Platinum-group element and Au geochemistry of Late Archean to Proterozoic calc-alkaline and alkaline magmas in the Yilgarn Craton, Western Australia

Abstract The Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia is one of the largest Archean cratons in the world and is well-known for its metal endowment. In order to provide new insights into its metallogenic fertility and the nature of the upper mantle that lies underneath the craton, this study investigates the poorly constrained platinum-group element (PGE) and gold signatures of a selected suite of calc-alkaline lamprophyres, ultramafic lamprophyres, carbonatites and orangeites, ranging in age from the Proterozoic to the Late Archean. Proterozoic ultramafic lamprophyres and carbonatites within the Eastern Goldfields Superterrane (EGS) of the Yilgarn Craton have anomalously low PGE contents (Ir = 0.1–1.3 ppb; Ru =