Bi/Te control on gold mineralizing processes in the North China Craton: Insights from the Wulong gold deposit

• Published in: Mineralium deposita Vol. 58; no. 2; pp. 263 - 286
• Main Authors: Feng, Haoxuan, Shen, Ping, Zhu, Rixiang, Tomkins, Andrew G., Brugger, Joël, Ma, Ge, Li, Changhao, Wu, Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-02-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bismuth; Cratons; Cretaceous; Diorite; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Economic importance; Fluids; Geology; Gold; Lead; Melting point; Melting points; Melts; Mineral assemblages; Mineral Resources; Mineralization; Mineralogy; Minerals; Ores; Quartz; Rock intrusions; Silver; Stoichiometry; Sulfur; Sulphur; Tellurides; Tellurium; Temporal variations; Veins (geology); China; Bismuth minerals; Wulong gold deposit; North China Craton; Chemical fluctuations; Liquid bismuth collector
• ISSN: 0026-4598; 1432-1866
• DOI: 10.1007/s00126-022-01120-4

The Wulong gold deposit (> 80 t Au) is located at the northeastern margin of the North China Craton (NCC). Gold in the most economically important quartz veins (Stages 2 and 3) is associated with a varied assemblage of Bi and Te minerals. Stage 2 is characterized by, in a temporal order, native gold-native bismuth-maldonite-hedleyite, bismuthinite-Bi-sulfotellurides, electrum-hessite-Bi-Pb-Ag sulfosalts, Bi-Pb sulfosalts, and Bi-Pb-sulfotellurides. All of these minerals except maldonite, electrum, hessite, and Bi-sulfosalts are present in Stage 3 veins, which also contain jonassonite and unnamed minerals with stoichiometry of Bi
8
Te
3
and Bi
5
Te
3
. These complex Bi mineral assemblages resulted from changes in Pb, Ag, Te and Bi concentrations in reduced hydrothermal fluids both locally and temporally, from Stage 2 to 3. Texturally, approximately 85% of the gold grains are associated with almost all Bi minerals in each main-stage mineralization. Quartz-vein ores from Stages 2 and 3 have high Bi concentrations (up to 7332 ppm) and show a positive correlation between Bi and Au, with Bi/Au ratios > 10. These textural and geochemical associations, together with the occurrence of numerous droplet-like blebs and small inclusion trails of native bismuth and Bi-tellurides with native gold, maldonite, or jonassonite, suggest that Bi-rich melts may have formed from the hydrothermal fluids of Stages 2 and 3, and acted as an Au scavenger in a complex Bi-Au-Pb-Ag-Te system. Hence, the intimate association of Bi and Au at Wulong is the result of Au enrichment via the liquid bismuth collector mechanism. Unlike Wulong, however, other deposits in the NCC, such as Yangzhaiyu (Xiaoqinling district), Guilaizhuang (Jiaodong district) and Dongping (Jidong district), are characterized by low Bi concentrations, and are much richer in Te than Bi, so these systems could not generate low-melting point Bi-rich polymetallic melts. The low-sulfur Bi-Au-Pb-Ag-Te association at Wulong is consistent with that observed in reduced intrusion-related gold systems elsewhere and suggests that hydrothermal fluids may have been derived from the co-located Early Cretaceous diorite-granite porphyry dyke swarm.