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The relationship between Archaean gold mineralization and spatially associated minor intrusions at the Kambalda and Norseman gold camps, western Australia: Lead isotope evidence

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Abstract

Many Archaean mesothermal gold deposits are spatially associated with felsic to lamprophyric minor intrusions and it has been suggested that magmatic processes related to such intrusions may be important in the genesis of these deposits. A comparison of the Pb-isotopic signature of gold-related galenas from Kambalda and Norseman with that of spatially associated minor intrusions (at the time of mineralization) indicates that the ore-fluid Pb cannot have been derived solely from the intrusions or their source regions. For both study areas, the galena Pb-isotopic compositions are bracketed by those of local volcanic (mafic) and intrusive (largely felsic) rock types. This is consistent with the ore fluid having derived metallic components from the crust (or crustally derived granitic rocks) and the mantle (or mantle-derived rocks of the greenstone succession) via metamorphic dewatering or mantle/crustal degassing. Interaction of granite-derived magmatic fluids with greenstone lithologies could plausibly produce a similar array of Pb-isotopic signatures. The Norseman data, as a whole, are more radiogenic than the Kambalda data for broadly synchronous mineralization, reflecting the greater abundance of older granitic rocks with respect to mafic/ultramafic rocks in the Norseman district. The provinciality exhibited by the Pb-isotopic composition of the ore fluid indicates that the gold-mineralizing process formed galena whose Pb-isotopic composition was very sensitive to local variations in crustal Pb-isotopic composition, either within the source region of the fluid or along fluid conduits.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Exploration Geoscience, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, P.O. Wembley 6014, Western Australia

    C. S. Perring

  2. Key Centre for Strategic Mineral Deposits, The University of Western Australia, 6009, Nedlands, Western Australia

    N. J. McNaughton

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  1. C. S. Perring
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  2. N. J. McNaughton
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Perring, C.S., McNaughton, N.J. The relationship between Archaean gold mineralization and spatially associated minor intrusions at the Kambalda and Norseman gold camps, western Australia: Lead isotope evidence. Mineral. Deposita 27, 10–22 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00196076

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