The LaRonde Penna World-Class Au-Rich Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposit, Abitibi, Quebec: Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Alteration and Implications for Genesis and Exploration

Dubé, B; Mercier-Langevin, P; Hannington, Mark D.; Lafrance, B.; Gosselin, G.; Gosselin, Pierre

doi:10.2113/gsecongeo.102.4.633

Cited by 78 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…The sphalerite-rich zone, between 120 and 135 m, is notable for enrichment in Zr and Mn and complete loss of K. Similar gains (Mn, Fe and Mg) and losses (Na, K) have been described for a number of VMS deposits (e.g. Franklin et al 1981;Large et al 2001b;Dube et al 2007).…”

Section: Geochemical Evidence For Alterationsupporting

confidence: 63%

“…The positive correlation between gold and copper contents is strong evidence for coprecipitation from the same mineralising fluid (Franklin et al 2005;Dube et al 2007Dube et al , 2014, and the gold in Hollandaire Main is not related to overprinting of gold mineralisation on a VMS deposit (e.g. Mt.…”

Section: Interpretation Of Sulfide Mineralisationmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Dube et al 2007Dube et al , 2014. By normalising each oxide and element to Zr, an established immobile element in the Hollandaire succession (as demonstrated by the positive correlation in Figure 8b), and plotting against the average least altered metasediment composition (as described in the previous paragraph), also Zr-normalised, we can determine element gains (plot above the 1:1 isocon line) from element losses (plot below the 1:1 line) and determine which elements are immobile (plot on the isocon line), for the hangingwall, footwall and ore zone (Figure 9bÀd).…”

Section: Geochemical Evidence For Alterationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A new period of volcanogenic massive sulfide formation in the Yilgarn: a volcanological study of theca2.76 Ga Hollandaire VMS deposit, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Hayman

Hull

Fernand

et al. 2015

Australian Journal of Earth Sciences

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The Archean Hollandaire volcanogenic massive sulfide deposit is a felsicÀsiliciclastic VMS deposit located in the Murchison Domain of the Youanmi Terrane, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia. It is hosted in a succession of turbidites, mudstones and coherent rhyodacite sills, has been metamorphosed to upper greenschist/lower amphibolite facies and includes a pervasive S1 deformational fabric. The coherent rhyodacitic sills are interpreted as syndepositional based on geochemical similarities with wellknown VMS-associated felsic rocks and similar foliations to the metasediments. We offer several explanations for the absence of textural evidence (e.g. breccias) for syn-depositional origins: (1) the subaqueous sediments were dehydrated by long-lived magmatism such that no pore-water remained to drive quench fragmentation, (2) pore-space occlusion by burial, and/or (3) alteration overprinting and obscuring of primary breccias at contact margins. Mineralisation occurs by sub-seafloor replacement of original host rocks in two ore bodies, Hollandaire Main (»125 £ >500 m and »8 m thick) and Hollandaire West (»100 £ 470 m and »5 m thick), and occurs in three main textural styles, massive sulfides, which are exclusively hosted in turbidites and mudstones, and stringer and disseminated sulfides, which are also hosted in coherent rhyodacite. Most sulfides have textures consistent with remobilisation and recrystallisation. Hydrothermal metamorphism has altered the hangingwall and footwall to similar degrees, with significant gains in Mg, Mn and K and losses in Na, Ca and Sr. Garnet and staurolite porphyryoblasts also exhibit a footprint around mineralisation, extending up to 30 m both above and below the ore zone. High precision thermal ionisation mass spectrometry of zircons extracted from the coherent rhyodacite yield an age of 2759.5 § 0.9 Ma, which along with geochemical comparisons, places the succession within the 2760À2735 Ma Greensleeves Formation of the Polelle Group of the Murchison Supergroup. Geochemical and geochronological evidence link the coherent rhyodacite sills to the Peter Well Granodiorite pluton »2 km to the W, which acted as the heat engine driving hydrothermal circulation during VMS mineralisation. This study highlights the importance of both: detailed physical volcanological studies from which an accurate assessment of timing relationships, particularly the possibility of intrusions dismembering ore horizons, can be made; and identifying synvolcanic plutons and other similar suites, for VMS exploration targets in the Youanmi Terrane and worldwide.

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Section: Geochemical Evidence For Alterationsupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Interpretation Of Sulfide Mineralisationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Geochemical Evidence For Alterationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A new period of volcanogenic massive sulfide formation in the Yilgarn: a volcanological study of theca2.76 Ga Hollandaire VMS deposit, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Hayman

Hull

Fernand

et al. 2015

Australian Journal of Earth Sciences

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“…Although argillic and advanced argillic alteration assemblages are key features of subaerial high-sulfidation epithermal systems, similar styles of subaqueous synvolcanic aluminous alteration are inferred from some ancient Au-rich VHMS deposits-for example, LaRonde Penna, Abitibi belt, Canada (Dubé et al, 2007). This style of alteration is also increasingly recognized in some modern arcs and back arcs (e.g., de Ronde et al, 2005;Paulick and Bach, 2006).…”

Section: Prospect Geology and Alteration Zonationmentioning

confidence: 93%

Lithogeochemical and Stable Isotopic Insights into Submarine Genesis of Pyrophyllite-Altered Facies at the Boco Prospect, Western Tasmania

