Geology, geochemistry, and genesis of Axi: A Paleozoic low-sulfidation type epithermal gold deposit in Xinjiang, China

Axi is a low-sulfidation type epithermal gold deposit hosted in Paleozoic subaerial volcanic rocks in the western Tianshan orogenic belt, Xinjiang, China. The resource is more than 50 t gold at an average grade of > 4.4 ppm. The deposit occurs in the Tulasu volcanic fault-basin in the Paleozoic active continental margin on the northern side of the Yili-Central Tianshan plate. The host rocks are andesitic volcaniclastic rocks of the Paleozoic Dahalajunshan Formation, and the orebodies occur as veins in annular faults of a paleocaldera. Mineralization at Axi can be subdivided into five stages: quartz and/or chalcedony vein, quartz vein, quartz-carbonate vein, sulfide vein and carbonate vein. There are two types of ore host: quartz vein and altered rocks. Ore minerals are native gold, electrum, pyrite, marcasite, arsenopyrite, hematite, limonite, and trace amounts of pyrargyrite, polybasite, naumannite, cerargyrite, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, tetrahedrite, galena, pyrrhotite and clausthalite; gangue minerals are mainly quartz, chalcedony, illite, calcite, siderite, dolomite, adularia and laumontite. The main wall-rock alteration is silicification and phyllic alteration, carbonatization and propylitization. The deposit is characterized by an enrichment, relative to crustal abundance, of Au, Ag, As, Sb, Bi, Hg, Se, Te and Mo, depletion in base metals (Cu, Pb, and Zn), and a low Ag/Au ratio (0.5–3.7).Three types of fluid inclusions were recognized in quartz from the major mineralization stages: liquid aqueous inclusions, liquid-rich two-phase inclusions and small amounts of vapor-rich two-phase inclusions. Microthermometric measurements indicate that the final ice melting temperatures are − 0.3 to − 4.4 °C, corresponding to salinities of 0.5–6.9 wt.% NaCl equiv. (2.2 wt.% NaCl equiv. in average). The peak temperatures of ice melting varies from − 0.4 to − 1.9 °C, corresponding to salinities of 0.7–3.1 wt.% NaCl equiv. Homogenization temperatures range mainly between 120 and 240 °C, with an average of 190 °C and a maximum of 335 °C. The fluid density is 0.73 to 0.95 g/cm3 and thus the estimated maximum mineralization depth is about 700 m.Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic compositions of the ore fluids lie within a narrow range: δDH2O is − 98 to − 116‰ and δ18OH2O − 1.8 to 0.4‰. 3He/4He ranges from 0.0218 to 0.138 Ra, with an average of 0.044 Ra, indicating that He derived predominantly from crust with negligible mantle He in the ore fluids. By contrast, the 40Ar/36Ar ranges from 317.7 to 866.0, suggesting that crust-derived radioactive 40Ar⁎ accounts for 7.0 to 66%, and atmospheric 40Ar about 43 to 93% in the ore fluids. Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, sulfur and noble gas isotopes indicate that the ore-forming fluids of the Axi gold deposit consisted predominantly of circulating meteoric water. Ore-forming metals may have derived mainly from the host volcaniclastic rocks of the Dahalajunshan Formation and basement rocks. The occurrence of adularia, platy calcite, and quartz or sulfide aggregates as pseudomorphs after bladed calcite in ore veins, and occurrence of aqueous liquid, and liquid-rich and vapor-rich two-phase inclusions, indicates that boiling of the ore-forming fluid have occurred, leading to supersaturation of the hydrothermal solution and deposition of ore metals. This is the main mineralization mechanism for quartz-vein type ores in Axi. The ore-forming fluid was buffered to a near-neutral pH in a reduced environment during mineralization. The preservation of this Paleozoic Axi deposit and its discovery required a rapid accumulation of sediments in the basin after formation of the deposit, and minimal amount of erosion after Late Cenozoic uplift.