Deposit types/Gold

Orogenic gold (low-sulphide gold-quartz veins)

Gold in large, long quartz veins cutting metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks.

What it is

Gold in large, long quartz veins cutting metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks.1

How it forms

Compression builds faults and joints in mountain belts. Quartz veins fill them with a little pyrite and other sulphides and native gold.1

Host rocks

Greenstone belts and oceanic metasediments (volcanic rocks, greywacke, chert, shale) with late granites.1

Where it forms

Fault and joint systems formed by regional compression in continental-margin mobile belts and accreted terranes.1

How old

Precambrian to Tertiary1

Mines of this type

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Story cards

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Mines

An example ofGolden Mile, Kalgoorlie-BoulderSee Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofKalgoorlieSee Kalgoorlie, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofBallarat goldfieldSee Ballarat goldfield, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofBendigo goldfieldSee Bendigo goldfield, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofHomestake MineSee Homestake Mine, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofGiant MineSee Giant Mine, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofObuasiSee Obuasi, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofSt IvesSee St Ives, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofBig Bell mineSee Big Bell mine, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofHill End goldfieldSee Hill End goldfield, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofSons of GwaliaSee Sons of Gwalia, an example of this deposit type.1An example ofAgnewSee Agnew, 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.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); 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); San Francisco, California: the Golden Gate bay area. Photograph, ca. 1880., Unknown (Wellcome Collection) (Public Domain Mark 1.0).