Herrmann¹,

Green²,

Barton³

et al. 2009

Economic Geology

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The Boco prospect is a large, fault dismembered, pipelike, hydrothermally altered zone in the Mount Read Volcanics of western Tasmania. It is a synvolcanic alteration zone hosted by felsic volcanic rocks formed in a subaqueous proximal intracaldera setting. Previous detailed geochemical and geophysical surveys and extensive drill testing have indicated it contains no economic metals.The strong to intense, pervasively quartz + phyllosilicate + pyrite-altered northern segment of the prospect is semiconcentrically zoned. Short wavelength infrared (SWIR) spectral analysis has revealed that phyllosilicate assemblages grade from phengitic white mica in the least altered peripheries, through normal potassic white mica, to central zones containing kaolinite, slightly sodic white mica, and pyrophyllite. Mass balance calculations indicate average net mass losses in the altered facies were about 10 to 30 g/100 g, mainly owing to loss of SiO2, which implies very high hydrothermal water-rock ratios. Whole-rock oxygen isotope compositions of the enclosing least altered felsic rocks (δ 18 O values 8.2-11.7‰) are indistinguishable from those of altered facies (9.6-11.8‰). We attribute the former to low-temperature diagenetic isotopic exchange with 0 per mil δ 18 O seawater in the peripheral least-altered zones, and the latter to exchange with 3 to 6 per mil δ 18 O hydrothermal fluids at high water/rock ratios and temperatures generally greater than 220°C, and locally greater than 270°C, in the intensely altered facies. Pyrite sulfur isotope compositions in the Boco altered facies (δ 34 S values 1.2-7.2‰) are distinctly lower than most Tasmanian massive sulfide deposits (6-15‰), compatible with a dominantly magmatic source of sulfur.The alteration mineral assemblages, estimated mass changes, and isotopic data show that the Boco alteration system was formed by a large volume of focused acidic hydrothermal fluid which had an oxygen isotope composition of 3 to 6 per mil δ 18 O at and temperature greater than 270°C. The slightly 18 O-enriched fluid isotope composition suggests derivation from either mixed magmatic fluid and seawater or isotopically evolved seawater. Its advanced argillic altered facies place Boco among a newly recognized class of southeast Australian Cambrian volcanic-hosted prospects and deposits. These include Chester, Basin Lake, Western Tharsis, and North Lyell in Tasmania, and Rhyolite Creek, Hill 800, and Mike's Bluff in eastern Victoria. SWIR spectral analyses with field-portable spectrometers allow early discrimination of this type of hydrothermally altered system, and can potentially assist subsequent exploration in mapping facies zonation.

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“…1) hosts numerous volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposits, several of which -most notably the Horne and the LaRonde Penna -are world-class (Gibson and Watkinson 1990;Kerr and Gibson 1993;Dubé et al 2007;Gibson and Galley 2007;Mercier-Langevin et al 2007a, 2007b. The BRG consists dominantly of submarine volcanic rocks, traditionally interpreted to have formed lava plains, volcanic edifices and subsiding basins (e.g., Spence and de Rosen-Spence 1975;Goodwin 1977Goodwin , 1982Dimroth et al 1982Dimroth et al , 1985Gibson and Watkinson 1990;Péloquin et al 1990Péloquin et al , 2008.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Basaltic to andesitic volcaniclastic rocks in the Blake River Group, Abitibi Greenstone Belt: 1. Mode of emplacement in three areas¹This article is a companion paper to Ross et al. 2011. Basaltic to andesitic volcaniclastic rocks in the Blake River Group, Abitibi Greenstone Belt: 2. Origin, geochemistry, and geochronology. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 48: this issue.²MRNF Contribution BEGQ 8439-2010/2011-1. Natural Resources Canada, Earth Science Sector Contribution 20100253.

et al. 2011

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In the Archean Blake River Group, mafic to intermediate fragmental units have controversially been proposed to have formed during the collapse of a giant submarine caldera. This paper describes and interprets these rocks, summarizing their physical characteristics, inferred origins, age relationships, and geochemical signatures. The widespread Stadacona member, south of Rouyn-Noranda, consists of several hundred meters of bedded volcaniclastic rocks interpreted to have been mostly deposited from aqueous density currents fed directly by explosive eruptions. The magmas involved in these eruptions were plagioclase-phyric tholeiitic to transitional basalts. The similarly widespread D'Alembert tuff, in the northern part of the Blake River Group, shares many physical characteristics with the Stadacona member and is thought to have a similar origin. However, the D'Alembert tuff is approximately six million years younger than the Stadacona member. It is composed mostly of transitional to calc-alkaline andesites and basaltic andesites with very distinct trace element profiles. Volcaniclastic rocks from other areas, such as Tannahill Township in Ontario and the Monsabrais area in Québec, are interpreted to represent mostly in situ to remobilized hyaloclastite, with no explosive eruptions involved in their genesis. Our observations and interpretations are not compatible with models in which the volcaniclastic units are emplaced during a catastrophic event in relation with the collapse of a giant caldera. Instead, the fragmental rocks were produced by various mechanisms at many distinct times during the evolution of the Blake River Group.

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The LaRonde Penna World-Class Au-Rich Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide Deposit, Abitibi, Quebec: Mineralogy and Geochemistry of Alteration and Implications for Genesis and Exploration

Cited by 78 publications

References 53 publications

A new period of volcanogenic massive sulfide formation in the Yilgarn: a volcanological study of theca2.76 Ga Hollandaire VMS deposit, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

A new period of volcanogenic massive sulfide formation in the Yilgarn: a volcanological study of theca2.76 Ga Hollandaire VMS deposit, Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Lithogeochemical and Stable Isotopic Insights into Submarine Genesis of Pyrophyllite-Altered Facies at the Boco Prospect, Western Tasmania

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