Electron microprobe analyses of ore minerals and H–O, S isotope geochemistry of the Yuerya gold deposit, eastern Hebei, China: Implications for ore genesis and mineralization

Abstract

The Yuerya gold deposit in eastern Hebei Province, China, is located on the eastern margin of the North China Craton and is hosted by Mesozoic Yanshanian granitoid rocks and adjacent Mesoproterozoic Gaoyuzhuang Formation carbonates. The auriferous quartz veins in this deposit are dominated by pyrite, with subordinate sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and galena in a quartz-dominated gangue that also contains calcite, dolomite, barite, apatite, and fluorite. Gold is present as native gold and electrum, which are generally present as micron-size infillings in microfissures within pyrite and less commonly as tiny inclusions within pyrite, quartz, and tellurobismuthite. The pyrite in this deposit has high Co/Ni ratios and contains elevated concentrations of both of these elements, suggesting that the Yuerya gold deposit has a magmato-hydrothermal origin and that the ore-forming fluids that formed the deposit leached trace elements such as Co, Ni, As, and Au during passage through Archean metamorphic rocks, Mesoproterozoic carbonates, and the Yanshanian Yuerya granitoid. Pyrite in the study area has S/Se ratios and S isotopic compositions that suggest that the sulfur (and by inference the gold) within the deposit was sourced from magmato-hydrothermal fluids that were probably originally derived from Archean metamorphic rocks and Yanshanian granitoids. Tellurobismuthite in the study area is closely intergrown with gold and was the single telluride phase identified during this study. The fineness of gold associated with tellurobismuthite is greater than the fineness of gold associated with pyrite, although the fine particle size of the gold surrounded by tellurobismuthite means that the recovery of this gold is difficult, in turn meaning that the tellurobismuthite has little significance to the economics of the Yuerya gold deposit. Only trace amounts of sulfides are associated with the tellurobismuthite within the Yuerya gold deposit, suggesting that this mineral was deposited under conditions of low fS2 and/or high fTe2. In addition, the presence of tellurides within the Yuerya gold deposit reflects a genetic relationship between the deposit and magmatism. Quartz from mineralized veins in the study area has δ18O values of 11.2‰–12.9‰ and the fluids that formed these veins have δD values of −78.3‰ to −72.1‰. The δ34S values of pyrite within the deposit are rather restricted (2.3‰–3.5‰). These data, combined with the trace element geochemistry of sulfides within the deposit, suggest that the formation of the Yuerya gold deposit was closely related to both Archean metamorphic rocks and the Yanshanian Yuerya granitoid.