Petrography, fluid inclusion analysis, and geochronology of the End uranium deposit, Kiggavik, Nunavut, Canada

Chi, Guoxiang; Haid, Taylor; Quirt, David; Fayek, Mostafa; Blamey, Nigel; Chu, Hong

doi:10.1007/s00126-016-0657-9

Cited by 68 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…5A). This breccia is also called barren quartz breccia by Chi et al (2017) in their fluid inclusion study at the End deposit and called hereafter the quartz breccia (QB). The QB consists of mosaic quartz-sealed breccia and veins ( Fig.…”

Section: Fracturing Stage 2: Quartz Breccia (Qb) and First Stage Of Omentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ductile to ductile-brittle shear zones are rarely observed and their reactivation appears not to be a key process controlling uranium mineralization there (Johnstone et al, 2017). Previous studies of the various deposits in the Kiggavik area focused on the characterization of mineralizing fluids and their alteration products, through geochemical and isotopic analyses of uranium oxides and clay minerals (Farkas, 1984;Riegler et al, 2016a;Shabaga et al, 2015;Sharpe et al, 2015;Potter et al, 2015;Chi et al, 2017;Fayek et al, 2017;Quirt, 2017;Shabaga et al, 2017aShabaga et al, , 2017b. While the knowledge in these various fields has greatly improved in the last years, the tectonic history, the structural controls, and the relative timing of the deposits in the Kiggavik area remain poorly understood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Contact uranium prospect, Kiggavik project, Nunavut (Canada): Tectonic history, structural constraints and timing of mineralization

Grare

Benedicto

Lacombe

et al. 2018

Ore Geology Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Uranium mineralization in the Kiggavik area, on the eastern border of the Thelon basin (Nunavut, Canada), hosts significant uranium resources within the basement and its understanding is critical to comprehending the genesis of unconformity-related deposits' structural controls and therefore exploration of these types of deposits in this prospective district. This article deciphers the complex multiphase fracture network associated with uranium mineralization of the most recently discovered, basement-hosted prospect in the Kiggavik area, named Contact. The Contact prospect is located along the Andrew Lake Fault (ALF), a major NE-SW fault corridor in the area. This study combines field work, drillcore logging, sampling, and macro-to micro-petro-structural analyses. Key results from this study highlight that the NEtrending ALF, along with the ENE-trending Thelon (TF) and Judge Sissons (JSF) faults, formed early during intracratonic rifting and deposition of the Baker Lake and Wharton groups (ca. 1850-1750 Ma) in response to the Thelon and Trans-Hudsonian orogeny. The ALF was affected by a strong silicification-brecciation event that likely developed at ca. 1750 Ma, and partitioned later deformation and fluid circulation. In the Contact prospect, the ALF was reactivated multiple times and mineralized in three stages with distinctive secondary fracture patterns, alteration, and mineralization types. Ten fracture stages have been identified at the Contact prospect, f1 to f10. The first stage of mineralization, coeval with f5, is related to fluids of unconstrained origin that circulated through E-W faults in the area that locally re-activated quartz veins of the brecciation event at the intersection with the ALF. Mineralization at this stage is polymetallic and associated with weak clay alteration. The second stage of uranium mineralization occurred coeval with transtensional reactivation of the NE-SW trending ALF (f6c) and in relation to circulation of oxidizing basinal brines within the fault zone. Mineralization at this stage is monometallic and associated with illite and sudoite alteration. Later reactivation of the inherited fracture network (f8) led to strong illitization and bleaching of the host rock, with local reworking of the ore body. Finally, reactivation of the fracture network during f9 and 10 lead to circulation of meteoric fluids that remobilized mineralization in a third stage of uranium re-concentration along redox fronts, with strong illitization and bleaching of the host rock. Unlike the classic unconformity-related uranium deposits in the Athabasca Basin where clay alteration halos occur around the ore bodies related to mineralizing processes, in the Contact prospect the strongest clay alteration event (f8) postdates both main stages of mineralization. Along with uranium remobilization, the basement-hosted Contact prospect is likely a relict of what was once a larger deposit.

show abstract

Section: Fracturing Stage 2: Quartz Breccia (Qb) and First Stage Of Omentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Contact uranium prospect, Kiggavik project, Nunavut (Canada): Tectonic history, structural constraints and timing of mineralization

Grare

Benedicto

Lacombe

et al. 2018

Ore Geology Reviews

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The coexistence of AI and LH/GI inclusions within an individual FIA is interpreted to indicate fluid immiscibility [45]. Although vaporonly inclusions may be produced by necking-down or postentrapment stretching [43,46] values of AI inclusions with the lowest vapor percentages represent trapping temperatures, and no pressure correction is required.…”

Section: Aqueous Inclusion Trapping Pressurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fluid immiscibility, inferred from the coexistence of liquid-dominated and vapor-dominated fluid inclusions within individual FIA in quartz healed microfractures, indicates a shallow-burial environment [45]. Hydrocarbon-bearing fluid inclusions confined in the quartz healed microfractures that terminate at the overgrowth boundary suggest that the hydrocarbon-bearing fluid was produced during the shallowburial diagenetic stage, which is characterized by low ℎ values ranging from 69 ∘ C to 78 ∘ C, relatively high salinity values (7.6-11.0 wt% NaCl eq ), and low trapped pressures (5-6 bar).…”

