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Ore-microscopic and geochemical characteristics of gold-tellurides-sulfide mineralization in the Macassa Gold Mine, Abitibi Belt, Canada

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Abstract

The Macassa Gold Mine is the only operational mine (Lac-Minerals Ltd., Macassa Division) of seven original gold producers in the Kirkland Lake camp of northern Ontario, Canada. The gold deposit is in Archaean volcanic and sedimentary rocks which have been intruded by a composite syenite stock. The mineralization has taken place in two stages. The first stage is not gold bearing but involves pyritization and concomitant development of titanium phase minerals (leucoxene, rutile) and hematite. It is mainly associated with carbonatization, silicification and hematitization marked by Ba, Sr and Rb enrichment. In contrast to this, the quartz vein-type mineralization is associated mainly with later silicification and enrichment with tellurium, lead, silver, gold and copper. It is relatively depleted in Sr, Ba and Rb. The ore mineralogical assemblages in the second stage include pyrite, chalcopyrite, petzite, altaite and native gold. Geochemical and petrographic evidence indicate that the reddened wall rocks (hematitized) and reddened fragments are neither related with nor contain any gold. Therefore, hematitization and the presence of barium, in this case in K-feldspars, could not be considered as the sole evidence to suggest a magmatic oxidizing fluid model for the genesis of Macassa gold deposit. Regarding the metals transport, tellurides and thiocomplexes are considered as the important carriers of gold and silver. Hence, fugacity of tellurium and sulphur controlled the precipitation of gold in the Macassa gold deposit.

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  1. Geology Department University of Wales College of Cardiff, CF2 1TA, Cardiff, UK

    G. Tesfaye

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  1. G. Tesfaye
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Tesfaye, G. Ore-microscopic and geochemical characteristics of gold-tellurides-sulfide mineralization in the Macassa Gold Mine, Abitibi Belt, Canada. Mineral. Deposita 27, 66–71 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196083

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196083

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