The Nature of Ore-forming Fluids of the Carlin-type Gold Deposit in Southwest China: A Case from the Zimudang Gold Deposit

The Zimudang gold deposit is a large Carlin-type gold deposit in the Southwest Guizhou Province, China, with an average Au content of 6.2 g/t. Gold is mainly hosted in the fault zone and surrounding strata of the F1 fault and Permian Longtan Formation, and the ore bodies are strictly controlled by both the faults and strata. Detailed mineralogy and geochemistry studies are conducted to help judge the nature of ore-forming fluids. The results indicate that the Au is generally rich in the sulfides of both ores and wall rocks in the deposit, and the arsenian pyrite and arsenopyrite are the main gold-bearing sulfides. Four subtypes of arsenian pyrite are found in the deposit, including the euhedral and subhedral pyrite, framboidal pyrite, pyrite aggregates and pyrite veins. The euhedral and subhedral pyrite, which can take up about 80% of total pyrite grains, is the dominant type. Au distributed unevenly in the euhedral and subhedral pyrite, and the content of the Au in the rim is relatively higher than in the core. Au in the pyrite veins and pyrite aggregates is lower than the euhedral and subhedral pyrite. No Au has been detected in the points of framboidal pyrites in this study. An obvious highly enriched As rim exists in the X-ray images of euhedral pyrites, implying the ore-forming fluids may be rich in As. The relationship between Au and As reveals that the Au may host as a solid solution (Au+) and nanoparticles of native gold (Au0) in the sulfides. The high Co/Ni ratio (>1) of sulfides and the enrichment of W in the ores all reflect that the gold-bearing minerals and ore-forming process were mainly related to the hydrothermal fluids, but the magmatic and volcanic activities cannot be neglected. The general existence of Au and As in the sulfides of both ores and wall rocks and the REE results suggest that the ore-forming fluids may mainly be derived from the basin itself. The enrichment of Tl suggests that the ore-forming fluids may be enriched in Cl. The Ce and Eu show slightly or apparently negative anomalies, which means the ore fluids were probably formed under reducing environment. The Y/Ho ratios of ore samples fluctuate around 28, implying the bicarbonate complexation and fluorine were both involved in the ore-forming process. Combined with the previous studies and our results, we infer that the ore-forming fluids enriched Au, As, HS− and halogen (F, Cl) were derived from the mixture of reducing basinal fluids and magmatic or volcanic hydrothermal fluids.