Shallow to near-surface, vein-type epithermal gold mineralization at Lalab in the Sibutad gold deposit, Zamboanga del Norte, Mindanao, Philippines

Abstract

The Sibutad vein-type epithermal gold deposit is the most promising economically feasible gold mineralization found in recent years in Zamboanga del Norte province in Zamboanga Peninsula, Mindanao island. The Sibutad gold deposit occurs in Pliocene to Pleistocene volcanic rocks, resting on a deformed island arc block to the east of the tectonically active Sindangan–Cotabato–Daguma Lineament. The host rocks are the Malindang Volcanics, composed of lower and upper members, which are both intruded by andesite porphyry. The lower member is made up of andesite flows, dacite tuff and tuffite, whereas volcanic breccia and tuff breccia characterize the upper member. The Sibutad gold deposit is subdivided into the Larayan and Lalab prospects. In Lalab, which is the prospect studied, hydrothermal activity and gold mineralization occur in the andesite flows. The geology, alteration and mineralization of the Lalab orebody are of adularia-sericite type that suggests the gold was precipitated from reduced, near-neutral pH solutions within a shallow to near-surface environment. The following events produced the Lalab orebody: (1) pre-breccia wallrock alteration, (2) hydrothermal brecciation, (3) post-breccia wallrock alteration, and (4) gold mineralization. Gold precipitated in quartz veins was a response to boiling, followed by fluid mixing. Prolific gold zones occur between 30 m below sea level and 200 m above sea level.