Gold mineralization in Proterozoic black shales: Example from the Haoyaoerhudong gold deposit, northern margin of the North China Craton

The Haoyaoerhudong gold deposit in the northern margin of the North China Craton (NCC) is a large tonnage lower-grade deposit with a reserve of about 148 tons of gold. Gold mineralization is characterized by pyrite and pyrrhotite films and thin veins on the schistosity plane of the Proterozoic black shales. The orebodies, strictly controlled by a near EW-trending shear zone, are stratabound within carbonaceous phyllite and andalusite-garnet schist of the Bilute Formation. Hydrogen and oxygen isotopic data show that the ore-forming fluid was derived from a magmatic source and mixed with meteoric water. Sulfur and carbon isotope data indicate that most of the sulfur and carbon came from the black shale strata. Well-defined biotite Ar-Ar plateau age and inverse isochron age show that the deposit formed at ca. 270Ma, which suggests a probable link between Hercynian magmatism and gold mineralization. Studies on regional geology, ore geology, isotope geochemistry, and ore-forming age substantiate a complex evolutionary history of the deposit. The Proterozoic black shales rich in gold, sulfur, and organic matter, which were deposited in the Proterozoic continental margin rifts, comprised the source bed for gold mineralization. EW-ENE-structures, products of Palaeozoic orogenic process, provided pathways and mineralization space for ore-forming fluids. Hercynian tectono-magmatism and subsequent hydrothermal events remobilized gold and drove the ore-forming fluids to dilatational fracture zones. Related to postcollisional magmatic hydrothermal events, the Haoyaoerhudong gold deposit is considered as a special type of orogenic gold deposit formed in the compression–extension transition stage.