Geology of the Main Zone at Mt. Skukum, Wheaton River area, southern Yukon
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Gold mineralization at the Mt. Skukum deposit occurs in nearly vertical quartz-carbonate veins which crosscut flat-lying andesites with a NNE trend. The mineralized veins represent the second stage of a two stage hydrothermal system, the first of which resulted in emplacement of thin chalcedonic veinlets. These two stages of veins are probably indicative of an evolving hydrothermal fluid rather than being representative of two separate events. Vein emplacement is one of the latest of a series of events which began with volcanism, producing felsic and andesitic volcanic rocks which overlie basement in this area. Subsequent periods of tectonism produced large faults along which rhyolitic dykes were emplaced. Continued tectonism resulted in reactivation of old faults along which andesitic and dacitic dykes were injected, crosscutting rhyolite dykes in many cases. As volcanic activity waned, the faults remained active, leaving zones of high permeability which acted as conduits for the still active hydrothermal circulation. Veins appear to have been emplaced at low temperature in a circulating hydrothermal system driven by a heat source at depth associated with dykes present in the area. Circulating hydrothermal fluids may have leached gold from the surrounding andesitic volcanics during propylitization. Permeability may have been controlled by faulting, brecciated flow tops and bottoms, and lapilli tuff horizons. Gold was precipitated in highly permeable conduits, such as the Main Fault Zone and breccia bodies.
Volcanic-hosted epithermal gold-sulphide mineralization and associated enrichment processes, Sixtymile River area, Yukon Territory, Canada
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The upper Sixtymile River area is located approximately 128 km west of Dawson City, Yukon. Lithology in this area consists of Precambrian to Paleozoic metamorphic rocks, Paleozoic ultramafic rocks, Middle Jurassic pegmatitic and aplitic dikes, Upper Cretaceous porphyritic dikes and volcanic rocks with intercalated sedimentary rocks, Quaternary alkaline basaltic dikes and Quaternary alluvial sediments. Precious metal occurrences in these volcanic rocks are divided into two types, based on differences in local distribution, petrology and wall rock alteration: a gold-bearing pyrite-arsenopyrite type and a silver-bearing galena-sphalerite type. Both types are characterized by four stages of mineralization.
Geology and lithogeochemistry of the Fyre lake copper-cobalt-gold sulphide-magnetite deposit, southeastern Yukon
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The Fyre Lake sulphide-magnetite deposit is located in the Finlayson Lake massive sulphide district in the Yukon-Tanana terrane, southeastern Yukon. It is hosted by quartz-chlorite-actinolite schist derived from (probable) Devono-Mississippian-aged mafic volcanic rocks. Overlying the deposit are intercalated metasedimentary and metavolcanic rocks. This mixed sequence is, in turn, overlain by a thick sequence of graphitic phyllite. The deposit consists of three northwest-trending stratiform lenses comprising massive and semi-massive sulphide and magnetite iron formation. Pyrite is the dominant sulphide mineral in the deposit, with lesser amounts of pyrrhotite, chalcopyrite, and locally, sphalerite. The sulphide mineralization is copper and cobalt-rich and locally contains significant concentrations of zinc and gold. It has low to trace amounts of lead, barium, arsenic, antimony, tin and selenium. Lithogeochemical results indicate that the host mafic metavolcanic rocks are strongly depleted of light rare-earth elements (LREE) and high field strength elements (HFSE), and contain elevated levels of MgO, Ni and Cr. SiO2 in the host rocks ranges from 53 to 58%. Chemically, the mafic metavolcanic rocks are similar to boninitic rocks found in some suprasubduction zone ophiolites such as those at Cyprus. The primitive boninitic chemistry of the host metavolcanic rocks implies that they originated as melts from a depleted mantle in a rifted setting. The presence of felsic metasedimentary rocks below, within and overlying the host metavolcanic rocks suggests that the Fyre Lake deposit was formed in or near a mature tectonic setting, possibly a continental arc or an evolved island arc. The host mafic metavolcanic rocks are chemically distinct from other mafic and intermediate metavolcanic rocks that outcrop on the Fyre Lake property. A clastic metavolcanic rock unit lies stratigraphically below the deposit. It consists of fragmental LREE and HFSE-enriched transitional subalkaline basalts. Other discontinuous bodies of metavolcaniclastic and metaflow rocks occur stratigraphically above and peripheral to the Fyre Lake deposit. These are enriched in LREE and Th, and relatively depleted in Nb, Ta and Ti, and generally display the chemical features of transitional basalts and andesites erupted in a continental arc or evolved island arc setting.
New data on the geology and mineralization of the Skukum Creek gold-silver deposit, southern Yukon (NTS 105D/3).
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Detailed exploration conducted during 2006 in the western part of the Skukum Creek deposit has revealed new structural, mineralogical and geochemical features. The deposit incorporates a number of (at least six or seven) sub- parallel narrow mineralized zones, coincident with andesite-dacite-rhyolite dyke swarms extending for at least 1 km along strike and for hundreds of metres down-dip. Various mineralized zones differ in size, structural setting, intensity and composition of mineralization, and, in total, form a large mineralized package more than 200 m wide, corresponding to a property- to district-scale fault zone extending for over 10 km and traced by a dyke belt. Significant potential exists for the exploration of these structures along strike and down-dip. The diamond drilling intersected numerous high-grade intercepts of gold and silver mineralization corresponding to the low-sulphidation sub-type of epithermal gold-silver deposits. However, strong enrichment in base metals (up to 25% of combined Zn+Pb+Cu) and arsenic suggests essential differences from typical epithermal mineralized systems.
Geology, mineralization and sampling results from the Kalzas tungsten property, central Yukon
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Kalzas, in central Yukon, is a porphyry-style stockwork and sheeted-vein wolframite deposit. Alteration includes a potassic core, a quartz-tourmaline-sericite zone and an outer quartz-sericite-pyrite zone, the latter in excess of 2 km in diameter. Wolframite is confined to the inner two zones, in an oval area 1500 m by 800 m. The wolframite is disseminated within the quartz-tourmaline stockwork and also occurs as coarse crystals in sheeted veins. Mineralization occurs within Neoproterozoic to Early Cambrian Hyland Group quartzites and phyllites, which are likely intruded at depth by a pluton, possibly of the Cretaceous Tombstone Suite. From 1981 to 1984, Union Carbide carried out mapping, soil and rock geochemistry, an airborne magnetometer survey, road building, trenching and drilling of two diamond drill holes. Results from Copper Ridge's 2001 sample program range from 0.3% WO3 to 0.5% WO3 over widths up to 70 m. They demonstrate the potential to define a signifi cant resource of surface-mineable tungsten mineralization at a grade of 0.4% WO3 or better. Drilling is required to confirm grade continuity at depth and along strike.