DISTRICT TO CAMP SCALE GEOCHEMICAL SIGNATURES

AND ZONING OF INTRUSION RELATED MINERAL SYSTEMS,

CHARTERS TOWERS PROVINCE

CHARACTERIZATION OF INTRUSION-RELATED HYDROTHERMAL

MINERAL SYSTEMS IN THE CHARTERS TOWERS REGION,
NORTHEAST QUEENSLAND
Dr Simon Beams, Principal Geologist Terra Search
Dr Gregg Morrison, Principal , Klondike Exploration Services

A component of the Queensland Government Future Resources Program

-Industry Priorities Initiative-

We Acknowledge Industry Support by Industry Partners

: Resolute Mining Limited; Piccadilly Gold Mines
Charters Towers Block
Start of Project June 2014
41,000 seds (blue)
132,000 soils (red)
31,000 rock chip (green)
11,000 drill holes (black)
Min Occ (gold)

May 2015
Data set to manipulate has
grown to
181,000 soils
42,000 rock chip
16,600 drill holes
Charters Towers Regional Cu in Rockchips
Charters Towers Regional Cu in Soils
Charters Towers Regional Au in Soils
Charters Towers 8157 Mo in Rock Chips
Ravenswood 8257 Mo in Rock Chips
Ravenswood 8257 Bi in Rock Chips
 PICCADILLY EXAMPLE of CAMP SCALE ZONING AND
GEOPHYSICAL SIGNATURE
Exploration Permits
Mining Leases

20
Kms
The Piccadilly Project is located approximately 80kms WSW of Townsville
and 50kms NW of Charters Towers, North Queensland
PICCADILLY GOLD MINES August 2014
Piccadilly : A deep
magnetic low –
magnetic reversal
RTP Aeromagnetic
Image re-stretched for
the area.
Circular feature
suggests blind intrusion.
Piccadilly :
Analytical Signal
Ground magnetic
Image –
Independent of
field direction.
Interpreted Centre
of intrusion
 GEOCHEMISTRY
Soil geochemistry
depicts the Zinc -
Copper enriched zone
overlapping with a
broad distal Lead
zone.

The Lead enriched

zone extends up to
~3km from the core of Mo (W,
the system. Bi*)
Zn
Cu

Pb

1 Km

PICCADILLY GOLD MINES February, 2015

Piccadilly
Geochemical zonation
overlain on ground magnetic
Analytical signal image.
Interpreted intrusive centre,
dacitic to rhyolitic dykes.
Multi-metal data interpretation

• Select metals & sort (use ½ detection to eliminate negative values)

• Define populations by rock type or favoured metal and calculate an
average
• Select background type e.g. granite from Wedepohl table and
normalise the population.
• List relative enrichment in orders of magnitude
• Compare with reference chart to define system type
• For detailed zoning do Z-score & PCA analysis & IOGAS display on
assemblages of metals in thematic map or cross-section.

KLONDIKE
Typical dataset
rock chip, n=238, no data Ba Sn W

average granod enrich • Table of averages for each element divided

Ag 8.71 0.04 217 by values for typical granodiorite to get
As 102.93 1.5 68 enrichment.
Au 1.97 0.004 491 • Elements listed in bold represent the relative
Ba 0.00 500 0 order of enrichment for this suite.
Bi 17.16 0.1 171 • Au with Ag Pb Bi indicates a magmatic
Cu 338.63 10 33 system with moderate fractionation. Strong
Mo 3.89 2 1 fractionation would have richer base metals.
Pb 3504.27 20 175 • Bi +/- Te rich suggests an intermediate
Sb 2.10 0.2 10 intrusive source like tonalite-granodiorite
Sn 0.00 450 0 • Ag-Pb-As imply distal zone is being sampled
Te 0.09 0.01 8 at surface.
W 0.00 2 0 • Overall this sample suite could represent a
Zn 462.66 60 7 mafic magmatic hydrothermal system
emplaced at porphyry level. This is consistent
Au Ag Pb Bi(As Cu) +/-Te Zn
with known geology & presence of euhedral
buck quartz veins and granitic vein dikes.

