Towards an understanding of the age and origin of mesothermal gold mineralisation in the Etheridge Goldfield, Georgetown region, north Queensland

Abstract

Small mesothermal vein quartz‐gold‐base‐metal sulfide deposits from which some 20t of Au‐Ag bullion have been extracted, are the most common gold deposits in the Georgetown region of north Queensland—several hundred were mined or prospected between 1870 and 1950. These deposits are mostly hosted by Proterozoic granitic and metamorphic rocks and are similar to the much larger Charters Towers deposits such as Day Dawn and Brilliant, and in some respects to the Motherlode deposits of California. The largest deposit in the region—Kidston (>138t of Au and Ag since 1985)— is substantially different. It is hosted by sheeted quartz veins and cavities in brecciated Silurian granite and Proterozoic metamorphics above nested high‐level Carboniferous intrusives associated with a nearby cauldron subsidence structure. This paper provides new information (K‐Ar and Rb‐Sr isotopic ages, preliminary oxygen isotope and fluid‐inclusion data) from some of the mesothermal deposits and compares it with the Kidston deposit. All six dated mesothermal deposits have Siluro‐Devonian (about 425 to 400 Ma) ages. All nine of such deposits analysed have δ18O quartz values in the range 8.4 to 15.7‰. Fluid‐inclusion data indicate homogenisation temperatures in the range 230–350°C. This information, and a re‐interpretation of the spatial relationships of the deposits with various elements of the updated regional geology, is used to develop a preliminary metallogenic model of the mesothermal Etheridge Goldfield. The model indicates how the majority of deposits may have formed from hydrothermal systems initiated during the emplacement of granitic batholiths that were possibly, but not clearly, associated with Early Palaeozoic subduction, and that these fluid systems were dominated by substantially modified meteoric and/or magmatic fluids. The large Kidston deposit and a few small relatives are of Carboniferous age and formed more directly from magmatic systems much closer to the surface.