No abstract

Lithogeochemical research at the Groundrush gold deposit, Tanami region, Northern Territory, has identified new lithologies and provides a new understanding of the hydrothermal alteration, metamorphism and weathering processes that have affected the suite of metamorphosed igneous host rocks. Metamorphosed hornblende–chlorite–plagioclase-bearing mafic–intermediate intrusive rocks were classified, using conserved constituents, as dolerite and previously unrecognized basaltic andesite and diorite, the last of which hosts Au mineralization. The diorite forms a steeply dipping dyke, whereas the dolerites are sills intruding clastic sedimentary rocks. Major element geochemical variation in dolerite is consistent with the fractionation of plagioclase and pyroxene, whereas diorite is more chemically homogenous and does not exhibit evidence of fractional crystallization. Hydrothermal alteration, principally developed within the diorite, was accompanied by addition of S and carbonate, and the loss of Ca and Na, giving rise to a propylitic hydrothermal alteration assemblage of chlorite, albite, carbonate and pyrite. A regolith profile of c. 40 m thickness overlies these rocks. If originally present, Fe-rich upper units have been removed. The major weathering processes observed in the regolith profile are: (1) sulphur oxidation and (in diorite), calcite dissolution at 40 m depth; (2) ferrolysis (Fe oxidation) and the production of smectite, goethite and quartz from chlorite and hornblende at 20 m depth; (3) breakdown of albite to kaolinite, breakdown of apatite, and deposition of secondary carbonate in the top 5 to 15 m. No evidence for significant near-surface gold depletion is evident, suggesting that regolith processes remobilizing gold were generally not operating to any significant extent. However, gold was leached from a metre-scale quartz vein, possibly as thiosulphate complexes formed from pyrrhotite oxidation in a relatively low-oxygen environment.

Differentiating clay minerals that formed in a supergene environment during deep chemical weathering from those that formed during hydrothermal alteration at higher temperatures associated with a mineralizing event is important in the exploration for epithermal Au deposits. The purpose of this study was to further elucidate this topic by comparing morphological and chemical properties of clay minerals in saprolite overlying epithermally altered bedrock at the Vera Au deposit, Queensland, Australia, with those of clay minerals in saprolite overlying bedrock adjacent to the epithermal alteration zone. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and analytical transmission electron microscopy (ATEM) investigations identified kaolinite, illite, and interstratified illite-smectite, together with quartz, Fe and Ti oxide minerals, and the sulfate minerals jarosite, gypsum, alunite, and natroalunite. Kaolinite crystals within the weathered argillic alteration zone proximal to the epithermal quartz vein are generally larger (up to 3 mm in diameter) and better formed (subhedral to euhedral) than crystals in saprolite distal to the hydrothermal alteration zone, in which smaller (mostly <1 mm), subhedral to anhedral crystals dominate. Energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) analysis of single crystals indicated that kaolinite within the alteration zone has an Al/Si ratio indistinguishable from reference kaolinite and has small Fe concentrations, whereas distal saprolitic kaolinite has smaller Al/Si and greater Fe/Si ratios, consistent with the formation of low-Fe kaolinite during hydrothermal alteration and higher-Fe kaolinite during weathering. Illite and interstratified illitesmectite (I-S) were distinguished from kaolinite by their morphology and greater K/Si and smaller Al/Si ratios. The Illite and I-S morphology ranged from thin irregular masses through lath-like crystals in hydrothermal samples to larger, irregularly shaped crystals. The Ca/Si and K/Si ratios of single crystals in Ca-saturated clay minerals were consistent with the I-S interstratification parameters determined from XRD patterns.