The Meiling deposit in the Kalatage area of the East Tianshan, which is the most recently identified Late Carboniferous hydrothermal vein deposit, is located in a series of basic-intermediate-acidic volcanic-pyroclastic rocks and contains ore bodies composed of single quartz-sulfide veins and quartz-sulfide vein groups in a stockwork/en-échelon arrangement with Cu as the primary ore-forming element and Zn, Au and Ag as secondary ore-forming elements. This study examines the geochemical characteristics of sub-volcanic rocks and analyses fluid inclusions and stable isotopes (H, O and S) to determine the metallogenic characteristics of the Meiling deposit and discusses the pattern and geological significance of the mineralization in the Kalatage area. The quartz porphyry, dacite porphyry and granite porphyry from the Meiling deposit, which are closely related to the mineralization, are calc-alkaline magmatic rocks that formed in an island arc setting. Most of the primary quartz fluid inclusions are liquid-rich two-phase FIs with homogenization temperatures mainly of 154–251 °C and salinities of 3.1–5.6% NaCl equivalent and the sphalerite fluid inclusions are liquid-rich two-phase FIs characterized by omogenization temperatures mainly of 156–263 °C and salinities of 2.4–5.3% NaCl equivalent, which are low temperature and low salinity. H and O isotope analysis show that in the polymetallic sulfide-quartz stage, the δD values ranged from −79.3‰ to −54.0‰, the δ18OH2O values ranged from −8.99‰ to −2.57‰, and the primary ore-forming fluids were mixtures of a dominant meteoric water phase with minor amounts of magmatic fluid. S isotope analysis shows that in the polymetallic sulfide-quartz stage, the δ34S values of the main sulfides were distributed between −1.6‰ and 5.2‰, similar to the range of a homogenous sulfur source. These results, together with the S-isotopic characteristics of the wall rocks from the Meiling deposit, demonstrate that the ore-forming metals might have originated from the volcanic-subvolcanic wall rocks. These results show that the metallogenic characteristics of the Meiling deposit are consistent with those of low temperature epithermal deposits and clearly demonstrate that the Meiling deposit is a low temperature epithermal deposit that formed in an island arc setting. The Kalatage area provides a natural laboratory for studying the characteristics of geological mineralization during the arc-basin system transformation process.