The early proterozoic Mississippi Valley-type Pb-Zn-F deposits of the Campbellrand and Malmani Subgroups,South Africa

Pb-Zn-F deposits occur in the very late Archaean (2.55 Ga) shallow marine dolostone of the relatively undeformed Campbellrand and Malmani Sub-groups, which are overlain unconformably by the lower Proterozoic Postmasburg and Pretoria Group siliciclastics. They consist of stratiform deposits formed by replacement and porosity-filling, as well as pipes, ring-shaped and irregular bodies associated with collapse breccia. In the Transvaal basin the latter were generated during the karst denudation period between the deposition of the Chuniespoort Group (ending at 2.4 Ga) and of the Pretoria Group (starting at 2.35 Ga). A part of these mineralisations were overprinted by the metamorphism of the Bushveld Complex intrusion at 2.06 Ga. In the Transvaal basin, the age of the mineralisation is constrained between the start of the Pretoria Group deposition and the Bushveld intrusion. It is concluded that, although most of the mineralisations are characteristic of the Mississippi Valley-type, some of the northernmost occurrences, rich in siderite, are less typical. A classic genetic model is proposed. In an environment characterised by tensional tectonics and basin development, brines of basinal origin were heated by circulation into pre-Chuniespoort rocks, leached metals from the rocks they permeated, and rose as hydrothermal plumes. At relatively shallow depth they deposited minerals after mixing with water of surficial origin.