| Title | Chemical fingerprinting of the Archean Côté Gold deposit: a large-tonnage, low-grade intrusion-related deposit system, Ontario, Canada |
| Download | Downloads |
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| Licence | Please note the adoption of the Open Government Licence - Canada
supersedes any previous licences. |
| Author | Katz, L R; Kontak, D J; Dubé, B; Rogers, J R |
| Source | TGI 4 - Intrusion Related Mineralisation Project: new vectors to buried porphyry-style mineralisation; by Rogers, N (ed.); Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 7843, 2015 p. 445-458, https://doi.org/10.4095/296482  Open Access |
| Links | Canadian Database of Geochemical Surveys, downloadable
files
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| Links | Banque de données de levés géochimiques du Canada,
fichiers téléchargeables
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| Image |  |
| Year | 2015 |
| Publisher | Natural Resources Canada |
| Document | open file |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | on-line; digital |
| Related | This publication is contained in TGI 4 - Intrusion Related
Mineralisation Project: new vectors to buried porphyry-style mineralisation |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Ontario |
| NTS | 32D/01; 32D/02; 32D/07; 32D/08 |
| Area | Kirkland Lake; Côté Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -78.6000 -78.4000 48.2833 48.2167 |
| Subjects | economic geology; geochemistry; porphyry deposits; porphyry copper; mineral exploration; mineralization; gold; alteration; tungsten; molybdenum; tin; bismuth; mineral deposits; intrusive rocks; granitic
rocks; magmatic deposits; hydrothermal alteration; igneous rocks; hydrothermal deposits; Archean; Upper Beaver gold system; Cote Lake gold system; Precambrian |
| Illustrations | location maps; photographs; photomicrographs; plots |
| Program | Targeted Geoscience Initiative (TGI-4) Intrusion/Porphyry Ore Systems |
| Released | 2015 06 11; 2023 03 17 |
| Abstract | The Côté Gold intrusion-related Au (-Cu) deposit, in the Archean Swayze greenstone belt of the Abitibi Subprovince, is a large-tonnage, low-grade deposit hosted by ca. 2741 Ma tonalite and diorite of
the Chester intrusive complex which formed in a high-level sub-volcanic setting. The deposit contains a resource (indicated + inferred) of 8.3 M oz Au that is centered on a magmatic-hydrothermal breccia. Mineralisation occurs as disseminations or is
associated with quartz ± carbonate vein arrays, and is broadly coincident with biotite, silica-sodic and sericite alteration zones. Lithogeochemical and petrographic/SEM-EDS studies (>600 samples) across the deposit are used to assess the
petrogenesis of the magmatic host rocks, distinguish between magmatic versus hydrothermal breccia, differentiate alteration types, determine the precursor rock where alteration is most intense, and chemically fingerprint the deposit. Preliminary
observations indicate the following: (1) the tonalite suite is characterised by unfractionated CN REE patterns and reflects melt generation in a low-P regime; (2) protolith rocks are best discriminated using CaO, TiO2 and Zr/TiO2; (3) the
magmatic-hydrothermal breccia is characterised by an Au-Cu-F-Te-Zn association; (4) biotite alteration, often with intergrowth of chalcopyrite, is characterised by Ba and LREE enrichment often accompanied by the presence of
allanite-euxenite-bastnaesite; (5) zones of intense sodic alteration, up to 40 m thick and approaching 10 wt% Na2O are characterised by a red-pink colour and a vuggy texture due to quartz dissolution. In thin section albite is pitted, contains
abundant fluid inclusions and is mantled by clear albite. These rocks are considered to be episyenites; (6) sericite alteration zones, up to 150 m and cutting silica-sodic alteration, are characterised by an F ± Au ± Cu association; and (7) the
chemistry of biotite in the breccia unit shows a reversal in Mg# after fractionation from diorite to tonalite (i.e., decreasing Mg#) which may indicate either injection of a new primitive melt or an oxidation-sensitive event coincident with formation
of the breccia. Many of the features of the Côté Gold deposit suggest derivation of mineralisation and alteration by the flux of high-temperature fluids enriched in K, Fe, F, LREE, CO2, and Ba, in addition to Au, Te and Cu. The association of Au-Cu
mineralisation with a magmatic-hydrothermal breccia and a chemical signature that is atypical for Archean orogenic-type gold deposits indicates a possible affinity with a spatially and temporally related intrusive centre. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
The Targeted Geoscience Initiative (TGI-4) is a collaborative federal geoscience program that provides industry with the next generation of geoscience
knowledge and innovative techniques to better detect buried mineral deposits, thereby reducing some of the risks of exploration. This volume summarises research activities completed under the TGI 4 Intrusion Related Mineralisation Project that
focused on porphyry-style ore systems related to the Cu- and Cu-Mo deposits of South-Central British Columbia and the Sn-W-Mo-In deposits in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 296482 |
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