A Metamorphosed Au–Ag Deposit in the Precambrian of the Fennoscandian Shield: A New Conceptual Model

Abstract

The Oleninskoe gold deposit is located in the northwestern part of the Kolmozero–Voron’ya greenstone belt (Kola Peninsula), in a sequence of amphibolite with granite porphyry sills. The sills are genetically connected with a big granodiorite- and granite-porhyry massif, which hosts the Pellapahk Cu–Mo porphyry deposit. The geochemical association of the Oleninskoe includes As, Pb, Ag, Cu, Sb, and Au; the Au/Ag ratio is less than 0.2. The ore is of very complex mineral composition (more than 50 mineral names of intermetallic compounds, sulfides, and sulfosalts are defined), with widespread Ag and Sb minerals. Fluid inclusions in quartz are of high salinity with anomalous concentration of minor elements. All these characteristics show that the deposit formed in an Early Precambrian porphyry-epithermal system. Then the deposit underwent metamorphism (lower amphibolite facies) in the Neoarchean and Paleoproterozoic, indicating the absence of chlorite and a scarcity of carbonates in metasomatic rocks, replacement of pyrite with pyrrhotite, and signatures of sulfide anatexis in ore. This is the first finding of this genetic type of gold deposits in the northern part of the Fennoscandian Shield.