EPITHERMAL GOLD DEPOSIT
Gold Epithermal Gold Deposit Characteristic, Processes, Products, and Interpretation Noel C. White noelcwhite@hotmail.com SEG-MGEI Workshop, Mataram, Indonesia November 2010 Epithermal gold deposits A very important style of gold deposit -can be very big: 1. lihir, PNG 170 Mt @3.5g/ton Au 2. porgera, PNG 85 Mt @5.8 g/ton Au, 33g/ton Ag -can be very rich: 1. cripple creek, USA 630 ton Au in veins grading 15-30 g/ton 2. Hishikari, Japan 220 ton au, Honko veins 70 g/ton Au, 49 g/ton Au Ephitermal gold deposits are very important economically. Relative amount of gold (> 5 Moz deposits, 1997) 50% Witwatersrand 12% Epithermal 10% Porphry (+ Intrusion Hosted) 12% Sediment Hosted (Incl. 4%”carlin”) 9% greenstone lode (orogenic) 7% Other ( Fe Fm, VHMS, etc) Arribas, 2000 3 Categories Epitermal Deposit Gold 1. Low Sulfidation’ 2. ...