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Geology and geochronology of the golpu porphyry and wafi epithermal deposit, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea
Citation
Rinne, ML and Cooke, DR and Harris, AC and Finn, DJ and Allen, CM and Heizler, MT and Creaser, RA, Geology and geochronology of the golpu porphyry and wafi epithermal deposit, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea, Economic Geology and The Bulletin of The Society of Economic Geologists, 113 pp. 271-294. ISSN 0361-0128 (2018) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2018 Society of Economic Geologists, Inc.
DOI: doi:10.5382/econgeo.2018.4551
Abstract
The Wafi-Golpu district of Papua New Guinea contains contrasting high- and intermediate-sulfidation styles of epithermal veins and alteration that have overprinted and partially obscured the giant, high-grade Golpu porphyry Cu-Au deposit. The initial stages of magmatic-hydrothermal activity produced high-grade porphyrystyle assemblages that are zoned about the Golpu diorite intrusions, with most mineralization formed between 8.76 ± 0.02 and 8.73 ± 0.01 Ma. Porphyry mineralization was followed by the eruption of the Wafi diatreme, after which upward-widening zones of epithermal alteration and mineralization have overprinted both the mineralized Golpu diorites and the Wafi diatreme. Above the top of the Golpu porphyry, vein and alteration assemblages include quartz (locally vuggy), alunite, pyrophyllite, kaolinite, dickite, and diaspore, with high-sulfidation mineralization consisting of pyrite-covellite-chalcocite-tennantite ± enargite ± bornite that transitions outward to a distal assemblage of disseminated pyrite-sphalerite ± tennantite. A zone of intermediate-sulfidation epithermal carbonate-sulfide ± quartz ± adularia veins and montmorillonite-chlorite ± muscovite ± illite alteration occurs along the margins of the high-sulfidation domain. Most of the epithermal Au occurs near the transition from the high- to intermediate-sulfidation domains. New geochronological results indicate that the main stage of Golpu porphyry mineralization to the last stage of Wafi epithermal veins lasted between 120 and 220 k.y.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | porphyry, copper, gold, Papua New Guinea, epithermal, wafi, golpu, isotopes, metal ores, mineral exploration |
| Research Division: | Earth Sciences |
| Research Group: | Geology |
| Research Field: | Resource geoscience |
| Objective Division: | Mineral Resources (Excl. Energy Resources) |
| Objective Group: | Mineral exploration |
| Objective Field: | Copper ore exploration |
| UTAS Author: | Rinne, ML (Mr Marc Rinne) |
| UTAS Author: | Cooke, DR (Professor David Cooke) |
| ID Code: | 124581 |
| Year Published: | 2018 |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 14 |
| Deposited By: | CODES ARC |
| Deposited On: | 2018-02-28 |
| Last Modified: | 2022-07-18 |
| Downloads: | 9 View Download Statistics |
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