| Abstract | Although gold exploration on the island of Newfoundland started in the early 1900’s, it did not gain significant momentum until the 1977 discovery of gold along the Cape Ray Fault Zone. Exploration in
the late 1980's and 1990's led to many new discoveries; however, until the recent exploration boom only a select few gold-related projects had been episodically explored. These were largely restricted to the known auriferous areas of western
Newfoundland and on the Avalon Peninsula. The emerging Newfoundland gold district contains numerous gold occurrences spatially associated with Paleozoic crustal-scale fault zones and their subsidiaries. These encompass a number of mined deposits and
developed prospects having variably developed resources, and include: 1) Pine Cove Mine (3.63 Mt @ 1.3-2.0g/t for 154,132 oz Au mined); 2) Valentine Lake (~86 Mt at 1.72 g/t Au for ~4.7 Moz Au, measured and indicated); 3) Cape Ray (3.5 Mt @ 3.15g/t
for 0.918 Moz Au; measured and indicated); 4) Reid Zone (9.75 Mt @ 0.56 g/t for 176,000 oz Au, indicated); 5) Nugget Pond Mine (0.43 Mt @ 10.5 g/t, 168,748 oz mined); 6) Hammerdown Mine (291,400 t@ 15.83 g/t Au for143,000 oz Au mined); 7) Rattling
Brook (5.46 Mt at 1.45g/t for 255,000 oz; indicated); 8) Mosquito Hill (4.47 Mt @ 0.53 g/t for 75,600 oz Au, indicated); 9) Thor (0.357Mt @ 3.19g/t for 36,600 oz Au, indicated); 10) Argyle (0.529 Mt @ 1.99g/t for 33,850 oz Au, probable) and; 11)
Stog’er Tight (191,500 oz @ 2.39 g/t for 14,740 oz Au, probable). In addition to these deposits there are numerous other, in some cases newly discovered, gold discoveries in the central Newfoundland Appalachians including, for example, those
associated with the Queensway, Moosehead, Kingsway and Toogood exploration projects; extensive drilling is underway on these targets. This contribution summarizes current geochronological constraints on gold mineralization on the Island, evaluates
their type and dependability and discusses their implications with respect to our current knowledge of the timing, and broad kinematics, of the geotectonic controls on orogenesis and mineralization. Future research must emphasize the integration of
diverse datasets, including: regional and local geological observations; ore parageneses; fluid inclusion analyses; stable and radiogenic isotopic analyses; sulphide trace element analyses; geochronological studies and; ore - host rock
lithogeochemical investigations to better constrain the origin of the individual gold mineralized zones. |