Some thoughts on the origin and processes responsible for the concentration of gold in the early precambrian of southern-africa

Abstract

The important gold deposits of the early Precambrian of Southern Africa are confined to two main geologic environments. The source of the gold and modes of concentration in each of these environments are discussed. The first is comprised of the ancient granite-greenstone terrains of the Rhodesian and Kapvaal cratons where the gold occurs almost exclusively in the greenstone belts. The ultimative source of the metal is considered to have been the “primitive” mafic and ultramafic lavas at the base of such belts. Concentration of this disseminated gold has been brought about by a number of geological and possible biological processes. The second geologic environment comprises the important placer deposits of the Dominion Reef and Witwatersrand Systems. All available evidence suggests that the sediments of these two basins were largely derived from the erosion of a granite-greenstone terrain similar to the Barberton region of the Eastern Transvaal. An attempt is made to show the correlation between the expected placer minerals derived from successive erosional levels of such a terrain, and the actual placer minerals encountered in the Dominion Reef and Witwatersrand Systems.