Geology, geochemistry, and geochronology of the East Bay gold trend, Red Lake, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

The Red Lake greenstone belt is situated in northwestern Ontario within the Uchi Subprovince, Superior Province. Most gold deposits therein are associated with major deformation corridors; the east-west oriented “Mine trend” hosts most of the large deposits and the northeast-southwest “East Bay trend” hosts several small deposits and showings. Gold along the East Bay trend typically occurs in quartz replacement veins that were emplaced into pre-existing quartz-carbonate veins. Gold can occur as free gold or along vein margins associated with pyrite and pyrrhotite. Most primary fluid inclusions, preserved in relatively undeformed portions of veins, are carbonaceous with lesser quantities of aqueous inclusions. The average homogenization temperature of aqueous fluids is ~250 °C; however, the abundance of three-phase inclusions, variation in liquid-vapor ratios, and a wide range in homogenization temperatures indicate that immiscibility, effervescence, and fluid mixing are mechanisms associated with gold deposition. The age (~2550 Ma) of alteration minerals in the Abino area is considerably younger (by ~100 Myr) than alteration minerals in other deposits in the Red Lake district, indicating that the mineralizing fluid history was more protracted than previously thought. Along the East Bay trend, barren veins generally have lower δ18OVSMOW values (0.0 to 8.5‰) relative to auriferous veins (9.6 and 13.1‰). Consequently, the oxygen isotopic composition of quartz could be used as a vector for gold mineralization. The genetic model for the East Bay trend involves several stages of vein formation. Auriferous veins formed near the upper boundary of the mesozonal regime (depth of ~5–6 km).