Abstract
The Caribou Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag volcanogenic massive sulphide deposit located in northeast New Brunswick represents a significant base-metal resource in the Bathurst Mining Camp. Zinc, Pb and Cu are the primary resources that are being extracted from this deposit; however, Au and Ag are important by-products that could help offset costs. This study used mineral liberation analysis supported further by in situ laser ablation inductively-coupled plasma-mass spectrometry methods to document variations in Au and Ag distribution between and within sulphide minerals. The variations in Ag and Au distribution provide critical inputs to the optimization of mineral processing design. The greatest influence on Au recovery at Caribou is the proportion of Au hosted in arsenopyrite and pyrite; consequently, considerable Au will report to the tailings. Silver recovery at Caribou is highly affected by the proportion of Ag hosted in galena and tetrahedrite-tennantite. Proximal to the vent complex, Ag values are primarily hosted in galena, whereas further from the vent complex, Ag values are likely primarily hosted in tetrahedrite-tennantite. Galena Ag values will report mostly to the Pb concentrate, while tetrahedrite-tennantite Ag values will report to the Cu concentrate.
Highlights
The Caribou deposit is a Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-type volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit located in the northwestern part of the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC), 50 km west of Bathurst, New Brunswick [1]
The BMC is located in the Miramichi Highlands of northern New Brunswick and covers an area of about 3850 km2 (Figure 1)
Non-sulphide gangue (NSG) concentrations ranged from 1.80–9.20 wt % and consisted of mainly quartz and various carbonates
Summary
The Caribou deposit is a Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag-type volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) deposit located in the northwestern part of the Bathurst Mining Camp (BMC), 50 km west of Bathurst, New Brunswick [1]. The Caribou deposit is second only in size to the Brunswick No 12 deposit [1,2,3], totaling 70 Mt and grading 4.3% Zn, 1.6% Pb, 0.5% Cu, 51.3 g/t Ag and 1.7 g/t Au [4]. The BMC hosts 46 volcanogenic massive sulphide deposits with a combined pre-mining historical massive sulphide resource of approximately 500 Mt. Mining or advanced development has occurred at 10 deposits, namely: Brunswick No 6 and No 12, Caribou, Heath Steele, Half Mile Lake, Murray Brook, Restigouche, Stratmat, Key Anacon and Wedge [2].
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