Seismic properties and effects of hydrothermal alteration on Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) deposits at the Lalor Lake in Manitoba, Canada

Borehole sonic and density logs are essential for mineral exploration at depth, but its limited availability to link rock properties of different ore forming geologic structure is a hindrance to seismic data interpretations. In situ density and velocity logs provide first order control on the reflectivity of various lithologic units. We analyzed borehole logs from 12 drill holes over and around the Lalor VMS deposits geographically located in the northern Manitoba, Canada, in an attempt to characterize lithologic units based on its seismic properties. The Lalor Lake deposit is part of the Paleoproterozoic Flin Flon Belt, and associated with an extensive hydrothermal alteration system. Volcanogenic Massive Sulfide (VMS) zones are distributed in several ore lenses with relatively shallower facies comprise solid to solid sulfides, tend to be disseminated or Stringer sulfides, while deeper lenses are gold and silver enriched and occurred in the highly altered footwall region. Our analysis suggests that massive sulfide and diorite have higher acoustic impedance than other rock units, and can produce useful reflection signatures in seismic data. Bivariate distributions of P-wave velocity, density, acoustic impedance and Poisson's ratio in end-member mineral cones were used for qualitative assessment of the extent of alteration of various lithologic units. It can be inferred that hydrothermal alteration has considerably increased P-wave velocity and density of altered argillite and felsic volcanic rocks in comparison to their corresponding unaltered facies. Amphibole, garnet, kyanite, pyrite, sphalerite and staurolite are the dominant end-member alteration minerals affecting seismic rock properties at the VMS site.