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The Archean Horne 5 deposit, located in the Rouyn-Noranda district in the southern Abitibi greenstone belt, Canada, contains a total resource of 172.4 t Au (5.6 Moz) from 112.7 Mt of ore grading at 1.53 g/t Au. The deposit is part of the Au-rich Horne volcanogenic massive sulfide (VMS) complex that also includes the past-producing Horne mine (i.e., the Upper and Lower H zones plus small subsidiary lenses) that yielded 325.4 t Au (10.5 Moz Au) from 53.7 Mt of ore grading at 6.06 g/t Au. Combined, the Horne mine and Horne 5 deposit contain ~500 t Au (16 Moz), making them the world’s single largest accumulation of VMS-related Au. The Horne 5 deposit consists of stacked lenses of massive to semimassive sulfides alternating with extensive zones of disseminated and stringer sulfides. The mineralization is hosted within thick accumulations of steeply dipping dacitic to rhyodacitic volcaniclastic units of transitional to calc-alkaline magmatic affinity. Dacitic-rhyodacitic synvolcanic units (lobes, sills, and/or domes) intrude the host succession, which is also crosscut by a series of post-ore mafic and younger intermediate to felsic feldspar ± quartz porphyry dikes. A broad and diffuse halo of distal sericite-chlorite-epidote alteration extends outboard of intensely sericite-altered zones proximal to the sulfide lenses. Gold is interpreted to be synvolcanic on the basis of Au-rich massive sulfide clasts in the volcaniclastic units, the presence of preserved Au-rich primary pyrite, Au zones limited to the sulfide envelope, crosscutting deformed but unaltered and barren dikes, and the absence of typical syndeformation, orogenic-style alteration and mineralization despite overprinting high-strain corridors and faults. Gold is spatially associated with pyrite, sphalerite, and chalcopyrite, and its distribution is largely controlled by the higher porosity and permeability of the volcaniclastic host rocks, which are interpreted to have facilitated hydrothermal fluid circulation in the subseafloor environment. Synvolcanic intrusions and fine-grained tuffs overlying auriferous zones also influenced the distribution of the mineralization by acting as cap rocks to ascending fluids. Evidence suggests that Au enrichment at the Horne 5 deposit is due to efficient transport and precipitation of Au in the subseafloor environment, a favorable geodynamic setting (transitional to calc-alkaline magmatism over thick crust), and possible input of magmatic fluids as suggested by high Te and Cu in the mineralization. Minor and very local remobilization of metals occurred in response to regional deformation and associated greenschist facies metamorphism. The detailed study of the Horne 5 deposit geology and a review of the available information on the Horne mine and recent 3-D modeling indicate that the Horne 5 deposit may have formed higher in the stratigraphy than the Upper and Lower H orebodies of the former Horne mine, which originally formed a single lens. Therefore, the Horne Au-rich VMS complex originally formed as a stacked system in which the Horne 5 deposit was deposited above the Upper and Lower H zones and not in a distal or lateral position as previously proposed, indicating that a robust hydrothermal system was responsible for the formation of the world’s largest Au-rich VMS complex.

Laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) U-Pb dating of hydrothermal calcite associated with the waning stage of mineralization is used to constrain the age of Neoproterozoic-hosted Carlin-type gold deposits in central Yukon, Canada. Samples exhibiting minor textural complexity show low dispersion of individual spot analyses and define Tera-Wasserburg lower intercept ages between 75.1 ± 2.5 and 71.2 ± 4.3 Ma. Samples with U-rich microfractures and/or a second generation of calcite associated with vein reopening record the primary stage of calcite growth related to hydrothermal activity at ca. 74 Ma and a younger ca. 48 Ma event related to fluid-assisted U mobility. The minimum age for mineralization at ca. 74 Ma overlaps with a maximum age based on a zircon U-Pb date of 74.1 ± 1.0 Ma for a gabbro dike that is locally altered and mineralized. These time constraints indicate that mineralization is ca. 74 Ma and penecontemporaneous with dike emplacement. Furthermore, mineralization is contemporaneous with a regional gold-bearing, intrusion-related, metallogenic event in eastern Alaska and central Yukon. This temporal link between Carlin-type mineralization and other mineralization types bears similarities with world-class sedimentary rock-hosted gold deposits of Nevada. This study demonstrates the potential of using LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating on calcite to constrain the age of mineral deposits lacking synmineralization minerals amenable to classic dating techniques.

In central Yukon, the Neoproterozoic to Carboniferous complexly deformed Rackla belt is along the northern boundary of the Selwyn basin. Toward the eastern end of the Rackla belt, a series of gold deposits in the Nadaleen trend exhibit similarities with Carlin-type deposits of the southwestern United States and may represent some of the best examples of this type of mineralization outside Nevada. These replacement-style gold deposits are hosted in two Neoproterozoic carbonate-dominated intervals and in a Paleozoic siltstone/mudstone unit at the contact with less permeable strata. In Neoproterozoic-hosted deposits, mineralized zones are grossly concordant with bedding. Favorable host rocks (including sedimentary units formed through debris flows) form complexly shaped faulted anticlines that constituted mixed stratigraphic/structural traps for mineralizing fluids. This and the association of gold with arsenic-rich pyrite, the common occurrence of realgar/orpiment, alteration styles dominated by decarbonatization of impure carbonate rocks, late Au-stage calcite characterized by a depleted δ18O signature, the very low base metal content and Ag/Au ratio, and enrichment in a series of diagnostic pathfinder elements (Hg, Tl ± Sb, As) are among the key features that are consistent with classification of the eastern Rackla belt as a Carlin-type district.Mineralization style varies significantly at the centimeter to 10-m scale, indicating that mineralizing fluids exploited permeable pathways, regardless of their sedimentary and/or tectonic origin. Alternating finely laminated limestone, siltstone, and floatstone intervals are the dominant host rocks to mineralization in the Conrad, Sunrise, and Osiris deposits. Premineralization fractures acted as feeders for selective bed replacement, and premineralization calcite vein networks, preferentially dissolved by early acidic fluids, acted as conduits to later gold-bearing fluids. Limited evidence suggests that synmineralization deformation was relatively minor and possibly dominated by oblique strike-slip faulting.