The copper–gold and gold deposits of the Neoproterozoic Mara Rosa magmatic arc, central Brazil

Abstract

Mineral exploration in the Neoproterozoic Goiás Magmatic Arc, central Brazil, dates back to the beginning of the 1970s. The Goiás Magmatic Arc extends for more than 1000 km in the western and northern parts of Goiás, into Tocantins, and disappears under the Phanerozoic Parnaı́ba Basin. Two main areas of Neoproterozoic juvenile crust, the Arenópolis and the Mara Rosa arcs, are identified. They lie in the southern and northern sectors of the Goiás Arc, respectively, and are relatively well studied. The Goiás Magmatic Arc dominantly comprises tonalitic/dioritic orthogneisses and narrow NNE-striking volcano-sedimentary belts. Recent U–Pb zircon data indicate crystallization of the tonalite protoliths in two main episodes: the older between ca. 890 and 790 Ma and the younger at 670–600 Ma. Nd isotopic data indicate the very primitive nature of the original magmas, with T DM model ages mostly within the interval between 0.9 and 1.0 Ga and ε Nd( T) values between +3.0 and +4.6. In the Chapada–Mara Rosa area, the supracrustal rocks form three individual NNE belts, known as the eastern, central and western belts, separated from each other by metatonalites/metadiorites. Gold and Cu–Au deposits of the Mara Rosa area occur in four main associations: (i) Au–Ag–Ba (e.g., Zacarias), which are interpreted as stratiform, disseminated volcanogenic deposits, (ii) Cu–Au (e.g., Chapada) which has been interpreted either as volcanogenic or as a porphyry-type deposit, (iii) Au-only deposits (e.g., Posse), interpreted as an epigenetic disseminated deposit controlled by a mesozonal shear zone and (iv) Au–Cu–Bi (e.g., the Mundinho occurrence), which are considered as vein-type deposits controlled by magnetite-rich diorites. The gold and Cu–Au deposits located within the Goiás Magmatic Arc can be spatially and temporally related to the magmatic evolution of a collisional belt or, in other words, to an orogenic gold deposit model. These models are based on the continuous evolution of collisional plates, which can be subdivided into four stages with distinct magmatic characteristics: (i) subduction stage, (ii) syntectonic collisional magmatism stage, (iii) post-tectonic collisional magmatism stage and (iv) post-orogenic extension stage.