KLONDIKE
IRGS NQ Classification using multi-metal data
Based on 13 metal set Au Ag As Sb Pb Zn Cu Bi Te Mo W Sn
Normalised to host or related intrusion
Classified in terms of relative enrichment
Scheme based on ~100 examples from Charters Towers region

Our example Au Ag Pb Bi(As Cu) +/- Te Zn

Fits the Au-Bi-BM+/-Te porphyry Au type c.f. Mt Leyshon

CLASSIFICATION SCHEME
AU+BM (NO BI +/-AS, TE) OROGENIC GRANITE-HOSTED TYPE e.g. Charters Towers

AU BI TE AS SB (+/-BM) PLUTONIC IRGS TYPE and or mafic intrusion e.g. Ravenswood

AU-BI-BM +/-TE PORPHYRY AU TYPE and or intermediate intrusion e.g. Mt Leyshon, Mt Wright
CU –RICH ZN-RICH PB-RICH

AU BI MO W +/- BM PORPHYRY AU TYPE with felsic intrusion e.g. Mt Remarkable, Kidston

AU AG TE LOW SULFIDATION EPITHERMAL VEINS e.g. Pajingo

AU AG AS EPITHERMAL HOTSPRING DEPOSITS e.g. Wirralie

AU AG TE AS +/- BM HI-SULFIDATION EPITHERMAL e.g. Mt Carlton

KLONDIKE
MM data interpretation: metal zoning model

With two or three dimensional data sets and a few hundred data points

It is possible to build a metal zoning model

Do Z-score(standard deviation) test on each element to make all elements equal

Plot the Z-scores in plan or section

and manually look for spatial overlap of metal concentrations
Combine and average Z-scores for multiple elements to define zones

Or do a principal component analysis on the Z-scores to define element clusters

Contour zones

KLONDIKE
Ravenswood District: Three Sisters metal zoning

KLONDIKE
KIDSTON
Pipe Metal Zoning

Confined in pipe

Overall zoning on a
Thermal gradient

Au only above sill

With Pb-Zn-Cu

Deep Mo-W-Bi

Classify:
IGMX

Exposed distal BM
Core Mo-W- Bi

KLONDIKE
IRGS NQ Mt Wright soil and rock metal zoning

Pb-Zn
Zn-Ag-Pb

3km diameter soil anomaly Zn, Bi, 1km tall system, well zoned
Au only 5ppb on hill Au 0.1ppm at surface,
Best Au ore 500-800m below
KLONDIKE
 Complete classification of porphyry hydrothermal systems
CLASSIFICATION & ZONING PATTERNS FOR PORPHYRY-RELATED HYDROTHERMAL SYSTEMS

METAL ASSOCIATION CLASSIFICATION Au Cu-Au Cu-Mo Mo-W-Bi Sn-W Sn-B

EXAMPLE Eastern Australia Fifield Goonumbla Mount Leyshon Kidston Herberton Cooktown

EXAMPLE World Maricunga Chile British Columbia Bingham Climax Erzgebirge NE Tasmania

IGNEOUS CHARACTERISTICS

CHEMICAL TYPE; FRACTIONATION; REDOX M, U-F, O M, U-F, SO-O I, U-F, O I, F, O-R I, F, R S, F, R

IGNEOUS ROCK TYPE ON QAP DI-QD-TN DI-MZD-MZ-QMZ DI-GD-MZG QMZ-MZG-SYG MZG-SYG-AFG SYG-QSY-ASY

METAL ZONING

MARGINAL Hg, S Ca Ca F, U F, Ba, Se, Hg, U F

DISTAL (As) As (Au) Au As Sb (As, Sb, Au) (As Ag Sb Au) As (Au) As

DISTAL (BM) Pb, Zn, Ag, Sb, (Au) Pb Zn Ag Au (Cu Mo Te) Pb Zn Ag (Au, Bi) Zn Cu Pb Bi Au Pb Ag Zn Zn Pb Ag

PROXIMAL (BM) Au Cu Mo (Ag, As) Cu (Zn) Cu Au Ag (Bi Te) Cu (Au Bi Te) Cu Mo Bi Cu Bi Mo (W)

Au, Te, (Pt) Cu Au (Te) Cu Mo W Mo Bi Sn W Sn B (W)

CORE

Klondike Exploration: AMIRA P425, July 1997

• Combining the igneous classification and the zoning pattern

we can work back and forth between when there is limited information.
• With multi-element data we can interpret the most likely position in system
based on the most enriched elements relative to background.
• And define the system type based on key elements like Te, Bi, Mo, Sn
• N.B. different position for Au concentration(shaded) distal/felsic
KLONDIKE
MM data interpretation: Metal Zoning in IRGS model

Overall metal association

distinguishes crustal levels of systems

As-Sb typical epithermal

Basemetals typical porphyry level

Bi-Te without basemetals plutonic

KLONDIKE