Geological setting and SHRIMP U–Pb geochronological evidence for ca. 2680–2660?Ma lode-gold mineralization at Jundee–Nimary in the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia |
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Authors: | Christopher J Yeats Ernst A Kohler Neal J McNaughton Luke J Tkatchyk |
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Institution: | (1) CSIRO Division of Exploration and Mining, PO Box 136, North Ryde, New South Wales 1670, Australia e-mail: cyeats@syd.dem.csiro.au Tel.: +61-2-94908697; Fax: +61-2-94908921, AU;(2) Centre for Global Metallogeny, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia 6907, Australia, AU;(3) Great Central Mines Limited, Jundee–Nimary Gold Operations, P.O. Box 1652, Subiaco, Western Australia 6904, Australia, AU;(4) Great Central Mines Limited, Wiluna Gold Operations, P.O. Box 1123, West Perth, Western Australia 6872, Australia, AU |
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Abstract: | The 7 million oz. Jundee–Nimary lode-gold deposit occurs in the northern portion of the Yandal greenstone belt in the northeastern
part of the Archean Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia. Gold mineralization at Jundee–Nimary is similar in structural style,
mineralogy, geochemistry and relative timing with respect to deformation and metamorphism, to other Western Australian Archean
greenstone-hosted gold deposits, but is unusual in the fact that mineralized structures are crosscut by structurally late
intermediate to felsic dykes. Within the Deakin South open cut, gold mineralization is hosted in brittle–ductile shear zones
primarily developed within the dacitic Mitchell Porphyry. The Moore Porphyry, a broad dyke of porphyritic granodiorite, intrudes
the Mitchell Porphyry, crosscutting and post-dating gold mineralization. Analytically indistinguishable SHRIMP U–Pb zircon
ages of 2678 ± 5 Ma for the Mitchell Porphyry and 2669 ± 7 Ma for the Moore Porphyry require that gold mineralization at Jundee–Nimary
occurred at ca. 2680–2660 Ma, approximately 40 million years earlier than the majority of published robust ages for gold mineralization
in the Yilgarn Craton, which mostly overlap at ca. 2640–2630 Ma. The close spatial and temporal relationship between gold
mineralization and felsic to intermediate magmatism at Jundee–Nimary also raises the possibility of a genetic link between
hydrothermal and igneous activity. However, additional work is required to establish a firm connection. Current research on
lode-gold mineralization in Archean, Paleozoic and Phanerozoic terranes suggests a model which postulates that these deposits
formed during transpressional to compressional deformation in accretionary and collisional orogens and that their formation
is intimately related to orogenic processes. Consequently, mineralization and regional metamorphism are expected to be diachronous,
as terranes are accreted and the front of orogenesis migrates. Consideration of the new data presented in this paper in conjunction
with previously published dates supports the hypothesis that gold mineralization, along with regional metamorphism, was generally
diachronous from northeast to southwest across the Yilgarn Craton, over a period of approximately 40 million years from ca.
2680–2660 Ma to ca. 2640–2630 Ma. This is directly analogous to the accepted model for the timing of orogenic lode-gold mineralization
in other provinces and therefore provides further support for a unified model for this style of deposit through geological
time.
Received: 17 March 2000 / Accepted: 8 September 2000 |
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