| Title | Paleozoic gold in central Newfoundland: lithological setting, structural development, and lessons from structurally |
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| Author | Honsberger, I W ;
Bleeker, W; Sandeman, H A I; Evans, D T W |
| Source | Geological Association of Canada-Mineralogical Association of Canada, Joint Annual Meeting, Abstracts Volume vol. 42, 2019 p. 112 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2019 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20220628 |
| Publisher | Geological Association of Canada |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; digital; on-line |
| File format | pdf |
| Province | Newfoundland and Labrador |
| NTS | 12A/06 |
| Area | Valentine Lake |
| Lat/Long WENS | -57.5000 -57.0000 48.5000 48.2500 |
| Subjects | Economics and Industry; mineralogy; gold; quartz veins; Paleozoic |
| Program | Targeted Geoscience Initiative (TGI-5) Gold ore systems - tectonic drivers and conduits |
| Released | 2019 05 15 |
| Abstract | The Paleozoic gold district of central Newfoundland is emerging as a potential future mining jurisdiction in Canada. Gold mineralization occurs along a ~ 400 km long structural corridor characterized by
crustal-scale faults and footwall panels of syn-orogenic conglomerates, remarkably similar to world-class gold deposits of the Archean Abitibi greenstone belt. In central Newfoundland, recent exploration by Antler Gold Incorporation northeast along
strike from the well-endowed Valentine Lake property exposed a system of shear-hosted quartz veins with gold intercepts up to 101.5 g/t over 0.5 m. Detailed lithological and structural study of Antler Gold's property demonstrates that the main quartz
vein (~ 230 m long by ~ 2 m wide) cuts the conglomerate host within an oblique sinistral reverse shear zone that accommodated north-northeast-directed thrusting. An early set of stacked, moderately dipping extensional quartz veins, consistent with
sinistral reverse shear, emanate outwards into the country rock from the main vein. Younger, more steeply dipping sets of extensional quartz veins cut the main vein and the earlier shallow dipping vein set, and are consistent with at least transient
phases of (local) horizontal extension and dextral transpression. Chalcopyrite and secondary malachite occur locally in the early vein sets, but are more abundant overall within the later, steeper vein set. Vuggy quartz and altered and unaltered
sulphides occur in conjugate sets of steeply dipping extension fractures that cut the main vein and the two vein sets. Our research indicates that gold mineralization on Antler Gold's property is structurally controlled by the northeastern extension
of the well-endowed Valentine Lake thrust structure. Mineralization occurs in the structural footwall of the thrust zone identical to gold deposits of the Abitibi, suggesting similarities between Archean and Paleozoic tectonic drivers of gold
mineralization. Regional structural correlations suggest that the central Newfoundland vein system formed progressively during the latest Silurian to earliest Devonian. |
| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This contribution synthesizes various datasets from the orogenic gold system of central Newfoundland and compares and contrasts to the Abitibi gold
system. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 331542 |
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