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Paleoproterozoic gold deposits in the Bald Hill and Coyote areas, Western Tanami, Western Australia

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Abstract

Significant gold deposits in the western Tanami region of Western Australia include deposits in the Bald Hill and Coyote areas. The ca. 1,864 Ma Bald Hill sequence of turbiditic and mafic volcanic rocks hosts the Kookaburra and Sandpiper deposits and a number of smaller prospects. The ca. 1,835 Ma turbiditic Killi Killi Formation hosts the Coyote deposit and several nearby prospects. The Kookaburra deposit forms as a saddle reef within a syncline, and the Sandpiper deposit is localized within graphitic metasedimentary rocks along a limb of an anticline. Gold in these deposits is hosted by anastomosing quartz–(–pyrite–arsenopyrite) veins within quartz–sericite schist with disseminated arsenopyrite, pyrite, and marcasite (after pyrrhotite). Based on relative timing relationships with structural elements, the auriferous veins are interpreted to have been emplaced before or during the ca. 1,835–1,825 Ma Tanami Orogeny (regional D1). Gold deposition is thought to have been caused by pressure drops associated with saddle reef formation (Kookaburra) and chemical reactions with graphitic rocks (Sandpiper). The Coyote deposit, the largest in the western Tanami region, consists of a number of ore lenses localized along the limbs of the Coyote Anticline, which formed during the Tanami Orogeny. The largest lenses are associated with the Gonzalez Fault, which is located along the steeply dipping southern limb of this fold. Gold was introduced at ca. 1,790 Ma into dilatant zones that formed in local perturbations along this fault during later reactivation (regional D5) towards the end of a period of granite emplacement. Gold is associated with quartz–chlorite–pyrite–(arsenopyrite–galena–sphalerite) veins with narrow (< 5 mm) chloritic selvages. A quartz–muscovite–biotite–K–feldspar–(tourmaline–actinolite–arsenopyrite) assemblage, which is interpreted to relate to granite emplacement, overprints the regional greenschist facies metamorphic assemblage. The mineralogical similarity between this overprinting assemblage and the vein assemblage suggests that the auriferous veins at the Coyote deposit are associated with the granite-related metamorphic–metasomatic assemblage. Gold deposition is thought to have been caused by pressure drops within dilatant zones.

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Notes

  1. For the purposes of this discussion, a deposit is a mineralized entity for which Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC)-compliant resources or reserves have been established. A prospect does not have an established JORC-compliant resource or reserve.

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Acknowledgements

This contribution is a product of the joint National Geoscience Accord project between the Geological Survey of Western Australia and Geoscience Australia. It has benefited from discussions with geologists from Tanami Gold NL, and from comments by J.B. Gemmell and L. Meinert. It has also benefited from studies commissioned by Anglogold Ashanti Australia Pty prior to acquisition of the Coyote deposit by Tanami Gold NL. It is published with permission of the Director of the Geological Survey of Western Australia and the Chief Executive Officer of Geoscience Australia. Murray Jones helped construct the figures, and Rob Green is also thanked for his logistical and field support while working in the area.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geological Survey of Western Australia, 100 Plain St, East Perth, Western Australia, 6004, Australia

    Leon Bagas

  2. Centre of Exploration Targeting, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia

    Leon Bagas

  3. Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia

    David L. Huston & Terrence P. Mernagh

  4. Tanami Gold NL, P.O. Box 1892, West Perth, Western Australia, 6872, Australia

    James Anderson

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  1. Leon Bagas
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  2. David L. Huston
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  4. Terrence P. Mernagh
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Correspondence to Leon Bagas.

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Editorial handling: D. Huston

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Bagas, L., Huston, D.L., Anderson, J. et al. Paleoproterozoic gold deposits in the Bald Hill and Coyote areas, Western Tanami, Western Australia. Miner Deposita 42, 127–144 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00126-006-0092-4

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