Multi-stage enrichment processes for large gold-bearing ore deposits

A review of previous studies of the world's large hydrothermal gold deposits indicates that the largest deposits tend to show complicated parageneses where multiple gold enrichment events and processes have been involved in the deposit generation. These observations suggest that multistage processes may even be a requirement for the formation of large deposits. In some deposits (e.g. Witwatersrand, Boddington Cadia, Sukhoi Log or Carlin) the different enrichment processes occur millions of years apart. In others, such as many large porphyry deposits, the different stages are much closer in time. In many deposits, particularly sedimentary-hosted deposits, early diffuse enrichment occurs within a particular province that is then upgraded by more focused processes (e.g., Sukhoi Log; Kalgoorlie). The presence of this early diffuse enrichment could explain the tendency for gold deposits to cluster into camps.

This model has important implications, as the presence or absence of multiple gold events could be used to discriminate, at the exploration and feasibility stages, between small deposits with single stage ore genesis and more complicated deposits with multistage enrichment and the potential for larger gold endowment.