Spatial and metallogenic relationships between different hydrothermal vein systems in the Southern Arburèse district (SW Sardinia)

The SW Sardinian basement hosts various ore deposits linked to geological processes active from Cambrian to post-Variscan times. In particular, the Southern Arburese district hosts several granite-related W-Sn-Mo deposits and a 10 km-long system of Ni-Co-As-Bi-Ag ± Au bearing five-element veins. New investigations into the eastern and central parts of the district (Pira Inferida mine sector) were performed to understand the poorly documented spatial and metallogenic relationships between these systems. The granite-related deposits consist of massive wolframite-quartz (W-Bi-Te-Au) and molybdenite-quartz veins, linked to the early Permian (289 ± 1 Ma) Mt. Linas granite, that are cross-cut by the five-element veins. The wolframite-quartz veins, observed by optical and electron (SEM-EDS) microscopy, show abundant native Bi, Bi-Te phases and native Au suggesting a W-Bi-Te-Au hydrothermal system. The five-element veins exhibit breccia and cockade textures, enveloping clasts of the Ordovician host-rocks and locally small fragments of the earlier W-Mo-quartz veins. The five-element vein paragenesis includes three main stages, from older to younger: (1) native elements (Bi ± Au); (2) Ni-Co arsenides-sulfarsenides in quartz gangue; and (3) Pb-Zn-Cu ± Ag sulfides in siderite gangue. The mineralogical, geochemical and isotopic features of the five-element vein swarm are closely comparable to five-element deposits elsewhere in Europe (Germany, Switzerland, Italian Alps). While the source of Ni and Co is still unknown, the high Bi contents, as well as Au enrichment in the five-element veins, suggest selective remobilization of these elements, and perhaps others, from the granite-related W-Bi-Te-Au veins. The five-element vein system was likely formed during a post-289 ± 1 Ma and post-Variscan metallogenic event.