …………………………………………………………… 13 Alteration ………………………………………………………………………………… 14 Potassic alteration………………………………………………………………………… 14 Silicic alteration ………………………………………………………………………… 16 Calc-silicate alteration …………………………………………………………………… 16 Propylitic alteration ……………………………………………………………………… 16 Sericitic alteration………………………………………………………………………… 18 Carbonate alteration ……………………………………………………………………… 18 Sodic alteration ………………………………………………………………………… 18 Argillic alteration ………………………………………………………………………… 18 Mineralisation …………………………………………………………………………… 18 Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 1999/01 1 Porphyry hosted ………………………………………………………………………… 18 Sedimentary hosted ……………………………………………………………………… 19 FLUID INCLUSIONS ………………………………………………………………………… 20 Heating and freezing experiments…………………………………………………………… 20 Trapping conditions ……………………………………………………………………… 24 ISOTOPE STUDIES …………………………………………………………………………… 25 Sulphur isotopes …………………………………………………………………………… 25 Oxygen Isotope …………………………………………………………………………… 25 GEOCHEMISTRY OF MINERALISED AND HYDROTHERMALLY ALTERED ROCKS …………… 26 SIGNIFICANCE OF HOST ROCK PETROLOGY AND GEOCHEMISTRY ………………………… 31 SUMMARY OF MINERALISATION AND ORE GENESIS ……………………………………… 34 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………………… 37 REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………… 37 APPENDICES 1. Gold deposits, Cygnet–Kettering area ……………………………………………………… 40 2. Description of individual gold prospects/mines …………………………………………… 42 3. Sample details …………………………………………………………………………… 43 4. Petrological summary, metasomatic and highly altered rock types …………………………… 52 5. Microprobe and EDAX analyses …………………………………………………………… 53 6. XRD analyses …………………………………………………………………………… 56 7. Whole-rock geochemistry ………………………………………………………………… 58 8. Statistics for gold and base metals ………………………………………………………… 70 9. Analyses of porphyries …………………………………………………………………… 72 10. Fluid inclusion data ……………………………………………………………………… 73 11. Logs of drill holes ………………………………………………………………………… 77 FIGURES 1. Location map, showing Cygnet and Little Oyster Cove Creek goldfields, and possible lineaments defining controlling structures ………………………………………………… 6 2. Locations of alluvial and primary gold deposits, Cygnet area ………………………………… 7 3. Geological map of the Cygnet area (after Farmer, 1985) ……………………………………… 8 4. Schematic, highly interpretative, geological cross sections, Cygnet and Kettering ……………… 10 5. Modal analyses of silica-saturated porphyries from Cygnet ………………………………… 12 6. Adularia overgrowth on sericitised plagioclase phenocryst, Mt Mary ………………………… 15 7. Adularia, quartz, hematite and limonite replacing mudstone, Black Jack ……………………… 15 8. Adularia rims to calc-silicate clast ………………………………………………………… 15 9. Adularia and pyrrhotite replacing a clast in pebbly mudstone, Mt Mary ……………………… 15 10. Pyrite, chalcopyrite and sphalerite in actinolite replacing a clast in mudstone, Black Jack ………………………………………………………………………………… 15 11. Altered mafic phenocryst partly altered to hematite, Kings Hill ……………………………… 15 12. Hematite and carbonate filling an amygdule in porphyry, and partly altered on the rim to chalcopyrite and pyrite, Wheatleys Bay …………………………………………………… 15 Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 1999/01 2 13. Magnetite partly altered to pyrrhotite in porphyry, Mt Mary ………………………………… 15 14. Coarse albite in a quartz-rich breccia, Kings Hill …………………………………………… 17 15. Sericitised, pyritised feldspar porphyry, with cherty quartz veins and opaque pyrite, Mt Mary … 17 16. Siliceous alteration of mudstone, Mt Mary ………………………………………………… 17 17. Calc-silicate alteration of carbonate clasts in mudstone, Mt Mary …………………………… 17 18. Calc-silicate alteration of quartz arenite clast in mudstone, Mt Mary ………………………… 17 19. Epidote alteration of porphyry, Black Jack ………………………………………………… 17 20. Carbonate alteration of mudstone, Black Jack ……………………………………………… 17 21. Disseminated pyrite and pyrrhotite , altering to pyrite and magnetite in porphyry, Mt Mary … … 17 22. Fluid inclusion types, Cygnet area. ………………………………………………………… 21 23. Frequency distribution of homogenisation temperatures for fluid inclusions type 1, Cygnet area 22 24. Temperatures of halite dissolution versus temperatures of vapour bubble disappearance for type 