Geochronology of the Xiaodonggou Porphyry Mo Deposit in Northern Margin of North China Craton

The Xiaodonggou porphyry Mo deposit is located in the Mesozoic calc-alkaline Xiaodonggou granitoid within a Palaeozoic fold zone of northern China. The mineralization mainly occurred in an area of 0.54 km² at the south-eastern part of the Xiaodonggou granitoid. The mineralization includes disseminated molybdenite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, magnetite and pyrrhotite and stockwork quartz-sulfide veins. A molybdenite-rich inner core is surrounded by a concentric zone of the sulfide mineral assemblage of pyrite, galena and sphalerite. Intense potassic alteration is overprinted by sericitization and silicification in the mineralized zone. SHRIMP U-Pb data of zircon indicate that the granitoid crystallized at 142 ± 2 Ma (2σ). Re–Os age dating for six molybdenite samples from underground galleries of the deposit constrains the age of porphyry-style Mo mineralization to be 138.1 ± 2.8 Ma (2σ). These data suggest that porphyry-style mineralization was associated with the Xiaodonggou granitoid intrusion and support an Early Cretaceous porphyry-type metallogenic epoch along the northern margin of North China Craton.