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Paragonite-chloritoid alteration in the Trafalgar Fault and Fimiston- and Oroya-style gold lodes in the Paringa South mine, Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie: 2. Muscovite-pyrite and silica-chlorite-telluride ore deposited by two superimposed hydrothermal systems

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Abstract

The Golden Mile deposit (1751 t Au to 2017) in the Archean Eastern Goldfields Province, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia, is located in a km-scale envelope of chlorite-calcite-albite alteration overprinting metamorphosed tholeiitic rocks. The propylitic zone (310–340 °C) is centered on D2 strike-slip faults segmenting D1 folds. At the southeast margin of the deposit, 200 m wide hydrolytic paragonite-ankerite-chloritoid alteration (< 0.1 g/t Au) associated with the D2 Trafalgar Fault forms a thermal anomaly (405–425 °C). The Trafalgar alteration zone merges with barren ankerite-sericite replacement in propylitic Paringa Basalt bound to the contact with Golden Mile Dolerite, which extends > 1.5 km northwest to the Paringa South mine. In the mine, D2 faults control Fimiston ore locally overprinted by Oroya ore, whereas D3 reverse faults offsetting the D2-system control only Oroya ore. Representative ore bodies (lodes) were studied by petrographic, geochemical, and thermometric methods. Fimiston ore (4–20 g/t Au) is refractory, characterized by 10% pyrite ± chalcopyrite ± tennantite, and varies in oxidation state (magnetite stable to hematite stable). Gold and tellurides form inclusions in pyrite. In propylitic GMD, lode alteration is zoned from albite stable in veins and selvages (400 °C) to outer hydrolytic phengite-quartz-ankerite replacement (370 °C). The younger Oroya ore in D3 faults contains free gold and is oxidized (5 g/t Au; pyrite-hematite) or reduced (50–120 g/t Au; pyrite-pyrrhotite) close to carbonaceous black schist. Oroya Stage 1 silica-chlorite-siderite replacement (400–425 °C) and As-rich pyrite-arsenopyrite-sphalerite mineralization is crosscut by Stage 2 silica-ankerite fill (385 °C) and Sb-rich pyrite-tetrahedrite-telluride mineralization associated with vanadian muscovite. Mass-balance calculations indicate that the Oroya fluid carried higher concentrations of silica, Fe, V, Ni, and Te than the older Fimiston fluid.

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  • 19 February 2020

    The author noticed that two element ratios in Table 3 are incorrect due to a calculation error.

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Acknowledgments

The author acknowledges the receipt of a scholarship during his Ph.D. study at the University of Western Australia. Ray Chang assisted with the XRD and XRF analyses and Malcolm Roberts during the electron microprobe sessions at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterization and Analysis (CMCA), the University of Western Australia. Scott Halley kindly measured the SWIR absorption spectra of representative samples. Greg Hall and Patrick Verbeek, former Gold Resources Pty Ltd of the CSR Paringa Project, encouraged mapping in the Paringa South underground mine before closure in 1987. The manuscript benefitted from improvements suggested by Stephen Kesler and David Craw.

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  1. Centre for Exploration Targeting, School of Earth and Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Perth, W.A., 6001, Australia

    Andreas G. Mueller

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Mueller, A.G. Paragonite-chloritoid alteration in the Trafalgar Fault and Fimiston- and Oroya-style gold lodes in the Paringa South mine, Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie: 2. Muscovite-pyrite and silica-chlorite-telluride ore deposited by two superimposed hydrothermal systems. Miner Deposita 55, 697–730 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-018-0813-5

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