2 fluid inclusions …………………………………………………………………… 23 25. Temperature-pressure diagram for part of NaCl system……………………………………… 24 26. Geochemical relationships between gold and base metals in porphyries ……………………… 27 27. Geochemical relationships between gold and base metals in the sedimentary rocks …………… 28 28. Graphic log and base metal and gold geochemistry of DDH CT87-1 ………………………… 29 29. Graphic log and base metal and gold geochemistry of DDH CT87-19 ………………………… 30 30. Total alkalis versus silica contents of Cygnet porphyries …………………………………… 32 31. Potassium versus silica contents of Cygnet porphyries ……………………………………… 32 32. Yttrium versus zirconium contents of Cygnet porphyries …………………………………… 33 33. Titanium versus aluminium contents of Cygnet porphyries ………………………………… 33 34. K2O/Na2O versus silica contents of Cygnet porphyries ……………………………………… 34 TABLES 1. Summary of mineralogy of porphyry rock types …………………………………………… 13 2. Paragenesis of alteration mineral…………………………………………………………… 14 3. Fluid inclusion classification ……………………………………………………………… 20 4. Sulphur isotope analyses ………………………………………………………………… 25 5. Oxygen isotope analyses ………………………………………………………………… 25 6. Distribution of metals in gold-mineralised rocks …………………………………………… 26 7. Correlation matrix between various trace elements ………………………………………… 27 Tasmanian Geological Survey Record 1999/01 3 Abstract Gold and base metal mineralisation occurs at a number of sites in an arcuate belt running from Oyster Cove through Cygnet to Wheatleys Bay in southeast Tasmania. The mineralisation is spatially and temporally related to the intrusion of the Cretaceous alkaline porphyries and occurs both within the porphyries and the intruded Permian sedimentary rocks. Both silica-saturated and silica-unsaturated (feldspathoidal) felsic intrusive rocks occur within the complex. Silica-saturated porphyries (quartz monzodiorite to alkali feldspar syenite) are the major hosts for gold mineralisation. Tectonically, the Cygnet porphyry complex falls amongst the alkaline complexes which occur ‘within-plate’ or in rift systems (Müller and Groves, 1997), provinces which are poorly studied for gold mineralisation compared with arc-related complexes. The alkaline porphyries appear to have been formed during the initial stages of opening of the Antarctic–Australian rift, some 97 Ma. It is suggested that the Cygnet mineralisation is a member of an unusual class of gold deposits associated with alkaline rocks intruded in a rift setting. Mount Dromedary, in southeast NSW, is possibly an analogue and is also of Cretaceous age. The potassic igneous rocks and the overlying sediments have been affected by a variety of hydrothermal alteration types including potassic, silicic, calc-silicate, phyllic, propylitic and argillic. The known alteration and associated mineralisation occurs in several separate areas and do not exhibit any distinct mineral zoning. There are two major types of mineralisation: (a) porphyry-hosted gold mineralisation where the gold occurs in: – hydrothermally-altered porphyries as disseminations; – siliceous and pyritic breccias; – quartz veins; and – pyritic veinlets. (b) sedimentary-hosted gold mineralisation, with the Truro Tillite, Woody Island Siltstone and fossiliferous mudstone (Bundella Formation) being the main host rocks. Mineralisation occurs as: – disseminations (replacing calcareous fossils and pebbles); – in small pyritic veinlets; and – in quartz veins; The sedimentary-hosted gold mineralisation is related to the intrusion of the porphyries, but appears to have been formed at a late stage and at lower temperatures. The fluid inclusions in quartz from hydrothermal breccias and quartz veins exhibit a wide range of homogenisation temperatures and salinities. Highly saline fluid inclusions appear to have been formed directly from exsolved magmatic fluids rather than by phase separation. Spasmodic brecciation, with repeated fracturing and resealing of the rocks (i.e. lithostatic-hydrostatic pressure fluctuations), appear to be the main cause for the fluid inclusions showing a variety of salinities and homogenisation temperatures. The early-formed mineralising fluids appear to be dominantly of magmatic origin and are characterised by high oxidisation