Geochemical alteration halos around the Mount Morgan gold-copper deposit, Queensland, Australia

The Mount Morgan Au-Cu pyritic massive sulphide deposit occurs in a north-trending belt of Middle Paleozoic volcanic rocks located in south-central Queensland. The host rocks for the deposit are a normal sequence of rhyolitic tuff that have a north-northwest regional strike and easterly dips of 20° to 30°. The tuff contains thin units of chert, jasperoid and carbonate.The Mount Morgan deposit was represented by a zone of sulphide mineralization 600 m long, 100–200 m wide and 300 m deep that transects stratigraphy and can be divided into: (1) an oxidized zone, characterized by a hematitic, Au-enriched gossan with minor stratiform sphalerite-argillite; and (2) a primary zone which can be subdivided into an upper zone of greater than 50% sulphide minerals (Main Pipe orebody), and a lower siliceous stockwork zone with approximately 20% sulphide minerals (Sugarloaf orebody). Pyrite is the most abundant sulphide mineral in both the upper and lower primary zones with lesser pyrrhotite and accessory chalcopyrite, sphalerite and gold. A zone of silicification forms an envelope around the orebody and extends stratigraphically downwards in a pipe-like zone for greater than 750 m. The orebody contained 67 Mt of 4.87 g/t Au and 0.70% Cu.The distribution and variation of between 7 and 29 elements and specific conductance were examined in 1252 samples of the host rocks taken from diamond drill core and surface outcrop. The host rocks in the immediate vicinity of the deposit are marked by the development of three distinct but overlapping chemical and mineralogical zones representing an outward progression from the most intensive to a less intensive alteration. A 50-m-thick siliceous inner zone of intensely altered rocks, depleted in all investigated elements except Si, surrounds the orebody. This zone passes outward into a 100-m-thick middle zone of dominantly sericite-pyrite characterized by high concentrations of K, Fe, Cu and Co. The sericite-pyrite zone, in turn, passes into an outer 100-m-thick chlorite zone with high Fe, Mg, Mn and Zn concentrations. High concentrations of H₂O⁺ are associated with the sericite-pyrite zone and the chlorite zone. The alteration pipe underlying the Mount Morgan orebody is characterized by depletions in Na, Ca and K and enrichments in Fe and Mg. A non-economic pyrite body contained within the alteration pipe has spatially restricted enrichment halos of Fe, Mg, Zn, Cu and Co.