Deposit types/Gold, Lead, Zinc

Epithermal vein (Creede type)

Quartz-carbonate veins with galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tellurides and gold in volcanic rocks.

What it is

Quartz-carbonate veins with galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tellurides and gold in volcanic rocks.1

How it forms

Fractures linked to calderas and faults fill with metal-bearing fluids near the surface. Older evaporites or trapped seawater may be associated.1

Host rocks

Andesite, dacite, rhyolite and related sediments.1

Where it forms

Through-going fracture systems, domes and caldera ring faults.1

How old

Mainly Tertiary (about 29 to 4 Ma)1

Mines of this type

Drag to turn the globe

Story cards

Where next

Mines

An example ofComstock LodeSee Comstock Lode, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofBodieSee Bodie, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofCripple CreekSee Cripple Creek, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofRosia Montana gold districtSee Rosia Montana gold district, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofValenciana Mine (Guanajuato)See Valenciana Mine (Guanajuato), an example of this deposit type.1An example ofZacatecas silver minesSee Zacatecas silver mines, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofYanacochaSee Yanacocha, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofSado gold and silver mineSee Sado gold and silver mine, an example of this deposit type.1

Sources

  1. Mineral Deposit Models (Bulletin 1693, Cox and Singer, eds., 1986) US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

Keep exploring

Stories with these minerals

A large grey ball mill studded with liner bolts in a long mill hallEquipmentBall mills and SAG millsProcessing · GrindingLessons from historySocial licence: when a mine loses trust1842-2020Lessons from historyThe deposits that made fortunes, and who kept them1485-2008Copper drill-hole columns over the Cobar Basin on a satellite map of New South WalesData storyUnder New South WalesDrill holes · New South Wales

All mining storiesThe world runs on rockAll mineralsMining by country

Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Ball mills and SAG mills by photosmith2011, Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0. Pictures: NASA's ASTER Shows Brazilian City After Dam Disaster, NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Space Systems, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).