Section: Origin Of Ore-forming Fluidsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although vaporonly inclusions may be produced by necking-down or postentrapment stretching [43,46] values of AI inclusions with the lowest vapor percentages represent trapping temperatures, and no pressure correction is required. Accordingly, fluid pressures ( ℎ ) at homogenization temperatures represent trapping pressures [45]: ℎ values of AI coeval with GI and LH inclusions in the quartz healed microfractures calculated with FLUIDS (Bakker 2003) cover a range from 5 bar to 6 bar.…”

Section: Aqueous Inclusion Trapping Pressurementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Origin and Role of Kaolinization in Roll-Front Uranium Deposits and Its Response to Ore-Forming Fluids in the Yili Basin, China

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Kaolinite is a common mineral found in most Chinese sandstone-hosted uranium deposits. It occurs particularly in coal-bearing clastic rocks in northwest China, such as the uranium deposits in the Yili Basin, which is well known for hosting several largescale roll-front uranium deposits. Previous studies have provided limited information on the origin of kaolinization and its role in the uranium mineralization. This study uses gas hydrocarbon, fluid inclusions, O and H isotope analysis, and scanning electron microscopy observations to investigate the formation of kaolinite in ore-hosting rocks from the Mengqiguer uranium deposit in the southern margin of the Yili Basin and to determine its role in the uranium mineralization. Results suggest that kaolinization is intense in the coal-and ore-bearing clastic rocks and that it is related to leaching of feldspar by acidic fluids. Vermicular kaolinite was formed by hydrocarbon-bearing fluid generated from coal and carbonaceous mudstone during a shallow-burial diagenetic stage at low homogenization temperatures ranging from 69 to 78 ∘ C and at relatively high salinities of 7.6−11.0 wt% NaCl eq . Consequently, silicate minerals (such as feldspar) were leached and created secondary pores that hosted the subsequently formed uranium minerals. In contrast, micritic kaolinite was formed by infiltration of meteoric fluid enriched in U and O 2 at low homogenization temperatures of 51−63 ∘ C and low salinities of 1.2−3.7 wt% NaCl eq . U 6+ was sorbed by the micritic kaolinite through cation exchange, forming a U-bearing kaolinite complex; it was also reduced by pyrite and carbon detrital, thereby precipitating at the acidic oxidation front. The results of this study confirm that intense kaolinization is closely related to uranium mineralization in coal-bearing clastic rocks.

show abstract

A rare Phanerozoic amphibolite-hosted gold deposit at Danba, Yangtze Craton, China: significance to fluid and metal sources for orogenic gold systems

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Danba gold deposit is located in a poorly-documented gold province on the northwestern margin of the Yangtze Craton. It is sited in Devonian sequences in a high-grade metamorphic terrane that includes an extensional metamorphic core complex. Around the deposit, peak metamorphic conditions of 6 ± 0.5 kbar and 650 ± 50°C at ca. 193 Ma were followed by retrograde sillimanitegrade conditions of 4.5 ± 0.5 kbar and 550 ± 50°C. The deposit is hosted in a broadly strata-bound ductile-brittle shear zone with high-T proximal alteration assemblages of biotite-amphibole-plagioclase and ore assemblages dominated by pyrrhotite, but with a strong association between gold and bismuth tellurides. Alteration mineral thermobarometers, together with heating/freezing studies of low-salinity H 2 O-CO 2-CH 4 fluid inclusions, indicate P-T conditions of early ore deposition of approximately 4-5 kbar and 500-650°C at around 185 ± 9 Ma indicated by Re-Os geochronology on ore-related molybdenite. In conjunction, all data demonstrate that Danba represents a Lower Jurassic hypozonal orogenic gold deposit that formed during post-peak metamorphic retrogression. The primary high P-T nature of the deposit, combined with its late-metamorphic timing, negate that the ore fluid was sourced via devolatilization of the hosting supracrustal sequences. A deep externally-derived ore-fluid source is required. The most likely source is the K-H 2 O-CO 2 and ore-metal fertilized lithospheric mantle that was metasomatized during Neoproterozoic subduction. It is proposed that transition from lithospheric transpression to extension in the Jurassic triggered the devolatilization of this metasomatized lithosphere to cause the formation of this rare Phanerozoic amphibolite-hosted gold deposit at Danba.

show abstract

Petrography, fluid inclusion analysis, and geochronology of the End uranium deposit, Kiggavik, Nunavut, Canada

Cited by 68 publications

References 60 publications

The Contact uranium prospect, Kiggavik project, Nunavut (Canada): Tectonic history, structural constraints and timing of mineralization

The Contact uranium prospect, Kiggavik project, Nunavut (Canada): Tectonic history, structural constraints and timing of mineralization

Origin and Role of Kaolinization in Roll-Front Uranium Deposits and Its Response to Ore-Forming Fluids in the Yili Basin, China

A rare Phanerozoic amphibolite-hosted gold deposit at Danba, Yangtze Craton, China: significance to fluid and metal sources for orogenic gold systems

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About