Gold nugget morphology and geochemical environments of nugget formation, southern New Zealand

• Supergene gold nuggets grew initially in situ in orogenic veins during groundwater alteration of host rocks
• This supergene gold nugget growth resulted in a wide range of crystalline morphologies at the centimetre scale
• Gold mobility was driven by thiosulphate and bisulphide complexing during oxidation of pyrite and arsenopyrite at high pH
• Physical gold recycling into proximal sediments caused minor surface modificatin of nuggets
• Chemical mobilisation of gold in sediments caused dissolution of nugget surfaces, and redeposition of micron scale gold
• Groundwater-rock interactions continued to dominate he water chemistry and chemical gold mobility

Gold nuggets (centimetre scale) have formed in a supergene alteration zone on hydrothermal gold deposits, and occur intergrown with quartz and iron oxyhydroxide pseudomorphs after sulphide minerals, and along fractures in quartz and host rocks. The supergene alteration was driven by groundwater-driven water-rock interaction near to a regional unconformity beneath fluvial sediments, and involved clay alteration and oxidation that extended up to 50 m below the unconformity. Oxidation of pyrite and arsenopyrite produced temporary thiosulphate ligands that mobilised microparticulate gold encapsulated in the sulphide minerals. The nuggets have some crystalline form, and internally they consist of anhedral grains, elongated gold plates, and intimate intergrowths of gold and iron oxyhydroxide. Nugget surfaces have further micron scale overgrowths of microparticulate gold, gold plates, and gold crystals. Nuggets were eroded and recycled into nearby proximal Miocene quartz pebble conglomerates, where they concentrated in placers near the basal unconformity. Later recycling transferred gold into Pleistocene fluvial channels. Gold dissolution and redeposition as plates and crystals occurred on the exterior surfaces of placer gold particles, with little change in mass. All groundwater maintained high pH throughout the geological history because there was sufficient calcite in the basement rocks to neutralise any acid generated by pyrite oxidation. Hence, gold mobility in sediments was driven by thiosulphate complexes as for the in situ nuggets, albeit with lower dissolved sulphur concentrations. Despite aridification of the climate in the late Cenozoic, with resulting localised high dissolved chloride concentrations, chloride complexation did not contribute to gold mobility.

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