Cu-Au mineralization of the Sin Quyen deposit in north Vietnam: A product of Cenozoic left-lateral movement along the Red River shear zone

The Sin Quyen iron oxide-copper-gold (IOCG) deposit is located in the southwestern part of the Sin Quyen Formation, close to the Red River shear zone. The deposit is controlled by the Sin Quyen fault, parallel to the Red River fault system in North Vietnam. U-Pb dating of zircon and uraninite and 39Ar/40Ar dating of biotite and Kfeldspar in the Sin Quyen deposit showed that the mineralization was emplaced in two main phases: the first phase formed magnetite, uraninite, and allanite of Precambrian age, between 520 and 744 Ma; the second most important phase introduced Cu-sulfides with Au, this event formed chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, and pyrite in the temperature range 320 +/- 40 degrees C between 88 and 22 Ma. In this study, a tectonic model was presented to explain when and how the Sin Quyen IOCG deposit and some other Cu-Au deposits along the Ailao Shan Red River Shear zone occurred in Cenozoic time.