Alkali element mobility as a vector for gold mineralization: An example from Central Brazil

Abstract The Brazilian Pilar and Tres Buracos Paleoproterozoic mid-tier gold deposits are located in the south western Pilar de Goias greenstone belt, containing 61,688 kg and 7,144 kg of gold, respectively, in addition to approximately 30,000 kg of past production (1736–2018). This research aimed to assess the hypothesis that the mobility of alkali elements may be used to facilitate the discovery of new gold deposits in hydrothermal systems by creating geochemical vectors based on alkali element mobility. The hypothesis was first proposed for the mafic rocks in the West Australian Goldfields and has been adopted in other deposits worldwide (E.g., Andorinhas greenstone belt, Brazil, Pataz gold field, Peru, and Rio das Velhas gold deposit, Brazil). The procedures consisted in the analysis of metasedimentary and mafic rock types from two drill holes from the Pilar de Goias greenstone belt, central Brazil. These drill holes have intercepted mineralized and barren rock types. The petrographic and energy dispersive spectrometric results indicated that the host rocks around the orebodies present intense sericitization, albitization, and sulfidation. The chemical results reveal that the mobile elements Cs, Rb and Ba tend to be enriched in gold-bearing rock units and depleted in barren rock units. These elements are carried by fluids and can replace K in the structure of the newly formed hydrothermal phyllosilicates forming a halo of alkali-rich elements of up to 50 m around the orebodies. The upper continental crust normalized ratio ((Cs + Rb)/Th)UCC was adopted as an alteration index to evaluate and distinguish possible mineralized zones, with ((Cs + Rb)/Th)UCC > 3, from barren zones, with ((Cs + Rb)/Th)UCC   3 indicating high prospectivity.